Services are automated bots with special status which are generally used to provide users with access with certain privileges and protection.
[2] The original intention was to give out friendly warnings that somebody else already likes to use a specific nickname, since the IRC protocol has no built-in provision to protect electronic identities.
[citation needed] Some debate still remains over the value and benefits of Services on IRC, although they are generally considered essential to providing a pleasant chatting experience.
OperServ is a component of most IRC services packages used to help administer an Internet Relay Chat network.
It provides IRC operators with functions to help monitor and maintain the network, manage the other services, and deal with problematic users.
The term AKill comes from an earlier implementation in which the IRC services would automatically "kill" (disconnect) the user remotely upon login, rather than the individual servers simply denying the connection.
On OpenNap networks, OperServ is a pseudo-user which allows users above a specific permission level to execute server administration commands.