= Power Trips =

== Running without operators ==
As we all know one of IRC's special features is the users who go on wild power trips. Their aim is to gain op status in every channel for the sole purpose of wielding it against other people at every opportunity. 

This unfortunate consequence is a result of the permissions system of IRC which should actually have been done away with when Services were introduced. 

Fortunately, you can rectify this for your channel by doing the following 

{{{
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE AUTOPROTECT 
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE AUTOOP
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE AUTOHALFOP
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE AUTOVOICE
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE HALFOP
/msg ChanServ LEVELS <#channel> DISABLE PROTECT
}}}

While this might frighten people into thinking their channel is highly at risk without active ops to keep bots and so on in check, this is actually the most effective way to run a channel. 

Without operators having automatic explicit access to `/kick`, they are less likely to abuse it - people are more at ease, and the point of channel wars and op wars is inherently removed at the source of the problem. This also means that the automated protections we have built into the server are far more effective. They will moderate a channel automatically when it is flooded, or the channel administrators can invoke ChanServ KICK and OP commands only when needed.

== Running in secret ==

Most people consider it hard to run a channel in private modes. This is because the private modes are generally quite badly thought out. Invite mode is actually the best way to run a channel in secret. 

A relatively unknown mode makes life far easier though, and that is the +I or invite exception list. So long as the channel is actively populated you can add user masks to the +I list for example:

{{{
/mode #my_channel +I joesoap!*@*
}}}

This means that user can join the channel without requiring an invite, but everyone else does. Should something go wrong, the ChanServ INVITE command can still be used to rejoin the channel.

It is essentially equivalent to banning everyone and manipulating the ban exception list. 

'''NOTE:''' NickServ/AutoJoin will also bypass channel mode +i.