Private Message Restriction

Due to several security-related factors, some including spam bots and abusive users, we have made the decision to only allow private messages by registered users.

To register, use the following command:

/ns register password [email protected]

A confirmation code will be emailed to you. You will then copy the confirmation line from the email and paste it into IRC. Make sure you have no spaces before the / and no spaces after the code – a space before or after will result in the command and code not being recognized by the server or your client.

If you do not receive the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder – they are sometimes delayed. If it is not in your spam folder within about 15 minutes of having attempted to register /join #help on the network and someone will assist.

Once your registration is complete, you will need to authenticate to your NickServ account on each new reconnect. Many clients have an option to set this up for automatic authentication. Some will require you do this manually. The command is:

/ns identify YourNickServAccount yourpassword

If you are not registered and try to use the private message feature (PRIVMSG, MSG, or QUERY), you will be presented with the following notification:

:You need to be identified to a registered account to message this user

Considerations

The majority of Cuff-Link users are already registered, so this is affecting a relatively small number of people. We understand that, for some of you who are not yet registered, the reason is due to privacy concerns. If we had an alternate option for registration to confirm users, we would implement it. At this time, such a system does not exist.

We don’t use email addresses for anything but NickAccount registration, password resets, and notification that you have received a memo via MemoServ from another user. Note: The MemoServ notification option is turned off by default. We do recommend using an additional layer to protect yourself by using an email address that isn’t necessarily important or one that is specifically used for Cuff-Link, but this is advice we’ve given since the beginning.

Misconceptions

The three main concerns presented to us have been:

• Do not wish to attach anything identifiable to their use of Cuff-Link, as it is “porn” for them. While this is true of a subset of our community, it is not true of the majority - many have proper relationships or friendships that spill over into the offline world, and this happens on a regular basis. It should absolutely not be assumed that whomever you’re speaking to is only on Cuff-Link for the same purpose you are.

• Concern that emails and usage data will be sold for the purpose of monetizing Cuff-Link. This has never been a consideration nor will it be in future. Emails, the channels you choose to frequent, and any other trackable data will not be used for this purpose. In fact, chanstats are no longer tracked via services, even if you’ve enabled it due to GDPR. We have a Patreon for those who wish to contribute financially, and from time to time, we offer up perk services attached to that, but your data is not for sale now nor will it be. We are extremely anti-spam and pro-privacy.

• Revealing email address – your email address is stored in the services database for the purposes outlined in point 1. By default we hide your email address in a /ns info call, so unless you manually allow it to be viewable, non-opers cannot see it.

Assistance

We are available in #help to assist with registration issues and help you get clients set up to auto-identify wherever possible or make it simple to do so after registration where an automated option isn’t available in your client.