= Services: Helping yourself =

Most, if not all, of Shadowfire's services come with more than adequate help texts. Reading and understanding the help is strongly encouraged and is more than likely going to answer your question quicker than if you have to wait around for someone else to answer.

== Understanding the examples ==

Lines in examples that start with {{{>>>}}} are used to indicate text that is typed into your IRC client, usually a command that results in a response from the service.

Please be aware that CommandSyntax is also used in some examples.

== Explore the services ==

By simply sending the command {{{help}}} to a service, you will be given the information you need to continue your exploration. Below is an example response from ChanServ:

{{{
>>> /msg ChanServ HELP

-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- ChanServ allows you to register and control various
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- aspects of channels.  ChanServ can often prevent
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- malicious users from "taking over" channels by limiting
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- who is allowed channel operator privileges.  Type
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- /msg ChanServ HELP COMMANDS for a list of ChanServ commands;
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- to use a command, type /msg ChanServ command, or for more
-ChanServ(services@shadowfire.org)- information on a command, type /msg ChanServ HELP command.
}}}

From here you can see that sending the command {{{help commands}}} will give you a list of commands and that {{{help <command_name>}}} will show you information specific to that command.

Exploring the services, by finding out what commands are available and what each command does, can help you learn about useful features that you may not have known about. Additionally, learning more about services will help you manage yourself or your users better.

Note that the following command can also be used with NickServ and AresServ services.
{{{
   /msg NickServ HELP
}}}
== Ask for help in understanding ==

People are far more willing to help someone trying to better understand something than someone who is just looking for a quick fix. People who can help themselves can help others help themselves and so on.

If you don't understand what the help text for a specific service is saying or what a command does, feel free to ask in the support channel.