Foldit uses IRC to manage its in-game chat. Anyone may connect to our IRC server either through game or through external IRC clients. As at December 2014 the Foldit IRC system hides user IP addresses.
Turn off in Game Chat You can block non-group chat: Click "Menu" and then click "General Options", a menu appears where you can check and "Disable non-group chat", this will take effect when you next restart Foldit.
External IRC Chat
Although the Fold.it ingame chat is sufficient for many players, some folders (foldit players) prefer to access chat in an enhanced manner - whether for eyesight problems, the ability to click links, the ability to copy/paste, etc.
Fold.it provides an IRC channel for those players, which can be accessed through either a stand alone IRC client (a program, for example IceChat for PCs or Colloquy for Macs), or a web-based IRC client (requiring no additional program installation for your computer, for example Mibbit - full and easy instructions for Mibbit HERE).
Fold.it Chat Guidelines available here.
Settings
As of this writing (5-26-2011), the IRC settings to access the Fold.it IRC channel are:
Server irc.fold.it
Port 6667
Channel: #global
There are 2 methods for using IRC successfully with Fold.it.
New nickname for IRC purposes
Requires you to register a new nickname for IRC purposes only with Fold.it - this is an account that you do not play the game with! It is only used for IRC. To create a foldit account for IRC, you will need a second email address. If you are in a team, you will need to have the new foldit nick join your team, also - please contact your team admin for any instructions.
It is recommended that you use your current user name with the appendage "IRC", so "folder" would have the second account as "folderIRC".
Download a stand alone IRC client (program) that will work with your operating system (or use a web browser based chat like mibbit - goto IRC Set up - MIBBIT (web based IRC) for simple setup) - Colloquy is good for Mac OS; kvirc, chatzilla, ice-chat, mIRC and xchat are just a few of many for Windows; Pidgin for linux.
Log onto Fold.it with the IRC account name and go to that user page. Open the IRC client, and do a new connection with irc.fold.it, Port 6667, and the nick & IRC key from that page. Caution - if you have already tried to use that IRC client to connect with Fold.it under the second method below, please be sure to have all that connection information deleted so that you start fresh!
Each IRC client is different, and some will have you input the IRC key again if you are joining a team chat room (which are secured).
Have the client save your information. If possible, do not allow auto-join.
That's all you need to do - from here on, that name & the IRC are completely independent of your game client - you don't need to have your game client closed when you log into IRC like the second method below. Many clients will give you a list of rooms to join, so you do not need to know the commands - but the most common is simply "/join #anyroom" without the quotes, with one space between join and #, and substituting the room you want for "anyroom".
Using current fold.it nickname
You can use your usual Fold.it nickname and the information in your page - where you will find the IRC key (password) that all IRC clients will require to allow you into Fold.it's channel. For this method - before you start to log in - you MUST have your Fold.it game closed! You must also be logged into the Fold.it website to be able to see your IRC key on your user page.
---Updated Mibbit info (6-11-2013)
To access the channel using mibbit (a web based IRC) simply go to this mibbit link http://wbe002.mibbit.com/?server=irc.fold.it&channel=%23global&promptPass=1 (be sure to have Javascript enabled).
- Type your user name into the "Nick" box.
- Type your IRC key from your user page on the Fold.it website into the "Password" box.
- Click Connect. (Thanks to Judecca for the easy link!)
Once that has been accepted, type "/nick usernameIRC" without the quotation marks, but substitute your user name with the appendage IRC for "username" - for instance, "folder" becomes "folderIRC". This is necessary because Fold.it only allows you to be on the server - ingame and/or in the server IRC chat - only once per name.
- To join a group chat room using the second method:
- If you want to join your secured team chat room, then after that page has accepted your new name, type "/join #teamname" (whatever the team name is). You should see a new tab with your team name on it.
Then, and only then, you can open your Fold.it game, using the second method. Once you've done this a few times, it's really very easy...
This second method also works for a stand-alone IRC client.
External IRC for Group Rooms (special instructions for Group Admins):
- (Note: this does not apply to mibbit using a nickname for IRC purposes, no problem with manual or automatic authenticating)
The foldit IRC server (as of this writing) appears to attempt to allow a folder into the group room before authenticating when the connection is interrupted or when logging in from a different IP address.
Because of this, many folders can find themselves "banned" from their group chat room.
Unless a teammate who has ops is in that room to unban, a team member can be unable to access their group chat until someone with ops shows up (the global mods are unable to help in this situation).
There are steps that a group manager can take to minimize this, and allow anyone on external IRC to unban themselves.
1. For any folder in your group who is using IRC, give an access level of 50. Do this through your external IRC client by typing in the following:
/msg chanserv access TeamName add FolderName 50
A ChanServ window will open in your external IRC which will tell you that the access level for that teammate has been changed (the default level is 30). You will notice that the next time that player logs in, they will automatically be listed as an op in your room.
2. Anyone who has ops status (level 50) in the room has the ability to unban themselves in their external irc client by typing:
/msg chanserv unban #TeamName
Please note: if the #TeamName appears as a link (if copy/pasted from a notepad) it must be de-linked to work.
Other Useful Commands for Group Admins
This information is useful when the server has had outages that have caused major problems with IRC.
Occasionally a Group Admin needs to look at their Access List to determine which players have which access levels. This command will return a list in the chanserv window of all team players and their access levels. This can be done by typing:
/msg chanserv access #TeamName list
And occasionally a group admin will want to manually delete a player name from the list, which can be done by typing:
/msg chanserv access #TeamName del FolderName
Alternate IRC
Alternate IRC site:
- [[1]]
- Channel #foldit_global
- Bonus, use /EMBED to create a custom URL that prefills the nick and channel
For IRC client:
- irc.he.net
- Port 6667
- Channel #foldit_global
Alternate IRC server:
- irc.uk.mibbit.net
- Channel #foldit_global
News
2/11/2011
website and IRC server was down for 2 hours
11/15/2010 More connection problems
- Some new problems today. Currently website is up and down.
- Chat server can be accessed through an IRC client like Chatzilla or mibbit.
- All permissions seem to have been removed again, so dont be surprised to see unfamiliar names popping up in your group channel.
- irc.fold.it
- Port 6667
- Channel #global
11/03/2010 Fold.it IRC changes
- http://fold.it/portal/user/me/edit/IRC, Select Fix IRC Group Chat Permissions, then Click Save
- Log into Fold.it website, navigate to http://fold.it/portal/user/me, Under Profile, note IRC Nick and IRC Key
- Use IRC Nick and IRC Key to log into Fold.it IRC externally
- Group manager may be able to manage their IRC channel. If you are the group founder or manager, enter feedback or contact Fold.it to resolve any channel issues
Update 10/19/2010
Alternate IRC since the Fold.it chat server is down....
For web IRC - Moved up