mod_chat_is_privileged

Gate chat by credential. Part of the bundled plug-ins.

mod_chat_is_privileged restricts who may write in main chat and who may send private messages, using a minimum credential per message type. It is the plug-in counterpart to the built-in chat_is_privileged option, adding private-message control — the usual defence against private-message spam from guests, which the core option does not cover.

Loading

plugin /var/lib/uhub/mod_chat_is_privileged.so "allow_privchat=reg allow_op_contact=guest"

Configuration

Each option is a minimum credential: a user at or above that level is allowed, everyone below is denied and told so once.

Option	Default	Description
allow_mainchat	guest	Minimum credential to write in main chat.
allow_privchat	guest	Minimum credential to send a private message.
allow_op_contact	guest	Minimum credential to private-message an operator or above. Applies when the recipient is staff.

Accepted credential names, from least to most privileged:

none, guest, user (also reg), operator (also op), super, admin — plus the bot classes bot, ubot, opbot and opubot.

Behaviour

A denied user is sent a one-time notice per category — one for main chat, one for private messages — so a client that keeps retrying does not spam them with warnings. The message itself is dropped.

allow_op_contact is checked when the recipient is an operator, super or admin, and is normally left at or below allow_privchat. That way ordinary users can always reach staff even while peer-to-peer private messaging is locked down:

# Everyone may read and write main chat.
# Only registered users may PM each other…
# …but anyone may PM an operator to ask for help.
plugin /var/lib/uhub/mod_chat_is_privileged.so "allow_privchat=reg allow_op_contact=guest"

Setting allow_op_contact above allow_privchat is allowed but rarely what you want — it makes staff harder to reach than other users.

To disable file transfers entirely rather than restrict chat, see mod_chat_only.