The most common variety of channel takeover uses disconnections caused by a netsplit; this is called riding the split. After such mass disconnections, a channel may be left without users, allowing the first rejoining user to recreate the channel and gain operator status. When the servers merge, any pre-existing operators retain their status, allowing the new user to kick out the original operators and take over the channel.
A simple prevention mechanism involves timestamping (abbreviated to TS), or checking the creation dates of the channels being merged. This was first implemented by Undernet (ircu) and is now common in many IRC servers. If both channels were created at the same time, all user statuses are retained when the two are combined; if one is newer than the other, special statuses are removed from those in the newer channel.
Additionally, a newer protection involving timestamping is used when a server splits away from the main network (when it no longer detects that IRC services are available), it disallows anyone creating a channel to be given operator privileges.
Read more about this topic: Internet Relay Chat Takeover
Famous quotes containing the words riding and/or split:
“The wanton Troopers riding by
Have shot my Fawn and it will die.
Ungentle men! They cannot thrive
To kill thee. Thou ne’er didst alive
Them any harm: alas, nor could
Thy death yet do them any good.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring factions.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)