Let's chat <3
ConnectYou agree to the Terms Of Service and Privacy Policy when you are using the SexPosit network.
Connecting for the first time
Automatic login
In the web chat, after registering you can enable the "Login to an account" option from the server settings and adding your password there, so that you don't have to type your password every time you connect!
Getting all chat rooms (channels)
In the web chat, after logging in, to get a list of all chat rooms (channels), use the "list" button next to the search which are on the top right side! Make sure you aren't in the "#Server Notices" page, because there the icon doesn't show up! If you are in that page, just press the server icon on the left again!
Keep in mind
The network is still pretty new, so don't be surprised if there's nobody around sometimes.
Host & Ports
NOTICE: The "Websocket Port" is the one needed for the web chat.
The "Direct IRC Port" is the one needed for the clients described in "Other ways to connect", below.
Server Host
sexposit.net
Websocket Port
8097
Direct IRC Port
6697
Improve Privacy
Disable Previews: Previews are used for automatically showing images and website information from all sent links, but somebody can send a link which they control, to which the client will automatically connect, exposing your IP address to them. Even if using a proxy, it will still expose your real IP address. Sometimes it's not a direct connection, but a third party server is used to fetch the information, in which case you're trusting that third party with your privacy.
Use A Proxy: The best options currently are Tor and I2P. Be careful about using single hop proxies (especially with no encryption), as they are often used to collect information or exploit users!
Other ways to connect
Here's a list of other useful modern clients.
Desktop
Improve Privacy
Disable all CTCP responses: These expose information like the local time or software version, which might be something you don't want to expose.
Disable File Transfer: It uses direct connections to other clients, so best to avoid it, unless you trust the other users and can set it up properly.
Improve Usage
Auto Login: SASL is used for logging in automatically.
Monitor: Use this command to set users for which you want to get notifications when they're online.
Filters: Ignore all messages from specified users.
Mobile
Details
About the web chat
The web chat project: ObsidianIRC - GitHub
Issues
If embedded images don't work, you can try the addon "PhotoShow", it's open source:
If the web chat doesn't work properly, you can try the alternatives mentioned in "Other ways to connect" below.
Spam filtering
Be careful about sending links, because some are filtered and can get you banned! The ones that the filters are looking for are for services like OnlyFans and etc. Mentioning the names of the services is also being filtered.
Be careful about sending the same message multiple times or sending too many messages in a short time period, some channels check for that and auto ban.
Moderation
The focus is on trying to provide users with powerful tools, rather than relying only on manual moderation by a select few. The reason for this is to avoid bias as much as possible and to give some space for users to breathe.
Please checkout the available features of your chat client! Things related to ignoring users or filtering messages are important!
This is not to avoid responsibility! It's to make users aware that they have tools as well and they should use them. Very often moderation is grey, there's no clear answer. One of the goals in the future is to allow some democratic way of filtering users and messages network wide, but until then, it can still be done locally by every user for them only.
Advertising
As stated in the Terms Of Service, advertising is not allowed. This includes people sharing links to OnlyFans accounts and so on. The reason for this is, to avoid making the network only a place to exchange services or products, that's not the goal of the network at all!
Often times in real time chats, discussions get interrupted by pure link spamming. Sometimes people get manipulated via private messages only to get hit with a link at the end. This is not okay and the only reasonable approach currently seems to be disallowing this behavior network wide.
However, sharing a Mastodon, Lemmy or similar platform account name is fine if it's not used only for commercial purposes.
SexPosit is NOT against sex work! Sex workers deserve respect and appropriate conditions and pay. However SexPosit is against manipulation and spam, so until a proper balanced solution is found for this, it'll remain filtered.
Extra IRC Info (if you're curious)
You don't need to know details in order to use IRC, this is for people who love details.
If you're curious for more detailed information about IRC clients: here you go
If you don't know about IRC in general and are curious to learn, here are some cool links:
Internet Relay Chat by The Serial Port (YouTube documentary)
History of IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
Why not another protocol/platform?
Yes, there are other protocols available, Matrix, XMPP and others, but the issue with them is that their specifications are very big or convoluted and don't align with the simplicity SexPosit is aiming for. Matrix didn't have a replacement for JSON for a while and the reference implementation of the server is a huge and very heavy Python project. There was an attempt to rewrite it in Go and shrink it, but that never worked fully. Even if they succeed with that it's some among many issues that are piling up.
The IRC specification has a lot of undefined behavior and things which were written in a very confusing way, but as a base it's very lightweight and flexible. Most of the servers are very efficient and understandable, same for the clients. The IRCv3 extensions are pushing the protocol into modern times finally, although progress with that is veeeeryyy slow. For what the SexPosit project wants to achieve, IRC is more than enough.
Proprietary platforms like Discord, Slack, etc. are just a huge pain to work with and definitely not privacy friendly. When dealing with NSFW topics, those platforms are extra annoying and their terms can change completely, which can destroy SexPosit in a millisecond.
Hosting the instances also allows the flexibility not to block Tor, VPNs, proxies and etc. This is important for users who live in countries which are much more hostile to individual freedom.