Frequently Asked Questions

This page is the GTAXLnet Frequently Asked Questions area. This page answers questions that are well, frequent. You may be directed to this page if you asked a question that is already answered here. If you have a question and it’s not answered here, ask in #GTAXLnet.

What is IRC (Internet Relay Chat)?
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol that is used for real-time chatting. It is designed for group chat communication via channels. A “channel” is like your own chatroom where users can join and discuss a similar topic. IRC also allows private messaging for one-on-one communication. IRC is old-school but is still widely used today. IRC (in my opinion) is the best chat room protocol. If you’d like to know more about the IRC protocol, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat

How does IRC work?
First you have to have a server that will host the network. An IRC server is one server being used, as opposed to an IRC network where there are multiple servers. The servers link to make one network. GTAXLnet has multiple servers, connect to any of them and you still connect to the network. They are all in sync. The servers host and transmit the entire chatrooms and users. You send a message, it goes to the servers and they send the message out to everyone on that channel. A channel in simple words is a chatroom. GTAXLnet can hosts thousands of chatrooms, and you can join up to 400 chatrooms on GTAXLnet. You can be in all those channels at once, and switch between them without missing a message from the other channels. All channels must begin with a # sign, often called a (pound, hashtag) where as nicks are not allowed to have a # sign.

Can anyone see my IP address or real hostname?
No, your IP or hostname is cloaked by default, but GTAXLnet staff can see your IP address. The cloak ciphers the first part of your hostname, so in example: excession.server.gtaxl.net becomes GNHOST-FC116711.server.gtaxl.net. Nobody can put that cloaked hostname in a resolver and get your IP address. Take notice of the “GNHOST” prefix. They’d get NX DOMAIN. If your IP doesn’t have an rDNS/PTR, we’ll cloak your IP. So for example 4.4.4.4 would become E1397943.BF63FA32.B8BD222F.IP. The x user-mode (cloak) is given to you on connect. If for some strange reason you’re not cloaked, set user-mode +x to yourself. You can do this by: /umode2 +x or /mode YourNick +x.

Why do your block CTCP by default?
We set user-mode +T on connect to help protect our users from abuse. CTCP is completely un-necessary for day-to-day IRC communications. CTCP can be very abusive. Here are a few examples: CTCP PING floods from a user or from flood bots, CTCP VERSION for an attacker to know your exact client and version which they could check if you’re running a vulnerable client version. CTCP can be very annoying and obtrusive. We block this by default to protect you. If you wish to receive CTCP queries, remove the T user-mode from yourself.

Why must I be registered to PM/notice somebody?
We set user-mode +R on connect to help protect our users from abuse. We’ve had thousands of proxy bots connect and PM a user, which is obviously annoying and can crash their client. We set this to protect you from botnets and or abusive users. If you wish to receive PM’s and or notices from non-registered users, remove user-mode R from yourself.