Ascends Irc Network's Users Services 

Chanserv - 

Chanserv is a channel protection service which allows founders (channel owners) to REGISTER a channel, control various aspects of channels, i.e. operator status, channel modes, etc. 

Having a registered channel provides the channel founder with more control over his  channel and virtually eliminates the need for channel bots.

Nickserv - 

Nickserv is a feature offered to AIN users to enable them to register their nickname.  Once the nickname is registered, no one else can use that same nick at any time.  Nickserv is set up to allow you to store other information such as your Email address, ICQ number, UIN, web page URL and more.  

Ascends IRC Network - Open Proxy Information

For Users (click topic to expand list):

• K:lined (banned) from AIN and was instructed here! Tell me why please?

  • You are using what is known as an open proxy. There are several different types of open proxy, but they all take the form of a piece of software that allows other computers to "bounce" through it to access the Internet. 

  • This can be legitimately useful in many situations, but the one you are using is misconfigured and allows anyone at all to use it. This is not permitted on Ascends Irc Network.

• I don't see what the problem is? Explain please?

  • If you have been on IRC for any length of time, you have more than likely witnessed an attack using open proxies at least once. Hundreds of clients will enter a channel, often with random nick names, and start sending large amounts of colored channel and CTCP messages. Commonly they will leave and join the channel rapidly in order to cause more chaos.

  • Without completely locking up the channel, there is no effective way to stop these floods. Even if the channel is locked - floods of text can still be sent to individual users and will usually be enough to disconnect them.

  • Most of these types of attacks use open proxies because open proxies are relatively easy to come by. There are lists of them readily available on the Internet. This is why we do not permit such hosts access to Ascends Irc Network.  If you must use a proxy, it must be configured correctly.

• Can it be fixed?

  • Regretfully, we are unable to help you with configuring your proxy software, however you can speak to your network administrator, or if you are the administrator then you need to Read The Fine Manual. It will be somewhere under the security settings, and you should be allowing only your local network.

  • Every proxy that we find is submitted to our Open Proxy DNS Blacklist, so the first step once you have fixed your proxy is to check you're not listed in our DNSBL. If you are listed, you won't be able to connect to Blitzed again until you have visited that link and told us that the problem is fixed. Don't be tempted to lie though, we test you every time you connect!

For Admins (click topic to expand list):

• What do you use to detect proxies?

  • We use a package called BOPM, the Blitzed Open Proxy Monitor, which was developed by the BOPM Team when they decided that wgmon (which Lucas Madar wrote for DalNet) wasn't cutting it anymore and wasn't in a state they could maintain. BOPM has its own web page.

• Can I get access to your DNSBL?

  • Anyone can query our DNSBL through normal DNS means. Just pick which zone you want, reverse the octets and do a name lookup. 

  • For example, to check if 192.168.0.1 is present in the combined zone, do a DNS lookup on 1.0.168.192.opm.blitzed.org.

  • A full list of the available zones can be found in the DNSBL section.