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What do those quit messages mean?

Excess flood
This quit message shows that you attempted to send too much data to the IRC server, in too short a time period, and the server thought you were attempting to flood it. A good way to prevent this is to enable flood protection in your IRC client. mIRC users may click File -> Options -> IRC -> Flood, and then check Enable flood protection. The default values should be sufficient for most users.

Max sendQ exceeded
This quit message occurs when you failed to receive the data from the server quick enough, in other words the IRC server tried to send you too much data and closed the connection. This is often caused if you perform a LIST of all IRC channels on QuakeNet, or if you execute a WHO query on a large channel. If you have a poor internet connection you may find yourself getting disconnected with this reason.

Ping timeout
All IRC servers periodically send what is known as a PING request, to check that the client connection is still alive. The IRC client has to respond to this request within a certain time period, or the connection is deemed to no longer be alive and is closed (with this quit message). If you find yourself getting a lot of Ping timeout errors you may need to try a different (preferably closer) QuakeNet server; see here for a complete listing of public servers.

Connection reset by peer
This quit message is caused when the IRC client closes the connection to the server uncleanly, and the server doesn't realise the connection has been terminated. This leaves behind what is known as a ghost user, which gives the appearance that the client is still connected, even though it isn't. When the server attempts to send data to the client, it realises the connection no longer exists and it is reset. This causes the termination of the ghost user, with the aforementioned quit messsage.

Read error: EOF from client
This quit message is displayed when the client terminated the connection to the IRC server prematurely, and the server expected more data. This is often caused if the IRC client software crashes or exits suddenly, when it doesn't have the chance to close the connection gracefully.

Write error, closing link
This quit message means that the IRC server, for some reason or another, failed to send data to the client. Due to this the client was disconnected.

Broken pipe
This quit message is caused when there is a sudden break in the connection between the IRC server and client. This can occur for many different reasons, but is generally due to the volatile nature of the internet.

*.net *.split
This quit message shows that the user was on a server that split from the rest of the IRC network, known as a net split. When the servers reconnect, the user will rejoin all channels he/she was in and the server will also give that user voice or operator status as necessary.

Nick collision
This quit message is caused when two or more users change to the same nickname at the same time. Obviously only one person can have a nickname at any time, so the server disconnects the users.

Older nick overruled
This quit message is only seen after a netsplit, when servers reconnect to each other. If you changed nick during a netsplit, and a user on a server that split already had the nickname, then you will be disconnected to allow the older user to continue with that nickname.

G-lined
This quit message is displayed when a user is banned from the entire IRC network, for various reasons. QuakeNet always sends the G-Line reason, if you can't see it you should check your IRC client may be hiding it. The Rules FAQ provides a section explaining the reasons for disconnection or banning from the network.

K-lined
This quit message is displayed when a user is banned from a particular IRC server, for various reasons. As for G-lines, QuakeNet always sends the K-line reason. On QuakeNet, K-lines and G-lines are effectively the same thing.

Killed (*.quakenet.org (reason))
This quit message is displayed when a user is forceably disconnected from the IRC network. The reason is displayed in the quit message. Two of the less obvious automatic kill messages are:

* * You are violating network rules, ID: X.
* Reserved Nickname (ID: X)

The first one is used if you flood/spam/advertise and the kill itself is caused by S. The second one is used if you change your nick to something like Q? or S_, ie. anything that resembles our service or staff names and is thus forbidden.

This help article's short URL is http://quakenet.org/help/59

Other help articles under General Help