Revision 81 as of 2010-01-02 01:46:44

Clear message
Edit History Actions Discussion

Info/Signup

Signup

Before signing up for a shell account at Blinkenshell make sure that you fully understand what you can and cannot use this service for. Read through the start page, the info pages and the rules especially.

Requirements

Do not continue the signup process unless you are sure you understand these basic requirements to get an account.

  • You have to be active in the chat, both during the signup process and after you get your account. You will never get an account unless you join the chat and talk to us. Participating in the community is very important!

  • You will need a valid email address.
  • You will also need some way of ensuring us of that you are a real person, not just an alias you use for hacking sites on the internet. This means you will either have to receive an SMS or making a small (0.01$) PayPal ("verified" account) transfer.

The procedure

To get an account at Blinkenshell, you must complete the five steps of the signup process. You do this by logging in to the shell server with a special account to run the signup program. The procedure is quite long, and will take atleast one or two days before you get your account activated if everything goes smooth. The long signup procedure is intended to discourage users who are not serious or are just looking to find a place to crack.

Start off by joining the chat channel, we use the chat protocol IRC. If you're used to IRC, just join this network and channel: #blinkenshell @ irc.blinkenshell.org. If you are not used to IRC then you can use the Webchat to get started.

You need to register your nickname with the NickServ bot on IRC (this is required for validation later). Type "/msg nickserv help register" in your IRC-client to get help on registering your nickname, or take a look at the howto guide for more detailed instructions on how to create an account with NickServ.

Next, you should log in to the server via SSH. Connect to blinkenshell.org on port 2222, and log in with username/password: signup/signup23 (Login help)

After you have logged in to the signup program, you need to create a "signup user account" to handle your signup process. Important: you can not directly log in via SSH using this account! You will have to log in with the username signup to start the signup program first! (Image: Explanation of different accounts at Blinkenshell)

When you have your signup user account and are logged in, you can begin with the five steps of the signup program:

  1. A quiz with about 20 questions to verify that you are familiar with the rules of Blinkenshell and know some basic shell commands. Be sure to read all the relevant info on this website (About, Rules, IRC, Webhosting, Start) before starting! You can find manual pages for common Linux commands here: http://man.he.net/

  2. Verify your email address.
  3. Verify your NickServ acccount.

  4. Get two registered users to vouch (approve) for you. Just join the chat (if you haven't already) and start talking to us, get to know some people! :) You can't be vouched within 24 hours of first creating your signup account. See also the little howto GetVouched.

  5. IRL Verification. Here you can either enter your phone number and receive an SMS with a verification code, or donate a small amount (like 0.01$) via PayPal from a verified account.

When you're done with all that, Independence will review your application and manually create your account if everything looks alright. Good luck!

You can see what step you are currently at in the signup program at this page: http://signup.blinkenshell.org/ or by issuing the command !signup <username> in the chat.

Feel free to ask us in the chat if you have any questions about anything!

You are expected to visit the IRC-channel once in a while, even after you get your account. Please add #blinkenshell to your autojoin channels in your IRC client! (Autoidentify with NickServ is probably a good idea too.)

Misc info/FAQ

In the signup program, you create an account for the signup process. You will not be able to log in to the system (SSH) with this account. This account is only valid in the signup program, and you have to start the signup program by logging in with the user signup. So, first log in with the signup user and then, when you are in, you can use the signup account.

If you fail the quiz the first time, you can try again. There is no limit on how many times you can take the quiz, but you have to wait five minutes before you can try again. Do not try and guess answers, you will have to understand the questions and answers. Also, you have to get every single question right to pass.

Step 4 may seem scary to some. If your English is weak, remember that many of us aren't native English speakers either - give us a try, and you'll find out that we're quite understanding. If you don't know what to say when entering a quiet IRC channel, try telling us what you do, who you are, why you want the shell, or something like that. We don't want an essay, but say something.

Remember to be active in the chat!