rfc2812 user modes

[heyitsanthony]

• a - user is flagged as away;
• i - marks a users as invisible;
• w - user receives wallops;
• r - restricted user connection
• o - operator flag;
• O - local operator flag;
• s - marks a user for receipt of server notices.

[DanielOaks]

fwiw, r usually indicates 'registered users' these days (as in registered with NickServ or similar)

[ghost]

You may be interested in observing how actual IRCds in the wild handle the spec. The RFC 281x documents are frequently disregarded in large parts.

+sw are often weakened or entirely disabled to prevent users from seeing sensitive information. +a was probably only used to keep state on the particular IRCd documented in that RFC. You could also use it for other things (e.g. marking "admin").

Also what @DanielOaks said.