1. A new type of connection

A service connection is something between a client and a server connection. It is not closer from any, as a matter of fact, the scope is pretty broad.

1.1 A bit client

services are similar to clients because they cannot:

• introduce other clients, services, or servers.
• change the global state of the net. (kill, squit..)

1.2 A bit server

services are similar to servers because:

• they cannot join channels.
• they are not limited by flood control or penalty.
• they can see all users, servers, services.
• they can see all channel names.
• they cannot freely connect to a server.
• they may optionally receive a connection burst.

1.3 Really unique

services are unique because:

• they are not subject to collisions.
• they can be local to one, or more servers, or global.
• they can only send notices, not private messages.
• they can only be contacted by the use of SQUERY.

Services are not meant to be used interactively, but provide adequate support for automatons, statistic gathering, monitoring.