Some networks also use SSL for server-to-server connections, and provide a special channel flag such as +S to only allow SSL-connected users on the channel, while disallowing operator identification in clear text, to better utilize the advantages that SSL provides.
The idea behind this is that even if a occurs, it is useless to an abuser because they cannot take the nickname or gain operator status on a channel, and thus no collision of a nickname or "merging" of a channel can occur.
If the of the client cannot be resolved to a valid by the server, it is used instead of the hostname.
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