Bans on IRC - Frequently Asked Questions by Mentality

This FAQ aims to explain why you might be banned from a channel, and the methods in which to try and have a ban removed. It will also cover the negative effects of ban evasion - it will not tell you how to ban evade, nor do I in anyway condone such actions. It is also written in order to inform those that have been banned - not to inform you on HOW to ban others, or script ban revenge scripts. It will not cover G-lines or K-lines (bans from servers/networks). So, without further ado..

1. What is a ban?

A ban is a block set on an IRC channel so that a certain user, or a group of users, cannot enter a particular channel. It can only be placed by the channel operators (they have an @ next to their nickname). A ban is set against a nick!user@host mask. You can see this when you /whois someone. The nickname is self explanatory. The user@host is also in a /whois though.

2. I've been banned - what can I do?

There are generally two things to do when you've been banned. You can either message the person that banned you, or you can wait the ban out. All bans get removed eventually, unless you've been particularly naughty and added to a "blacklist", which is a list of auto-banned addresses. You can see who banned you on a channel by typing /mode #channel b and finding your address in the list. Next to it will be the nickname who banned you. You can message them with /msg nickname msgHERE. Please be aware that many ops may not reply, ignore you, make the ban longer or not remove it. From personal experience, the best thing you can do is wait until the ban is removed. Try every few hours to rejoin the channel.

Some networks also support a +e mode, meaning 'exception'. This means your user@host, or your nickname, could be put on the exception list so that you can bypass bans that would otherwise affect you, such as bans placed on entire ISPs. PLEASE NOTE that NOT all networks support this mode, so do not blame an op if they cannot do it. Furthermore, ops may choose not to do this unless you're a known friend of the channel due to the protection you would then have in the channel.

3. I've been banned, but I've never been to the channel!? Did I do something wrong!?

No, you probably haven't done anything wrong. Unfortunately, when a person or group of people are particulary abusive, some channels deem it necessary to ban entire ISPs (Internet Service Provider, e.g. AOL), or entire countries. How do they do this? Well, as you know, everyone has a hostname. Your ISP will assign your hostname. It usually ends in the domain of the ISP, for example 'aol.com', or 'blueyonder.co.uk'. In order to ban an entire ISP, a ban can be placed against *!*@*.domain. For example, *!*@*.aol.com would ban any user from AOL. Even though this ban may be aimed at BillyJoeLamer, you are affected because you are an AOL user.

Sometimes a hostname ends in a country code - for example, .tr is Turkey, .ro is Romania, .uk is United Kingdom. Entire countries can be banned in the same way that ISPs can - bans are placed against domains such as *!*@*.tr or *!*@*.ro, therefore banning all of Turkey and Romania. This may be due to a particular user constantly ban evading, or any other issue an op deems necessary.

4. What the... this is totally unfair, I didn't do anything!

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about this. You can follow the steps in question 2 regarding how to be unbanned. Usually ops only ban such addresses because of persistent abuse, the minority can often affect the majority. Let's also not forget that ops can ban whatever addresses they wish, even if it's for racist reasons. There is no "fair" or "unfair" on IRC. The ops run their individual channels, and if you don't like it, there are thousands of others to choose from.

5. Can I get round the ban? ("ban evade")

You CAN do this, but you're not going to get help with it. No matter why you've been banned, please do not ban evade. It only results in wider bans being placed, meaning more people (including you still) will be affected. You're just spoiling it for everyone else unnecessarily when you can choose any other channel. Furthermore, I will bet you the ops of a channel can keep placing bans on you more times than you can be bothered to change your address.

Ban evading also results in bans from the entire network, so losing your access to any channels at all (on that network anyway). Evading these bans constantly can ultimately lead to your ISP(s) being contacted and you being reported for abusive behaviour. This is not an empty threat - ISPs don't always care, but they do when a big network bans your entire ISP and they have hundreds of complaints hit their helpdesk. People are, on a regular basis, warned and even disconnected from their ISP due to abuse on IRC. It really isn't worth escalating a simple channel ban to having your account terminated with your ISP!

6. I'm getting banned by a channel bot, channel service (i.e. Chanserv) - what can I do?

Obviously there's no point messaging a bot or a channel service about a channel ban. In these cases, contacting an op is the ONLY option, as it often means you have been banned for a much longer period of time, possibly permanently (or your ISP has). Contacting an op can be more difficult though, because you don't have access to the nicklist, and it isn't a human contacting you. The only thing to do is to, once again, check /mode #channel b and see who else has set bans in that channel, if anyone. Then message those users. If they are not online, you can use /notify nickname and message them when they come online. You could also use /topic #channel to see who set the topic.

7. Can an IRCop unban me?

Firstly, this is dependant upon the network you're on. On many networks, IRCops DO have the ability to edit the ban list of a channel - but NOT on all networks.

However, IRCops do not involve themselves with channel bans - channel bans are left to channel ops. IRCops will NOT unban you from a channel, do not even bother asking one to do so.

8. My question is not answered here, and it relates to me being banned from a channel.

For further questions (though I can't imagine what you're asking), feel free to go to your local #mIRC channel and ask them.