At 04:57 PM 8/31/01 -0400, you wrote:
> Hello, I am writing to inquire what the +g usermode does?
>Thanks! Pete
The +g user mode was introduced several versions ago for HACK wallops
from servers. At the time they were introduced, script kiddies were
causing deliberate desynchs which caused the wallops to appear,
often with obscene channel names, and in any case creating large
amounts of nuisance traffic for persons set +w.
Therefore, HACK wallops were moved to being DESYNC messages. The new
user mode +g was added to see DESYNC messages, which appear as
WALLOPS to the client. This enabled persons to set mode +w without
getting HACK wallops in the mix as well (unless they also set +g).
+g was probably of greater usefulness in times past, when many lusers
would use the +w mode to see oper 'wallops abuse' as it was called in
the day, but had little desire to see the HACK wallops. Both modes
were made unavailable to non-opers in the last two patchlevels of ircu
by order of CFV-165 (a #define-controlled, but Undernet-mandatory
feature); this means 1) most people +w will also be +g, as ircu by
default sets both modes on when a client successfully opers, and 2)
from the script kiddie's POV, there is far less point to this method
of flooding, due to the small number of users the flood traffic is
sent to (not to mention that those who *do* receive the traffic are
*all* persons who have the power to gline said script kiddie).
Additionally, the network topology hiding that is also part of the
CFV-165 mandatory #define package likely makes it well-nigh
impossible for script kiddies to reliably locate pairs of servers
suitable for engineering these deliberate desynchs.
-- Amarande
