Q: How do I turn off join and part messages in a channel?
A: You can set this by checking the “Always Ignore Join & Part Activity” in the Rules pane of Linkinus Preferences. (Linkinus 1.3)
In Linkinus 2.x you have to open the Filters List (⌘ + 5), drag a person onto it from the NickList and then edit the mask and settings:
Mask: *!*@*
Settings: Toggle all but the desired options.

Q: I stay connected to IRC even when I quit Linkinus, why?
A: Linkinus is divided into two parts - Linkinus and the Linkinus agent. The agent is a background program that connects to the IRC server, and Linkinus is the visual interface that you see. If “Remain connected when I quit Linkinus” is checked in the General pane, quitting Linkinus does not quit the Agent. The Agent will continue to run in the background, ready for when you next open the main Linkinus program.

Q: What is the Linkinus Agent?
A: The Linkinus Agent is a special program that is used to connect to IRC. Linkinus is simply the interface that allows you to view and interact with the IRC networks you are connected to. This separation of the two allows you to quit the client while still staying connected to IRC.

Q: When using auto complete, why does saying David: cause an emotion?
A: Linkinus sees the d: as an emotion. You can turn off emotions in your preferences or wait for a new Linkinus version that fixes this.

Q: How do I turn on spellchecking in Linkinus?
A: To enable spellchecking in Linkinus simply open the contextual menu (right click) in the input area and navigate to “Check Spelling While Typing”.

Q: How do I sort channels and queries alphabetically?
A: To sort channels and queries alphabetically use the “Arrange By Name” option in the “Window” menu item located in the menubar or simply press ⌘+R.

Q: How do I get seconds displayed in timestamps?
A: For that you have to open your System Preferences, go to International (Language & Text in Snow Leopard), then Formats and here customize Times. As Linkinus uses the setting for “Short” you will want to add the seconds here.

Q: Can I move the log folder Linkinus creates?
A: Yes, however, as of 2.1.2 you will have to do this using a manual workaround as no native setting is available. First of all move the log folder to the new destination and create an Alias pointing to this folder, then move the Alias itself to the original log folder location and call it “Linkinus 2 Logs”. Afterwards you can hide it using the Terminal command ”/Developer/Tools/./SetFile -a V Linkinus 2 Logs”. Please note that for the hiding part to work you need the Developer Tools to be installed.

Q: How do I use different nicks on different networks?
A: You will need to make an identity for each network you want to configure with a different nickname. You can access the identity manager via the edit button by the identity used in the connection inspector.

Q: Can I customize the sidebars?
A: Yes, Currently you can resize, hide, and reorder items in the sidebars. It is possible, however, that a future release will allow further customization.

Q: Can I hide the userlist?
A: Yes, the userlist through the view menu.

Q: How do I show privilege prefixes (+, %, @, &, ~)?
A: To show the prefixes in the userlist, check “Privileges as prefix” under the Sidebars pane. To show prefixes in the main window, check “Prefix privileged users with special characters” in the Styles pane.

Q: What do these privilege prefixes (+, %, @, &, ~) mean and why are some people listed higher but have no or lower rights?
A: These privilege prefixes are all associated with different levels of acccess to channel functions. The lowest right above nothing one can get is voice (+), this enables oneself to speak despite channel mode +m. The next step would be half-op (%), granting additional rights for kicking and banning users, also modifying the topic of the respective channel. Depending on the network settings / software (IRC Daemon) this privilege might not exist. One step further is the channel operator (@), also called chanop or chop. These people have usually full access to regular and most commonly used channel functions. The following privileges (&, ~) are likely not to be seen often. Most networks (who have them) disable public display. The super operator (&) is basically just an enhanced version of the channel operator (@). The founder (~) has absolute control over the channel. Each privilege can be used to grant privileges lower than one's own privilege. People in Linkinus above ~ in the userlist, assuming you sort by privileges, are IRC Operators - they do not manage the channel you are own but the whole network you connect to. Try not to bother them too much .