Be polite to dumb terminals

If you are so unfortunate that you have no choice but to IRC from a computer running Windows, and are forced to use the IRC client known to the world as ``mIRC'', please refrain from using any colored characters in this channel; the codes this client generates can render a dumb UNIX terminal useless, which is very inconvenient for the person using such a terminal to IRC. (Note that Microsoft's so-called telnet client is susceptible to this.) You will be kicked without warning if you use colors in the channel.

If you are using the popular IRC client known as BitchX, then you are kindly asked to set nick completion and auto away off. These two default settings send bold characters to the channel which as stated can be very annoying. Failure to do so will result in a kickban. To get rid of this annoying feature, append the following to ~/.ircrc:

FSET FORMAT_ACTION %K %W$1 %n$4-
FSET FORMAT_ACTION_AR %K %Y$1 %n$4-
FSET FORMAT_ACTION_CHANNEL %K %Y$1/$3 %n$4-
FSET FORMAT_NICK_AUTO $0:$1-
FSET FORMAT_NICK_COMP $0:$1-
FSET FORMAT_SEND_ACTION %K %W$1 %n$3-
FSET FORMAT_SEND_ACTION_OTHER %K %n-> %W$1%n/%c$2 %n$3-
FSET FORMAT_SEND_AWAY [Away ($strftime($1 %a %b %d %I:%M%p %Z))] [$tdiff2(${time() - u})] [BX-MsgLog $2]
FSET FORMAT_VERSION $0+$4$5 by panasync - $2 $3

Typing bold words, or even complete bold sentences will result in an immediate kick without warning for the very same reasons as above for color usage in the channel.

Shouting (using ALL CAPS) or repeating the same character many times is impolite, too. (Example: ``WILL SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE????????????'' is someone asking for a kick on any number of levels.)

Along the same lines, don't ask the same question (or post the same comment) over and over again. This is known as ``parroting'' and is a waste of everyone's bandwidth and screen real estate. It's also a neato way to scream that the parrot is a complete loser, and such losers don't stay on #Linux long without being kicked.

If your terminal is one of those that's been corrupted by such a lame IRC client, try executing reset or stty -sane on the command line. That may fix the problem without forcing you to log back out and back in.

To conclude, it is recommended to read this, as it deals with one of the annoying practices of IRC users.