Get a Cloak on IRC
A virtual host or vhost (cloak, as they are called on freenode) hides your IP address when logged on to IRC. For example, if you are user@127.0.0.1 a cloak will change that to user@unaffiliated/user, or something similar. Note that this article is specific to the freenode IRC network.
Contents
Steps
- Register your nickname with NickServ. You can get more detailed instructions by using the help command (
/msg NickServ help register). - Join
#freenode. You will require an actual Choose an IRC Client for this part. - Request an unaffiliated cloak. Ask nicely. The staff will usually request you wait about 2 weeks if you just registered the nickname. If you are with a project that is registered on freenode, ask the staff of the project if you can have a cloak that shows affiliated with the project, for example user@Wikipedia/User.
Tips
- As stated above, you can get a cloak showing you're affiliated with a project. The project's contact will have to give freenode staff permission to cloak you with their project cloak. Now that the PDPC is gone, you can't have donor cloaks anymore.
Warnings
- Make sure you identify to NickServ before entering any channels, otherwise your IP address will show.
- Use SASL if your client supports it. SASL is an identification protocol that can be used to authenticate yourselves before you fully connect to the network. That way, you will be cloaked before you join channels and hence your IP address won't be shown in channels. See SASL Documentation
- If you have a project cloak, don't troll or otherwise be disruptive on IRC as it reflects poorly on the project and you can lose your project cloak that way.
