Video Tutorial: How to Register Your Nick

| Nov 22, 2010 | 3 comments

Registering your online handle (known as your “nick”) on WyldRyde gives you a great number of benefits that will ultimately make your experience on WyldRyde that much better.

What are the benefits of registering?

Some of the benifits from having a registered nick include:

  • The ability to protect your nick
    Registering your nick ensures that you are the only one able to use it.  This eliminates the need to worry about someone stealing your nick or impersonating you on IRC.
  • The ability to register channels
    Registered  WyldRyde users are able to register channels (also known as chat rooms) of their own on WyldRyde.  Registration is necessary to do this because each channel registration needs to be associated with a registered nick.  Obviously, this cannot be done if you do not register.
  • The possibility of becoming voiced or op’d in channels
    Often times when a user proves themselves to be trustworthy in a channel, the owner of said channel will give them “status” in the channel.  User statuses are associated with nicks, and without registering you will make it impossible for a channel owner to “promote” you within the room.
  • Qualification for a VHost
    WyldRyde allows for registered users to request a virtual hostname (also known as a VHost) to mask the hostname assigned to them by their ISP.  Again, this is something that is associated with the users WyldRyde identity, meaning that in order to obtain a VHost the user must be registered.

How do I register?

Registering your nick is by no stretch of the imagination a difficult process, and in this tutorial I will walk you through said process step by step.

First off, you’re going to need an IRC client.  There are a number of desktop clients that you can download and use on your computer, however you can also use our web-based chat client if you cannot or do not wish to install software onto your computer.

Upon connecting to WyldRyde (use “/connect irc.wyldryde.org” in your client if you’re not using the web-based chat), the first thing you will want to do is change your nick to something that you’d like to register.  I always recommended putting thought into your nick selection, because even though you can change it down the road, it’s good practice to keep a consistent name.  Once you have pondered your nick selection, use the /nick command (type “/nick” followed by your desired nickname).  This will change your nickname.

Once you have changed your nick, you’ll want to register it through NickServ – the nickname services bot on WyldRyde.  To do this, you need to type “/ns register” followed by your desired password and email address.  It’s best practice to use a strong password that would be difficult (if not impossible) for another user to guess.  While we do not check the validity of email addresses, I always recommended that you enter your real email address, because this will allow us to assist you with password resets in the event that you forget your password.  Below is an example of the registration command.

How do I identify?

Of course, once you register your nick you will need to identify upon returning to WyldRyde.  If you are using the web-based chat client, identifying is as simple as providing your password in the log-in box.  The same can also be said for many modern-day IRC clients such as XChat (Windows and Linux) and Textual (Mac OS X).

However, if you have a client that does not have a built-in option for handling NickServ passwords, you can simply use the /identify command (“/indentify” followed by your password) to identify with NickServ.  To automatically identify, you may also look into your client’s “connect commands” options to automatically send the identification command upon connecting to WyldRyde.

What if I need help?

If you find that you require assistance in registering your nick, feel free to stop by the #help channel on WyldRyde (/join #help), or connect via our web-based chat client.  For a complete list of commands available through NickServ, visit the NickServ commands page.

Filed Under: FAQ • How To

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