At what point can people see that I'm in their IRC channel?
reddit / irc

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[deleted] · 2013-02-08 23:17

This is dumb; I realize that:

I want to check and see if someone is still keeping their IRC
channel/chatrooms alive. I am the only other person besides them that
ever logs on. If he's keeping it alive, it means that he is hoping I
will talk to him. If not, it means he's accepted stupid circumstances
and I'll probably never see him again.

When I sign in to the chat, first I connect to a channel and then it
lists available rooms. My question is: will he see that I've checked
up on him if I only connect to the channel (and don't join a chat
room)?

(I'm using Colloquy and I assume it's similar to most other clients.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
aMunster · 2013-02-09 00:07

I'm no pro, so bear with me. I assume that "channel" means server, and
room is, well, room.

If you connect to a server, I believe people can /Whois you as long as
you're connected. They would not otherwise see you connect. Maybe if
they run the actual server, but I don't know how much powers admins
have. If only want to know if the server is active (and use this to
assume the channels are still there), then just ping it from a command
prompt.

Don't assume too much. I mean, do what you think is right. You can't
possibly be the only two that connect to this server unless it is run
for personal use, like out of his home so to speak. Otherwise if you
are worried about your identity, use a proxy or at least change your
nickname.

~~This seems to do more with missed connections, good or bad.~~ If you
want to talk to him, why aren't you the one to idle and see if HE
shows up?

EDIT! If it is any of the ex boyfriends that you've outlined in your
comment history, let bygones be bygones. Unless it is for closure.
Quick disappearances make me unhappy. Idle in IRC, have a final wrap
up talk, and then leave it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[deleted] · 2013-02-09 01:27

[deleted]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
aMunster · 2013-02-09 01:44

Very well. In that case, pinging the server should be enough.

You seem like one of those creative types, so I'll explain the Mac
side first.

Finder-> type terminal. -> type ping google.com     Well, his IP
address.

You also seem practical. Here's the windows side:

Open start menu, type cmd. Type ping google.com, etc.

This appears as innocuous. Pinging or otherwise lightly trying to log
into something you shouldn't is part of the background radiation of
the Internet. Tons of zombie machines do it, so you'll be fine. I have
90% certainty.

Best of luck. Chasing down exes for closure or having plenty of
experience with which to provide advice is wonderful. Sure beats the
alternative :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[deleted] · 2013-02-09 02:59

[deleted]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
kellyzdude · 2013-02-09 03:26

telnet [domain] 6667

Either you'll get rejected, (time out, connection refused, etc) or
you'll get the NOTICE AUTH lines for checking host etc, or you'll
connect and see nothing. If you connect and see nothing, try entering
junk -- you should get a 451 (not registered) error. In any of the
latter cases you'll prove the IRC server is up. It could still be
logged, but most IRC servers I've seen don't bother announcing a
connection until the user 'registers' (sends NICK and USER lines to
identify itself).