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Thread: Long time since the last update? WHAT'S NEW?

  1. #1
    Rizon Staff Jason's Avatar
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    Default Long time since the last update? WHAT'S NEW?

    Well, as the topic states, it has been a long time since our last update.

    So does that mean that we haven't been working on anything new?

    Before I answer that, a short story:



    Once while visiting another IRC network, I was reading a discussion between the network staff and its users.
    During the conversation, a user asked the question "Does the network have any planned features/updates/changes coming?" to which the staff replied: "No, do you have any suggestions for any?".

    IRC networks are very similar to businesses and many other things when it comes to this aspect. Never should management of such a thing not be trying to come up with new plans for the future.

    If Rizon ever has a point in which it does not have a plan for things to come, that will be the day in which I step down as a member of the network.



    All of that being said, yes, Rizon has plans for new features and upgrades for the network.

    It has been a little while since our last upgrade because the new upgrades we have planned, as many have heard from rumors, are quite extensive.




    The first upgrade in which we have plans has to do with FunServ.
    For those of you unfamiliar with Funserv, see past News updates that tell what it is and how to use it.

    FunServ adds many features that make Rizon quite unique from other networks. For a while we were upgrading this service quite often, constantly adding new things.
    We began to tire of having to restart the entire thing just to add or fix one small thing but with the current setup that was the only option.
    The only fix to this is/was an entire rewrite of FunServ making it modular so that pieces could be upgraded without the whole thing having to be restarted.

    At this point in time, we have a little more than half of the entire thing rewritten and made modular.
    This means that adding features to FunServ will be much quicker and easier on our end in the future, hopefully allowing us to bring several new bots with many new features to our users to enjoy.

    We are hoping to get this new FunServ running in about a month.




    Our next upgrade has to do with our actual services (NickServ/ChanServ/BotServ/etc)
    We have had a lot of time spent on our services over the last few months, adding many things to them.

    We had to start by fixing a bug that was causing our services to constantly shut down all the time, sometimes up to three times a day.
    This was an annoying thing for our users and our staff. We have since fixed this issue and our services are running quite stable (Services up 47 days, 09:45).

    We then began to add features to services on a test network.
    One of the first things we decided to add were extended fantasy commands. These allow nearly every ChanServ command to be typed and executed in the room.

    Many of our users are familiar with the current ones:

    [20:25:29] [&Jason] .op yourname
    [20:25:29] ::: mode: (Security) sets (+o yourname)

    [20:26:41] [&Jason] .kick yourname example
    [20:26:41] ::: kick: (yourname) was kicked by (Security) (example (Jason))

    While not needed, these commands are typically for fun and sometimes for the convenience of being lazy, saving the person executing the command from having to type /msg ChanServ kick #channel nickname reason.

    Those are examples of the ones currently in place, while the ones about to be posted are ones that will soon be added:

    [20:30:39] [&Jason] .set mlock +s
    [20:30:39] -Security- Mode lock on channel #services changed to +sz.
    [20:30:40] ::: mode: (Security) sets (+s)

    [20:32:04] [&Jason] .vop add adam
    [20:32:04] -Security- Adam moved to #services VOP list.

    Our goal is to make all the ChanServ commands accessible from inside of the channel.


    A few networks use a few different types of ways to add users to access lists, this was one of the reasons we chose Anope services to begin with, as it allows users to choose between using xOP lists system and the access list system.

    Along the way, another style of access list was designed using a flag based system.
    This allows channel admins and owners to give users certain flags that specify exactly what powers they have in a channel.

    While I personally must admit that this is not my preference to the way of running a channel, Rizon has always tried to give users every option available and letting them choose which method works for them.

    This being said, our dev network also has added flags:

    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- Syntax: FLAGS CHANNEL [nick [flags]]
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ-
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- This command allows you to control what users get
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- what permissions. You can only use this command if
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- ACCESSTYPE FLAGS is enabled. A list of possible
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- flags are as follows:
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ-
    [20:41:28] -ChanServ- o User is allowed to use the OP and DEOP commands
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- O User gets auto op
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- h User is allowed to use the HALFOP and DEHALFOP commands
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- H User gets auto halfop
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- v User is allowed to use the VOICE and DEVOICE commands
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- V User gets auto voice
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- a User is allowed to use the PROTECT and DEPROTECT commands
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- A User gets auto protected
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- s User can use the SET command
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- i User can use the INVITE command
    [20:41:29] -ChanServ- i User can use the GETKEY command
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- r User can use the KICK command
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- r User can use the BAN command
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- R User can use the CLEAR command
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- f User can change other users access
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- t User can use the TOPIC command
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- l User can view the access list
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- b User can not join
    [20:41:30] -ChanServ- B User has access to the fantasy commands




    Flags and extended fantasy commands should be ready to go within the next couple weeks, possibly sooner depending how long it takes us to work out the bugs we have found in the system.

    Our next feature will take a bit longer before it is added as it requires all of our Rizon servers to be restarted (not at the same time).
    This feature will allow Rizon users to log in to NickServ via an client certificate fingerprint. This is a more secure way of doing things and keeps users from having to worry about their password.
    For more information on this please see http://www.oftc.net/oftc/NickServ/CertFP. We look to have this feature added within about 2-3 months.

    The last and probably biggest feature we have planned for services is SQL.
    For those unfamiliar with SQL, it is a method of storing a database which can easily be managed and worked with by many things.

    What does this mean for the average user? Once this feature has been enabled, we can program our website to allow access to our services.
    This will mean logging into our forums using your nickname and password, registering a nickname via our website, changing your nickname password or other settings via our website, seeing who has access in a channel while in a browser.
    This will allow users to pretty well change anything on Rizon through our website. We have wanted this coded into our services for a long time, but most networks that have tried this have either been quite small and able to pull it off, or a large one that cannot design this to work in a reasonable way.

    We have found a way to make this work on Rizon and gives a lot of potential features to the network.
    This has already been tested several times and we hope to see this in about 1.5 to 2 months, and we have already begun working on the website to work with these services changes once they take place.




    I would like to thank Nol888 and c/tiger/wild/dizzy/whatevernicknameheisonthatday for their past and current work on FunServ and making it a service that our users love.
    Nol888 was also the coder responsible for our work on RizonBNC which with over 600 BNCs already has become a rather unexpected success. Feel free to check out #RizonBNC for more information on that one.

    Next I would like to thank Adam for his work on our services and helping adding all the new features we believe our users will love.
    Adam also runs a channel on Rizon known as #ChanStat which offers a free service to Rizon users for channel statistics and a map feature which shows a picture of relationships between users of the channel based on how much they talk to each other.
    Feel free to stop by his room and see how things work out, and maybe add these features to your own room.



    If you would like to test out the features that are heading to Rizon, feel free to check out our test network.
    It has the same database as Rizon, meaning you can use your current nickname and password and check out all of the features listed here and see how they work.

    Also, any bug you may find on the test network should be reported to #services on the test network. This will help to ensure that, once we are done testing the services and run them for real, there will be fewer problems.

    To check things out go to:
    /server -m [ACCESS REMOVED DUE TO USER ABUSE. GOOD JOB GUYS]



    Thank you for your time,
    and as always, if you have any other features which you think will be helpful on Rizon, leave me a message or post it here.
    Last edited by grimlock; 12-12-2009 at 06:10 PM. Reason: because
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  2. #2
    Rizon Staff darkex's Avatar
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    How would you get rid of your existing password and use key only access once you've inserted it though?

  3. #3
    Rizon Staff Blake's Avatar
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    Sounds all good to me. I have tested the new services and so far love them, really no major flaws.
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  4. #4
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    The dev net has been made more private due to certain people's inability to control their immature instincts to mess around.
    Last edited by Jason; 12-12-2009 at 10:46 PM. Reason: edited for content
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by grimlock View Post
    The dev net has been made more private due to certain people's inability to control their immature instincts to fuck around.
    Erm, using my instincts/common sense I thought it was perfectly okay to do so (but obviously I was proven wrong, somehow).

    The test server was up 3 months ago and I discovered this "bug" or "error" or whatever you call it and I even notified some operators about it, in addition to that I even reported to #services about it:

    Code:
    Session Start: Mon Sep 21 20:20:49 2009
    Session Ident: #services
    03[20:20] * Now talking in #services
    03[20:20] * Topic is 'Welcome to #Services (Services - ONLINE) | Idling will result in an auto-kickban; please ask your question. | Service Admins are @, Service Opers are % | Banned? http://kline.rizon.net/ | Help with basic info? /hop #help'
    03[20:20] * Set by fiberOptiC on Tue Oct 28 19:46:59
    13[20:20] -Security- [#services] Ask your question and it will be answered by the first available IRC operator. Do not bother asking if anyone is "here" because that is a waste of time.
    13[20:20] -guuchan- [#services] Someone attempted to send you a suspicious file? Do a /whois that_someone after you see this message. If not online, that user is most likely removed already. Note: Rizon (staff) will never send you any files on behalf of the network.
    10[20:20] <Mango-chan> hi
    10[20:20] <Mango-chan> just here to report a bug/whatever
    10[20:21] <Mango-chan> you can join keyed chans on the test server that are unkeyed
    10[20:21] <Mango-chan> and get their topic
    10[20:21] <Mango-chan> just thought i'd point it out if someone hasn't already done so
    Session Close: Mon Sep 21 20:21:49 2009
    Assuming that you guys actually pay attention to #services and assuming you guys care about it (which I heard Rizon routinely checks for bugs/whatever), I thought you guys would fix it ASAP. Therefore, 3 months later after seeing this "feature" is still there, I logically assumed it was okay to use it. But I guess my logic failed me on one of those rare occasions.

    I guess it's true that one only realizes something important after suffering loss. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for the 43200 minute kline, really.
    Last edited by Mango-chan; 12-12-2009 at 10:43 PM.

  6. #6
    Rizon Staff Jason's Avatar
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    Just because you find and report a bug does not mean it is there for your abuse. Unlike real life we are allowed to put a common sense rule into place and you abused something you knew quite well shouldn't have been. Ban stands and feel happy it wasn't worse. Anymore postings regarding this can be placed in the Help section otherwise they will be removed from here with the possibility of suspending posting abilities on the forum.
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jason View Post
    Just because you find and report a bug does not mean it is there for your abuse. Unlike real life we are allowed to put a common sense rule into place and you abused something you knew quite well shouldn't have been. Ban stands and feel happy it wasn't worse. Anymore postings regarding this can be placed in the Help section otherwise they will be removed from here with the possibility of suspending posting abilities on the forum.
    As I said, I found it and reported it 3 months ago. The fact that you guys didn't do anything made me think it was not a "bug" given the givens of how Rizon operates and given the faith I've put in the operators who make Rizon for what it is.

    Also, I would like to clarify that I'm not trying, in any way, to ask for an unban. After all, you hold the absolute authority, and you've made the decisions so being a user, I will definitely respect it.

    Thank you very much for your explanation.

  8. #8
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    I'm looking forward to the chanserv settings from within the channel(I'm lazy).
    Good job guys > and thanks Jason.

  9. #9
    Junior Member halkeye's Avatar
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    I'm very excited to hear about the cert system. If i'm assuming correctly, this means I'll no longer need to remember to identify right?

    Doesn't really matter, i'm still excited about it.

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