Talk:Arch IRC channels

Matrix

Perhaps we should investigate a migration to matrix. We can bridge with irc so the move would be 100% transparent to existing users.

Aleccoder (talk) 18:23, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

This has been discussed multiple times and no consensus could be reached but Matrix already runs a freenode bridge: https://matrix.org/blog/2015/06/22/the-matrix-org-irc-bridge-now-bridges-all-of-freenode

But there would be no "migration" in either case, irc will stay.

Namarrgon (talk) 18:55, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Even if irc will stay for some users, I think there should be a noticeable mention of a Matrix channel. I added the Matrix article to related, but for some reason it was removed as unrelated by Alad. Then maybe just create a link to this article from main page? Because IRC channels are discoverable, while Matrix are not. I did not even know about existence of that channel, before I knew that Matrix exists and then intentionally searched if the Arch Linux channel exists.

Ashark (talk) 13:37, 6 May 2021 (UTC)

There is no official Arch Linux matrix channel, so this is why it was edited out as irrelevant. This is also why User:Alad removed the mentions of the telegram bridges.

--- NetSysFire (talk) 14:05, 6 May 2021 (UTC)

Arch runs its own Matrix homeserver with IRC bridges for team members, but I don't think you're talking about this. I think the best way to make the options more discoverable would be to improve Matrix, List of applications/Internet#IRC clients and List of applications/Internet#Matrix clients somehow. — Lahwaacz (talk) 10:42, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

PR: waiting after asking a question

As per request to not edit directly, but discuss in the talk page, I propose the following change.

From

   You are expected to familiarize yourself with our [[Code of conduct]] and [[General guidelines#IRC]] before joining any of the official channels. For a list of commonly used abbreviations, see [[Arch terminology]] and [http://www.ircbeginner.com/ircinfo/abbreviations.html IRC Jargon].

To

   After asking a question, please wait a bit. There may be no person to answer instantly. The chat is a low traffic medium and at times no one speaks even for a hour. You are expected to familiarize yourself with our [[Code of conduct]] and [[General guidelines#IRC]] before joining any of the official channels. For a list of commonly used abbreviations, see [[Arch terminology]] and [http://www.ircbeginner.com/ircinfo/abbreviations.html IRC Jargon].

--Mpan (talk) 01:35, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, while we're on the subject I don't see any link to Asking smart questions here or on General guidelines, it might be a good addition too? --Erus Iluvatar (talk) 06:19, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

This addition seems reasonable too. I’m just wondering, how to express it as a suggestion, not an order, and in a concise way. Forcing people to read too much text never works. --Mpan (talk) 09:52, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

I don't think that that belongs in the header of the page, 2. or 2.1 would be a better fit for this. People might not scroll down far enough to see it but perhaps we should think about moving 2/2.1 further up in the page. --Namarrgon (talk) 11:33, 19 November 2022 (UTC)

For some reason I didn’t notice the answer. I believe that entire paragraph should be kept together. I do not oppose the idea of moving it to 2, as long as it’s moved as a whole. But if we’re going to touch 2, perhaps this can be put in the 2’s intro, and the entire pastes fragment to its own section (2.1, shifting current 2.1 to 2.2 and so on)? --Mpan (talk) 21:10, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

Draft: improve introduction to page

Hello,

Please see User:PolarianDev/Arch IRC channels where I have attempted to improve the introduction to the page. Please read below on what I have changed and why:

1. Added an introduction paragraph, before it is straight into saying use a client, and never actually introducing what it does, and furthermore what network we actually use for communication, a lot of the younger arch users are not experienced with old protocols such as IRC, so its fair to introduce the fact that its for communication, and also give a easy link to the network which was chosen (Libera.chat)
2. I have amended the connecting to Libera.chat sentence to link to the libera.chat connection guide in which it goes through regional connections etc, the reason I have done this is because originally you only say you need an IRC client, you never specified how to connect, and again for a lot of younger people who are used to discord and just clicking a link, having to physically type in a hostname and port, and enable TLS might be a little complicated, linking to the article which the libera.chat team have provided helps out a lot.
3. In the third paragraph (about the rules of connecting) I have also specified you must follow Libera.chat's policies, I have done this because Arch Linux uses a third party, its only fair to also tell Arch Users to read their policies too, to ensure they conform both with the Arch Linux policies, and also with the Libera.chat policies.
4. I renamed "Official channels" to "Official Arch Linux channels" which is a bit more of a mouthful, however the paragraph above explains about connecting to Libera, and as Libera also has their own official channels such as #libera, to prevent confusion I felt it should be expanded to specify "Arch Linux", as this might be harder to infer after the changes I made.
5. Fixed dead link, I used the suggestion in #PR: fixing/rmoving a dead link and used it within this draft, as it was a good suggestion and it can always be changed at a later date if someone disagrees with it, using archive.org preserves the original page, and therefore nothing (apart from the url) has changed.

Let me know what you think of the changes I have made, I feel it has made a small difference, but I do not believe if others will see it as a big enough difference to actually care, however the added links I believe make a huge difference.

Feel free to request changes to my language, I am not the best when it comes to articulation :)

Thank you, PolarianDev (talk) 13:04, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Correct the IRC urls

the url ircs://irc.libera.chat/archlinux takes you to channel archlinux instead of #archlinux : they are different channels.

Proposed: change the urls from ircs://irc.libera.chat/channel to ircs://irc.libera.chat/#channel Shrik3 (talk) 09:59, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

The links are correct according to Wikipedia:IRC#URI scheme. -- nl6720 (talk) 11:36, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

I missed that one, thanks.

Nitpicking though: some clients, gamja for example, do not automatically prepend the hash sign at all. Perhaps it's worth a short note?

> Note: some irc clients do not automatically prepend hash sign to the channel name, thus leading you to the wrong place. Shrik3 (talk) 12:19, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

If it's an issue with only one IRC client, then it would be better to simply report an issue to its developers. -- nl6720 (talk) 12:21, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

Including web.libera.chat in the intro

Users seeking help don’t need persistent Libera.chat presence. Setting up any full-fledged client sounds like unnecessary complication that only reduces access to chat. It also does it in the worst possible moment, when no reasonable person is expected to learn new things. I believe including a direct link to the webchat is reasonable.

The current wording of the intro is:

To use Internet Relay Chat (IRC), you need an IRC client. The installation live environment includes the Irssi client.

Proposed change:

To use Internet Relay Chat (IRC), you need an IRC client. For temporary use Libera offers a webchat. The installation live environment also includes the Irssi client.

--Mpan (talk) 13:58, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Indicating it’s easy to cut ties with Libera.chat after registration

Users not wishing to have permanent Libera.chat presence, but merely seeking help, may be discouraged by the requirement to register. In particular with a service they aren’t familiar with. Indicating, that they may cut their ties with Libera easier than building them, should make it less worrying. I’d also add information about DROP later in the article.

The current wording of the Irc#Registration section is:

In order to reduce spam, #archlinux and #archlinux-offtopic have the channel mode set to +r and +q $~a. This means you have to be identified via NickServ to be able to join these channels and send messages, respectively. If you are not registered and identified, you will be forwarded to #archlinux-unregistered.

The proposed wording is:

In order to reduce spam, #archlinux and #archlinux-offtopic have the channel mode set to +r and +q $~a. This means you have to be identified via NickServ to be able to join these channels and send messages, respectively. If you are not registered and identified, you will be forwarded to #archlinux-unregistered. The registration may be easily removed with the NickServ DROP command.

--Mpan (talk) 14:04, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Removal of channel modes info

Currently the section lists technical details, which are of value only to regular IRC users. They’re just noise for everybody else. Even users of other IRC networks, where extbans are not supported, may be confused. More so, the key part is that one has to be registered, not how channel ops achieve the effect. For this reason the entire fragment may be removed and the sentence simplified. Note this proposal intersects with the one about DROP command.

The current wording of the Irc#Registration section is:

In order to reduce spam, #archlinux and #archlinux-offtopic have the channel mode set to +r and +q $~a. This means you have to be identified via NickServ to be able to join these channels and send messages, respectively. If you are not registered and identified, you will be forwarded to #archlinux-unregistered.

The proposed wording is:

In order to reduce spam, #archlinux and #archlinux-offtopic require users to be registered in Libera.chat and identified via NickServ. If you are not registered and identified, you will be forwarded to #archlinux-unregistered.

--Mpan (talk) 14:11, 20 August 2025 (UTC)