Registers your nickname in the NickSERV database. Once your nick is registered, you can use the SET and ACCESS commands to configure your nick's settings as you like them. Make sure you remember the password you use when registering - you'll need it to make changes to your nick later. (Note that case matters! RAVETRAX, RaveTrax, and ravetrax are all different passwords!)

Guidelines on choosing passwords:

Passwords should not be easily guessable. For example, using your real name as a password is a bad idea. Using your nickname as a password is a much worse idea ;) and, in fact, NickSERV will not allow it. Also, short passwords are vulnerable to trial-and-error searches, so you should choose a password at least 5 characters long. Finally, the space character cannot be used in passwords.

The parameter email is optional and will set the email for your nick immediately. However, it may be required on certain networks. Your privacy is respected; this e-mail won't be given to any third-party person.

This command also creates a new group for your nickname, that will allow you to register other nicks later sharing the same configuration, the same set of memos and the same channel privileges. For more information on this feature, type /ns HELP GROUP.

This command makes your nickname join the target nickname's group. password is the password of the target nickname.

Joining a group will allow you to share your configuration, memos, and channel priviledges with all the nicknames in the group, and much more! A group exists as long as it is useful. This means that even if a nick of the group is dropped, you won't lose the shared things described above, as long as there is at least one nick remaining in the group.

You can use this command even if you have not registered your nick yet. If your nick is already registered, you'll need to identify yourself before using this command. Type /ns HELP IDENTIFY for more information. This last may be not possible on your IRC network.

It is recommended to use this command with a non-registered nick because it will be registered automatically when using this command. You may use it with a registered nick (to change your group) only if your network administrators allowed it.

You can only be in one group at a time. Group merging is not possible.

Note: all the nicknames of a group have the same password.

Tells NickSERV that you are really the owner of this nick. Many commands require you to authenticate yourself with this command before you use them. The password should be the same one you sent with the REGISTER command.

This reverses the effect of the IDENTIFY command, i.e. make you not recognized as the real owner of the nick anymore. Note, however, that you won't be asked to reidentify yourself.

Drops your nickname from the NickSERV database. A nick that has been dropped is free for anyone to re-register.

You may drop a nick within your group by passing it as the nick parameter.

In order to use this command, you must first identify with your password (/ns HELP IDENTIFY for more information).

Modifies or displays the access list for your nick. This is the list of addresses which will be automatically recognized by NickSERV as allowed to use the nick. If you want to use the nick from a different address, you need to send an IDENTIFY command to make NickSERV recognize you.

Examples:

ACCESS ADD anyone@*.echo34.com - Allows access to user anyone from any machine in the echo34.com domain.

ACCESS DEL anyone@*.echo34.com - Reverses the previous command.

ACCESS LIST - Displays the current access list.

Sets various nickname options. option can be one of:

DISPLAY - Set the display of your group in Services
PASSWORD - Set your nickname password
LANGUAGE - Set the language Services will use when sending messages to you
URL - Associate a URL with your nickname
EMAIL - Associate an E-mail address with your nickname
ICQ - Associate an ICQ number with your nickname
GREET - Associate a greet message with your nickname
KILL - Turn protection on or off
SECURE - Turn nickname security on or off
PRIVATE - Prevent your nickname from appearing in a /ns LIST
HIDE - Hide certain pieces of nickname information
MSG - Change the communication method of Services

In order to use this command, you must first identify with your password (/ns HELP IDENTIFY for more information).

Type /ns HELP SET option for more information on a specific option.

Changes the display used to refer to your nickname group in Services. The new display MUST be a nick of your group.

Allows you to changes the password used to identify you to the network services as the nick's owner.

Changes the language Services uses when sending messages to you (for example, when responding to a command you send). Number should be chosen from the following list of supported languages:

Associates the given URL with your nickname. This URL will be displayed whenever someone requests information on your nick with the INFO command.

Associates the given E-mail address with your nickname. This address will be displayed whenever someone requests information on the channel with the INFO command.

Associates the given ICQ number with your nickname. This number will be displayed whenever someone requests information on your nick with the INFO command.

Makes the given message the greet of your nickname, that will be displayed when joining a channel that has GREET option enabled, provided that you have the necessary access on it.

Turns the automatic protection option for your nick on or off. With protection on, if another user tries to take your nick, they will be given one minute to change to another nick, after which NickSERV will forcibly change their nick.

If you select QUICK, the user will be given only 20 seconds to change nicks instead of the usual 60. If you select IMMED, user's nick will be changed immediately without being warned first or given a chance to change their nick; please do not use this option unless necessary. Also, your network's administrators may have disabled this option.

Turns NickSERV's security features on or off for your nick. With SECURE set, you must enter your password before you will be recognized as the owner of the nick, regardless of whether your address is on the access list. However, if you are on the access list, NickSERV will not auto-kill you regardless of the setting of the KILL option.

Turns NickSERV's privacy option on or off for your nick. With PRIVATE set, your nickname will not appear in nickname lists generated with NickSERV's LIST command. (However, anyone who knows your nickname can still get information on it using the INFO command.)

Allows you to prevent certain pieces of information from being displayed when someone does a NickSERV INFO on your nick. You can hide your E-mail address (EMAIL), last seen user@host mask (USERMASK), and last quit message (QUIT). The second parameter specifies whether the information should be displayed (OFF) or hidden (ON).

Allows you to choose the way Services are communicating with you. With MSG set, Services will use messages, else they'll use notices.

Allows you to recover your nickname if someone else has taken it; this does the same thing that NickSERV does automatically if someone tries to use a kill-protected nick.

When you give this command, NickSERV will bring a fake user online with the same nickname as the user you're trying to recover your nick from. This causes the IRC servers to disconnect the other user. This fake user will remain online for one minute to ensure that the other user does not immediately reconnect; after that minute, you can reclaim your nick. Alternatively, use the RELEASE command (/ns HELP RELEASE) to get the nick back sooner.

In order to use the RECOVER command for a nick, your current address as shown in /WHOIS must be on that nick's access list, you must be identified and in the group of that nick, or you must supply the correct password for the nickname.

Instructs NickSERV to remove any hold on your nickname caused by automatic kill protection or use of the RECOVER command. By default, such holds last for one minute; this command gets rid of them sooner.

In order to use the RELEASE command for a nick, your current address as shown in /WHOIS must be on that nick's access list, you must be identified and in the group of that nick, or you must supply the correct password for the nickname.

Terminates a "ghost" IRC session using your nick. A "ghost" session is one which is not actually connected, but which the IRC server believes is still online for one reason or another. Typically, this happens if your computer crashes or your Internet or modem connection goes down while you're on IRC.

In order to use the GHOST command for a nick, your current address as shown in /WHOIS must be on that nick's access list, you must be identified and in the group of that nick, or you must supply the correct password for the nickname.

Displays information about the given nickname, such as the nick's owner, last seen address and time, and nick options. If you are identified for the nick you're getting information for and ALL is specified, you will be shown all the information; regardless of whether it's hidden or not.

Lists all registered nicknames which match the given pattern, in nick!user@host format. Nicks with the PRIVATE option set will not be displayed.

Examples:

LIST *!rt_guest@echo34.com - Lists all nicks owned by rt_guest@echo34.com.

LIST *Bot*!*@* - Lists all registered nicks with Bot in their names (case insensitive).

LIST *!*@*.echo34.com - Lists all nicks owned by users in the echo34.com domain.

Lists all channels you have access on. Optionally, you can specify a level in XOP or ACCESS format. The resulting list will only include channels where you have the given level of access.

Examples:

ALIST Founder - Lists all channels where you have Founder access.

ALIST AOP - Lists all channels where you have AOP access or greater.

ALIST 10 - Lists all channels where you have level 10 access or greater.

Channels that have the NOEXPIRE option set will be prefixed by an exclamation mark.

Lists all nicks in your group.

Returns whether the user using the given nickname is recognized as the owner of the nickname. The response has this format: nickname status-code where nickname is the nickname sent with the command, and status-code is one of the following:

0 - no such user online or nickname not registered
1 - user not recognized as nickname's owner
2 - user recognized as owner via access list only
3 - user recognized as owner via password identification

Up to sixteen nicknames may be sent with each command; the rest will be ignored. No error message is generated if no nickname is given.

Send the password of the given nickname to the e-mail address set in the nickname record. This command is really useful to deal with lost passwords.

May be limited to IRC operators on certain networks.

The following commands are available to Services admins:

GETPASS Retrieve the password for a nickname (only if encryption is disabled) FORBID Prevent a nickname from being used

Services admins can also drop any nickname without needing to identify for the nick, and may view the access list for any nickname (/ns ACCESS LIST nick).

Without a parameter, reverses the effect of the IDENTIFY command, i.e. make you not recognized as the real owner of the nick anymore. Note, however, that you won't be asked to reidentify yourself.

With a parameter, does the same for the given nick. If you specify REVALIDATE as well, Services will ask the given nick to re-identify.

Without a parameter, drops your nickname from the NickSERV database.

With a parameter, drops the named nick from the database. You may drop any nick within your group without any special privileges.

Services admins can also set the option NOEXPIRE, with which nicknames can be prevented from expiring. Additionally, Services admins can set options for any nickname without entering a password, using the format SET nickname option parameters.

Sets whether the given nickname will expire. Setting this to ON prevents the nickname from expiring. If no nickname is given, sets the no-expire flag for your nick.

Lists all registered nicknames which match the given pattern, in nick!user@host format. Nicks with the PRIVATE option set will only be displayed to Services admins. Nicks with the NOEXPIRE option set will have a ! prepended to the nickname for Services admins.

If the FORBIDDEN or NOEXPIRE options are given, only nicks which, respectively, are FORBIDden or have the NOEXPIRE flag set will be displayed. If both options are given, both types of nicks will be displayed.

Examples:

LIST *!guest@echo34.com - Lists all registered nicks owned by guest@echo34.com.

LIST *Bot*!*@* - Lists all registered nicks with Bot in their names (case insensitive).

LIST * NOEXPIRE - Lists all registered nicks which have been set to not expire.

With no parameters, lists channels you have access on. With one parameter, lists channels that nickname has access on. With two parameters lists channels that nickname has level access or greater on.

Without a parameter, lists all nicknames that are in your group. With a parameter, lists all nicknames that are in the group of the given nick.

Returns the password for the given nickname. Note that whenever this command is used, a message including the person who issued the command and the nickname it was used on will be logged and sent out as a WALLOPS/GLOBOPS.

Disallows a nickname from being registered or used by anyone. May be cancelled by dropping the nick.

On certain networks, reason is required.