So, what’s the best IRC trivia channel?

There is no 'one' IRC trivia channel that meets everyone's trivia needs. What appeals to one person does not necessarily appeal to another, and the purpose of these pages is to help new players – and old players looking for a new home – find something that best suits their needs.

Overall, the most slick and professional of the IRC trivia channels is #trivia at OperaNet, covering most people's needs and much, much more and we recommend that you try it first and use it as a yardstick against which you can measure all other trivia rooms.

#trivia at OperaNet has 6 pluses: fantastic webstats, team competition, web forums for discussion, player web pages, nick registration (+ix supposedly hides your IP) and, because it’s truly international, the room is always busy 24/7.

If you decide that #trivia at OperaNet does not meet your needs because of its 4 minuses: the channel has very strict rules; the game is not fast; there are no bonuses and jackpots; and anything you say in the relative privacy of IRC may appear online (though this flaw appears to have disappeared of late) – then be prepared to lose one or more of its 6 great features when you go seeking another trivia home.

At this point, you probably don’t know what’s a ‘core’ need (something that you absolutely must have) and what’s just a want (something you’d like to have, but can live without); and it’s only in the process of trying out other networks and trivia channels that you discover what they are:

Core Need #1, Company: Obviously, the whole purpose of IRC trivia is to play with people, not alone, but hundreds of IRC trivia channels will have nobody playing when you want to play.

Core Need #2, Security: Unfortunately, the fastest and most active trivia games are to be found on the networks without any security whatsoever where even the servers get taken down by hackers.

Frankly, everything else is a ‘want’.

Happy trivving!

Nick registration risks

Even though your ISP may allow you email accounts with fake names, the requirement by IRC networks to use your private ISP email address – not a web email – for registration purposes could poses more risks to your security than the reason you wanted registration and a host mask in the first place!


PRO

Nick registration protects you from nukers, hackers and crackers while you are on IRC by hiding your IP address; but, according to Freenode, it does not GUARANTEE this protection.

If you hope to become an OP one day, or to have your own channel, then nick registration is mandatory on networks that offer registration services.

If your privacy is breached, despite registration, you can always change your ISP and start all over again.

CON

The only Internet organizations which have a legitimate need to request your private email address are those requiring financial transactions. Web mail is sufficient to gain entry to most other Internet services, including Facebook, isn't it? So, unless the future of IRC is to become a paid service (and this move would definitely separate the lamers from genuine users) –and gaining your private email address is a precursor to this happening – then the networks should be upfront and say so. Until this happens, no network has a right to your private information.

If you do not normally give your private ISP email address to people you do not know, then why on earth would you be giving it to an IRC network whose servers are all over the world and whose administrators are many – usually keeping a very low profile in that they rarely appear in channels – and were likely to have started off their IT careers being nukers, hackers and crackers themselves? Remember, too, that when you register with a local network, your information does not stay local – it is shared with the entire network.

Although the vast majority of network admins are above reproach, be aware that there are going to be rogues among them; and because IRC is a voluntary hobby organization like HAM radio or pigeon fanciers there is no consumer body you can appeal to if your privacy gets breached. Network admins are not paid for their work, and you do not pay to gain access to IRC - but that may all change soon. Right now, it's supposed to be all about sharing information, making friends and having fun, but it's often nothing like that at all.

Also, IRC networks themselves are prone to massive attacks, and if a good hacker can crack into government and corporate systems in order to gain sensitive information then it would be a walk in the park for an average hacker to gain email lists from IRC networks – and then you risk being spammed to death at your private home email address.

Nick registration also comes with various niggles. You may receive memos from Nickserv – similar to the ones you receive from your ISP – that you don't particularly want to receive (although you can turn this feature off); and registrations expire after 30 days (so if you're away from home on extended leave you need to remember to show up in time, which could be difficult if you're on safari in deepest darkest Africa, laid up on a hospital bed or having such a good time in real life that you just forget).

Registration and subsequent identity log-ins also need a password – and do you really and truly want another password to worry about on to of the umpteen you already have? Also, some systems set exactly 60 seconds for you to identify yourself when you turn up, otherwise you lose your nick. Stress! Turn off your cellphone, lock up the cats, dogs and kids and stick a "please don't disturb" note on the front door to ensure absolutely nothing distracts you during that crucial 60 seconds!

And, when it's time to quit, you won't be able to say 'bye all' and buzz off. Oh, no, you need to go through a logout procedure. If you fail to logout, then theoretically your nick is still in the system and some clever dick can find some way to impersonate you. And God help you if you somehow lose connection in the middle of an IRC session.

It goes without saying that you can't change your nick easily once you are registered, so if you like mucking around in channel with different nicks then registration is not for you.

Also, if you are still grappling with all the regular IRC commands then be prepared for a whole list of new commands and mumbo-jumbo pertaining to registration.

Finally, since it usually takes a few months before you settle down in a channel and make it your 'IRC home', you are faced with the dilemma - "Do I register before I check the channel out, or after?" If security is your #1 concern, then you need to register before you even set foot in a channel, and unless the network has many trivia channels you can try out (Undernet has the best variety of the networks offering registration) then you may have to register with many networks before you find what you want. Do you really want to give your private ISP email address to a whole bunch of networks that you may never again visit?

On the other hand, if you wait until you settle down somewhere before registering, then everyone in the channel already knows your IP address and if there is a rogue among them then you will still be subject to attack with your new host-mask – and you won't know who is attacking you because everyone else had host-masks before you arrived!

More confusing than ever is that when you enter a channel where everyone has host-masks - e.g. iamconcealed @ J3MF553P.7Z0K2702.3M5J0A9.IP - you discover that when you do a /who #trivia (while you are in the channel) to see how the server shows everyone in the channel, what looks like a normal IP shows up - e.g. iamconcealed 61.325.209.36. Presumably this must be the IP of the server they registered with, but why they would all be on different servers for a trivia game is strange because everyone knows that to beat lag you must join the same server that the trivia Bot is on. Perhaps they didn't know this when they registered (which is why it is important to wait a while); or - OMG - they are really not concealed at all!

Why, oh why, can't the IRC networks do something simple like automatically concealing everyone's IP upon entry, without the necessity for all of this rigmarole and mumbo jumbo? Participating in all other Internet activities is a simple matter of registering with a web email and selecting a nickname (which is the only thing about you that's shown to other users).

Think about it: Networks encouraging registration have already logged our IPs in case of trouble - and they have scanned for bouncers and proxies and banned them - so why do they need our private email address?

Bouncers and Proxies

If you're using an IRC client rather than the web to access a trivia channel, then you've probably wondered what the BNC and Proxy options are all about – and why so many people in the channel with you have very strange IPs – e.g. iliveinabox.com – or have an IP which does not correlate with the country in which they profess to live.

The main purpose of connecting to IRC using a Bouncer or a Proxy server is to hide your identity (via your IP) from both the network and the channel users; and if your favorite trivia channel is on a network that does not allow registration host masks (e.g. EFnet or DALnet) then a BNC or a Proxy gives you the security and protection that you need.

A Bouncer appears to be a program that sits between your system and the IRC server you connect to, bouncing data to and fro and functions not only as an anonymizer but also as a proxy client that helps users communicate behind a firewall (e.g. when they're at work) and you can choose your own 'cute' IP or use the IP of the proxy server (which may be in an exotic part of the world).

According to the operating system you're using, you will need to download the appropriate program and then get an account with a "shell". A shell hosts your bouncer and is just a place that contains files and allows code execution for those who have been given access.

There are plenty of places on the web to get a free shell account, but be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops. At Aceshells, you will need to play a web-based game, training a fighter and then fighting other fighters in order to gain enough points to gain access. At Blinkenshell you will need to complete a quiz, open a Paypal account and pay them a nominal amount of $0.01 (to ensure you are who you say you are) and then agree to participate in its chatroom. That Blinkenshell signs off saying "happy hacking" indicates to you exactly what most people using shells are up to.

Google conducted a poll a few years ago showing that free shell accounts are rubbish compared with paid shell accounts, but one happy user of http://shell.tor.hu/ disagrees, saying "You get SSH, web (unlimited vhosts/subdomains/mysql db's), procmail, crontab, ftp, rsync, a relaxed environment (on annoying restrictions). Basically it's free web/mail hosting (co-located on a gbit) coupled with a usable shell account for your projects."

However, SDF Public Access for UNIX Systems, established 1987, is perhaps the most trusted place to get a free UNIX shell. This is what they say:

----Quote:
Setting up an account at SDF is quick and easy, but to do so you must connect via an SSH (Secure Shell) or TELNET client and login as the 'new' user. You will be asked a few questions including that agree [sic] to abide by our Acceptable Use Policy.

MacOS X users, click here: ssh://new@sdf.org

Microsoft Windows users may use our Java SSH client: http://sdf.org/ssh

Linux/UNIX users can type 'ssh new@sdf.org' at their shell prompts.

For Windows users who do not use Java we highly recommend the free SSH client putty.exe. If you do not want to use putty, you can try the built in Windows TELNET Client.

If you have any questions or cannot figure out how to use SSH, live help is available on IRC via irc.sdf.org in the #helpdesk channel or on the SDF webforum.

----/UnQuote


PRO:

If you truly know what you're doing, then a shell account to protect your identity and security on those IRC networks that do not have registration services is a no brainer because, by definition, those are the networks where the most active and dangerous hackers hang out.

CON:

Shells do not protect you from nickstealers, and dealing with the shell guys may be a bigger risk to your security than the ones you're getting a shell for!

Many networks do not permit bouncers and proxies and scan your system for them. You will only be able to use them on EFnet and DALnet.

Playing trivia for many people is a way to make friends and belong to a social group, and it is very difficult to make friends and socialize with a person who hides behind a proxy – especially if you choose a rude name for it (as many proxy users, do).

People using Bouncers and Proxies arouse suspicion among other players. Most people using shells are highly IT literate and use them not so much to protect their own systems from hacking but to get up to mischief themselves.

Even if you have no intention to get up to mischief, other players will not trust you are who you say you are, or come from where you say you come from – and may wonder if you are up to mischief behind your proxy (being able to sniff around other people's systems without your true IP being seen on their firewall logs).

If you don't know what you're doing – and you probably don't if you're reading this, rolling your eyes at all the technical terms and wondering why you need all of this information in order to play a fun trivia game on IRC without getting hacked – then you should give free (and paid) Bouncers and Proxies a miss (and probably give IRC trivia a miss, too).

Web access or IRC client?

Many trivia players start off their online gaming experience using web access to IRC – usually Mibbit – and web access is the only way you can play if you’re at work behind a massive firewall, but eventually you get to hear about IRC clients from other players and then a whole new experience opens up for you.

Some networks provide their own web access – check the webpage for each network for more information – but the two networks where the most active trivia games are played do not (e.g DALnet and EFnet).

PRO

IRC clients – MIRC being the one most new players hear about and start off with – offer a fully configurable playing experience. You can /ignore players, /query players for a private chat and do many, many more things that you cannot do with web access. It is a program that sits on your system, and you don’t have to go through a third party to use it.


CON

The #1 problem with using web portals for playing trivia in IRC is that they interfere with your speed. Lag is generated far more than normal because a third party is involved.

Many people have the mistaken belief that web-based IRC gateways like Mibbit– or even the web access provided by networks - provide anonymity by masking your IP address. They don’t. Your IP will appear in the channel with the web portal name appended to it. Also, when you use a web portal you cannot see the IP of players using an IRC client, but they can see yours! So, there is no security in using the web to gain access to IRC.

Also, some networks ban web portals. At Efnet, for instance, anyone using “webchat.xs4all.nl” is banned because that is one web portal which does, indeed, appear to provide anonymity.

With web portals there is no facility for logging games, and this can be a handicap if you needed to address the network with a complaint about a fellow player.

Nevertheless, there are just as many ‘cons’ with IRC clients. MIRC is free for 3 months, and then you must buy it – although it can be tweaked to last a year, and then it dies on you!

The best free IRC client (for all time, hopefully) is IceChat, allowing you access to many networks at the same time – which MIRC does not – and does not present problems with any trivia interface. However, IceChat has been rumored to be a backdoor for hackers. Beware!

#trivia at EFnet does not support other multi-platform IRC clients such as Pidgin. You can gain access to the channel, but you will be unable to read the questions properly.