Pre channel

A pre channel is an IRC channel in which a bot (prebot) announces new topsite warez (pre) releases in real time. Pre channels are generally provided as a convenience to members of the scene, often in conjunction with a topsite. Pre channels are typically private.

Advantages

* Members of a pre channel are notified about new warez releases as they are released. This is of particular benefit to couriers and release groups.
* Pre channels commonly announce when a release is nuked or un-nuked.
* Pre channels provide a search facility that allows users to find out if a release exists, when it was released, and if it has been nuked. This function may also be used by release groups to avoid dupes (duplicates).
* Pre channels are also used for Topsites to measure how fast they received the release, otherwise known as the pretime.

Disadvantages

* Pre channels are often supplied with events from other pre channels, so spam may spread quickly. Many prebots employ elaborate filters to ensure only valid release events are announced.

Access to Pre-Channels

* Getting access to pre-channels is often very difficult for users without the knowledge to do so. A user would often have to have a connection to a scene group/scene member/site IRC network. The pre-channels are not advertised and are kept as hidden as possible.

Public Pre-Channels

* [irc://irc.p2p-net.eu/pre irc.p2p-net.eu #pre]
* [irc://irc.irchighway.net/pre irc.irchighway.net #pre]