                         General Channel Information

   $Id: channels.txt,v 1.1 2003/08/14 07:51:10 stu Exp $

   Copyright (c) 2003 by metalrock

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Hybrid supports both global and local channels. Global channels are prefixed
   with a '#' while local channels are prefixed with a '&'. Channels that begin
   with a # are visible network-wide and anyone on any server can join the channel.
   Channels that begin with a & can only be visible in the local server's channel
   listing and can only be joined if you are on the server in which the local
   channel was created. However, a remote WHOIS will show a user that is on a
   local channel, but the remote user cannot join the channel unless they use
   the server in which the local channel was created. If serverhiding is enabled
   network-wide and a remote WHOIS is done on a user in a local channel, the
   local channel they are in cannot be entered unless the person performing the
   WHOIS is on the same server. Since serverhiding is enabled, it becomes
   impossible to find which server the local channel was created on.

   If a user is known to be in a local channel, issuing WHOIS servera nick, WHOIS
   serverb nick, etc. until the local channel is seen in the WHOIS data does not
   exist. With disable_remote_commands enabled, the WHOIS is still sent (in order
   to see idle time and the away message) but the server queried will always be
   the server the user is on. The user can never use remote WHOIS to determine
   the server a user is on.

   If an abuser knows that a user is on a specific &channel, they could still
   connect to each server until they find the server showing the user in the
   local channel in a local WHOIS. The disable_local_channels, although a little
   extreme, taking away a lot of user privileges, but has been created to handle
   this risk.

   To read more about serverhiding, please read serverhide.txt.

