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+# $EPIC: ircuser.txt,v 1.3 2006/09/19 10:52:37 sthalik Exp $
+======Synopsis:======
+__ircuser__ <username>
+======About usernames, registration, and identd:======
+Whenever you connect to an irc server, the client sends some information
+about you to the server (``registration'').  One of the pieces of infor-
+mation it sends is your "username".  This is supposed to be the name of
+the account you are logged into.  The server treats this username as
+nothing more than a fallback value; a hint.  The server does not trust
+the client to send trustworthy data (and why should it?  The user has
+control over the client. ;-)
+By default, the server always queries your username by asking the ident
+(auth) service that is running on your machine (using RFC 1413).  If your
+host is running identd, then the value returned by identd will be used as
+your username and the "hint" provided at registration time is ignored.
+If your host is not running identd, then the value provided at registration
+time is used, but is prepended with a ~ (tilde) to warn other irc users
+that the username was not authenticated.
+It is a good idea to be running an identd, and many servers on large public
+networks absolutely require that you be running identd before they will
+accept your registration.  This is for your protection, rather than being
+an annoyance...
+In the modern irc world, most of the irc users are running windows, where
+this is no concept of a username, and hence the username you see for them
+is ultimately provided by the client.  Most reputable windows clients
+provide their own identd server which just returns the same username that
+the client provided at registration time.  Therefore, the username that
+you get for a user is not really of much value at all, even if it is
+"authenticated".
+One of the features of the identd service is that if you ask it for the
+username of a connection that does not exist, it will return an error
+code.  A popular irc attack is to forge many irc connections (and
+registration attempts) from a victim's ip address so many times as to
+annoy an operator enough into falsely K-lining the victim for running
+clonebots.
+Every time a connection is made to an irc server, the server asks the
+identd service on the connecting host what the username is for the new
+connection.  If the connection is fraudulent (forged), identd will return
+an error, and the server will consider the connection non-authenticated.
+Thus, if a server forbids all non-authenticated users, then by rule all
+connections on the server have been positively confirmed by an identd
+service running on the connecting host to be valid and truthful.  It is
+therefore possible to hold responsible people who do rude things to others
+since it is not possible to forge connections with others' addresses.
+There are three lessons here:
+) DO run an identd service, even if it is one that lets you control
+      what it returns as your username.  The server isn't interested in
+      what your username is, only that the connection actually came from
+      you.  Running an identd service is your first line of defense from
+      others who would try to get you in trouble.
+) DON'T run an identd service that returns a dummy username for all
+      requests valid or invalid.  That will make it look like you really
+      *are* running clonebots and will get you in trouble.
+) DON'T run an identd service that returns an error for all requests
+      valid or invalid.  That makes it look like your (valid) connections
+      are actually forgeries and many large public servers don't want any
+      forged connections.
+Do your part.  Run identd for the good of IRC.
+======Description:======
+You can use this command to change the default "hint" that is sent by
+EPIC to the server every time you establish a new server connection.
+This "hint" is overridden by whatever your identd server returns, and
+you **are** running an identd server, right? ;-)  Because the "hint" is
+generally discarded, being able to set the "hint" is a moot point.
+You must, of course, [[reconnect command|reconnect]] after you use
+__ircuser__ before your new username will be seen to other users (if at
+all).