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LIVE! IRC Chat
Address: irc.esper.net
Channel: #essentials
Free IRC Client (Install): xChat
Web Clients (No Install): Mibbit
Ticket system: Assembla

Channel Info

What can we help with?

The primary purpose of the channel is to provide live support for Essentials and GroupManager. Questions about other plugins or topics may or may not be answered, but priority is given to Essentials and GroupManager questions.

Who is who?

Most people in the channel are not affiliated with the project and are either there to support the project or to receive help themselves. People with 'voice' (usually with a +), are people the Essentials Team have acknowledged as being knowledgeable and generally helpful in the channel.
Lain is the channel help bot, who auto replies to common issues and command triggers.

How to ask for help

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a real-time chat where you can talk to other people from around the planet. This article is meant to help you understand how to IRC works socially and how to get the most out of it.

General Etiquette

Don't ask to ask

It's a bad manner if someone enters a channel and asks "May I ask a question?" or "Can anyone help me?". Although that may be polite in normal human interaction it does not work that way on IRC. You are supposed to just ask your question right away.

Be precise

There is nothing worse than "My Essentials doesn't work." or "My GroupManager doesn't work.". How are others supposed to help you when you don't give them any information? Make sure you include at least this information:

What did you try to accomplish? (I tried to type /motd) What has happened (wrongly) instead? (But it just says Error: null) What versions are you running? (I am using Craftbukkit 1.1 and Essentials 2.8.2) Are there error message or log files? (There is a error in the server log) Has it ever worked? What did you change? (I just updated WorldGuard) If all this information is included then you will have a high chance of getting a useful reply.

Do not flood the channel - use a pastebin

Sometimes you need to show others more than one line. Perhaps parts of your configuration files or a log file. Never just copy and paste larger amounts of text right into the channel. Always use a pastebin. Pastebins are public services (web sites) where you can paste your text and everybody can access them as a URL. Just paste your contents there and send the URL into the channel. That should allow everybody who's interested to take a look. If you type .paste in channel, you'll get a list of the pastebin's favoured at the moment.

Read the topic and join messages

When you join the channel you will be greeted with some messages, these will cover the recent news or issues for example "Use version 2.8.2.2 if you have a problem with item blacklists". The information was put here for a reason, and usually answers the most asked for questions.

Tell what you are doing

Others only know what you tell them. If you change things silently then nobody will know about it. The worst thing you can do is say: "I changed something. Now I have another problem." This will get you ignored in no time. If you expect help you need to work with the supporters.

Do not be demanding

IRC is a stateless medium. Anyone can join and quit at any time. People will often be doing other things while sitting in the channel, but stay there because they like staying there. Nobody is paid for helping you. So if someone is making lunch while answering your questions, you'd best be patient or they might decide they'd rather enjoy it in peace.

Do not repeat yourself

Asking the same question every minute is annoying. If anyone in the channel isn't paying attention then they will neither read you the second and third time. And those who came back from lunch or sleep will likely see in their "lastlog" what has happened lately. This is too demanding.

Long lines are better than short lines

Often in other message mediums, people are drawn to sending 2 or 3 word lines, as if they need to press enter every 5 seconds or an island is going to explode. If you spend a moment on what your trying to write, and write full sentences, you'll find the process goes a lot smoother. Of course this extends to spamming for attention. If you sent a message to the channel, it will generally be read, if you start spamming, people will simply ignore you, or remove you from the channel.

Read the auto replies

While the auto reply messages in IRC channels, might not always look like they address the specific issue your having, they generally work on a rough match on what you say. So if your having an issue with a certain type of signs, then you might get a reply regarding sign options, following the advice or reading the linked to wiki page might just allow you to help yourself, as whoever wrote the wiki page has probably heard your specific issue a hundred times.

Lets not be Rude

Do not /msg people without asking

You can either talk to others in a channel publicly or /msg them privately. However the latter is considered rude. Don't occupy a single person for your purpose. Others may as well be interested in a solution to your problem, too.

No advertising

While it is generally accepted you will have a personal opinion on what are the best servers and plugins, you should not link to or advertise any servers, services or other products unless directly asked.

Unintended rudeness

Sometimes you may feel that others are rude. You may get a response like "Update your bukkit. Restart the server. Read the wiki" Although this is a very brief reply it is likely not meant to be rude. IRC is often like human interaction without all the friendly bits. Other people have probably answered your question a dozen of times today and they just want to help you solve the problem - not become close friends with you. Don't be offended by it. The people don't mean it.

Speak English

Generally the only universal language spoken is English. It doesn't matter if your English is bad. Most people in the world speak something different than English, too. But it will generally be the only language all people in the channel know. Speaking in another language limits the number of people who can reply to you and others can't follow what is going on so it's considered rude.

Don't be lazy - read the documentation

If people tell you to read the documentation then you should do so. Never say: "I'm too lazy. Come on. Just tell me what I need to do." This will get you ignored for all eternity. However you can expect to be told where to find the documentation. But if you get an URL then get it and read it. If the documentation is too technical or you don't understand certain sections then say: "I have now read section 'configuring yaml' of the URL you gave me and I understand what groups are in general. But how do I set up mirroring users specifically?"

Give others a chance to answer

Even if you are in a hurry you should allow other participants some time to answer. Sometimes you are lucky and a helpful reply appears within a few seconds. But it is not uncommon that you will have to wait 10-20 minutes until the right person who is familiar with your problem talks to you. The pattern looks something like this:

10:07 Foo joins
10:07 Foo> How can I translate the messages?
10:09 Foo quit

Then at 10:14 the developer gets back from lunch but can't help you any more because you gave up too quickly.

Answer the questions that you get asked

It may sometimes be hard to follow all the conversation on IRC. But if people are trying to help you and need to ask you a few questions please answer them all. If you get asked three questions and only answer one or keep asking the same question time and again (showing that you don't read what you get asked) you risk to be ignored. Show some initiative and your problem will likely be fixed within a few minutes.

Tell others about the solution

It doesn't help anyone if you just say "Nevermind, found it." and quit the channel. Please tell the others what the solution to your problem was so everybody can learn from it. You will not look stupid for doing so.

Remember

Stay if you can

Using IRC is a matter of give and take. At the beginning you will surely you'll have questions over questions. Just ask them and be grateful if you get attention and replies. Others do not expect more than a "Thank you." for their help.

If you can, please consider staying online in the channel. The more knowledge you gain the more you can help other people. And you probably get to know people you like to hang out with - even if it's just virtually.

Careful who you trust

When getting responses be careful who you trust. Some people just want to feel important and reply to you although they have no more clue than you do. Perhaps even an "educated guess" might help - just make clear if it's something that was tried and worked. Some people are even jokers who want to be funny by telling you how to erase your harddisk. So verify others' proposals instead of applying them blindly.

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