HW: irc channel

[Nick Medford]

I drop into the IRC channel every now and then, but there's rarely anyone
there (hello Arin, Colm and Alissa, the occasional exceptions). But I'm a
bit mystified by something- wonder if Rik or anyone else can explain:

Sometimes when joining the channel there's a message that says "Welcome
To Mission Control- Operated by Chanserv", or words to that effect. And
sometimes there isn't. Now, I know very little about IRC, but my impression
is that the channel may not be working properly when this message isn't
displayed. Is this right? or doesn't it matter?
--
Nick Medford