General
Bots are generally welcome on EsperNet provided that they are well behaved and adhere to our charter. If you are planning to bring a bot into a channel it is advisable that permission is sought from the channel operator before-hand, especially for interactive bots. Bots which emit large quantities of text should be set +v or higher; this allows slightly higher flood limits.
EsperNet is intended for conversation between people. Channels whose primary purpose is for bots to communicate between each other are prohibited.
Under no circumstances are spam bots, clone bots, or abusive bots permitted on any server in the network. Bots which fail to comply with this policy may be removed from EsperNet without warning. If in doubt, please drop by #DragonWeyr and chat with us about it.
Bridge bots
These are bots that bridge IRC with some other form of chat, such as in-game chat or other IRC networks.
- Should set to automatically receive +v in a registered channel. Mode +o is not advised.
- Bridge bot channels must be set +m (moderated). +m may be temporarily removed while channel operators are present. ChanServ may be used to auto-voice trusted users.
- The bot should not be left running as the sole occupier of otherwise empty channels.
- Care should be taken to prevent misuse of the bot from the other side of the 'bridge'.
- Ensure your bots are configured correctly! Some default settings may cause your bot's IP address to be temporarily banned from EsperNet.
- Bots which create one connection per user on the opposite side of the bridge are not permitted (e.g. Bukkit IRCTransport).
Channel management bots
Similar to chanserv, these are used to control and moderate channels. A typical example is the eggdrop bot.
- For proper operation, the bot should be registered with nickserv and set to automatically receive channel mode +o.
Game bots
These bots typically host multi-player games and normally only run when triggered in-channel.
- Should be registered and set to automatically receive +v or +o in a registered channel.
- Channel operators or the bot controller should be present when the bot is enabled, to prevent misuse.