Mediabot can now run deliberately open IRC channels where everyone receives operator status without giving everyone the power to silence or exclude other users.

The new opt-in +Fullop chanset automatically ops every joiner and also covers users already present when the mode is enabled. Ordinary kicks, topic changes and harmless channel modes remain available: the room stays playful, not powerless.

The boundary is simple. If an ordinary operator adds a ban, quiet, mute, moderated mode, invite-only mode or another restriction that prevents someone from joining or speaking, Mediabot immediately reverses it and answers:

hey ho, c’est pas le genre de la maison

The actor is then kickbanned for ten minutes. Restrictive actions remain available to authenticated global Administrators and users with channel access level 75 or higher. Nickname text alone never grants this privilege.

The guard follows each IRC server’s advertised ISUPPORT capabilities, including status prefixes, channel-mode parameters, casemapping and batching limits. This is particularly important for modes such as q, which can mean owner status on one network and quiet on another.

The ten-minute sanction is fail-closed: Mediabot sends no IRC ban unless its expiry has first been stored durably. Existing durable masks are reused exactly, ensuring that the normal expiry worker removes the same ban that was applied.

FULL01 has been committed and pushed as 78ff90ae999135280362a0bf5ccf0d1a6e5effbf, with version 3.4dev-20260903_204916. The final gate passed 370 targeted tests, 6,852 fast-lane tests and the single precommit full suite of 18,388 tests.

The migration only registers Fullop; it enables the feature on no channel. Activation remains an explicit choice:

chanset #channel +Fullop

The next step is a normal update of the nbot instance followed by a real-world pilot on #i/o. No cardboard Death Eaters were used for the final IRC test: the live channel will provide the verdict. 🪄