Toading

Toading (an equivalent in IRC speak is a kickban or akill) is the process of termination of a character's access to a MUCK. The character is converted into a thing that can later be recycled; this process removes the character's ability to login. The thing keeps all flags and properties of the player object.

It is called such historically in reference to wizards turning people into toads, and has been in various TinyMUCKs and MUDs since the early 90s. This is also reflected, for example, in Fuzzball MUCK's @toad success message: "You turned into a slimy toad!" The resulting object is named "A slimy toad named ..." (followed by the original name of the player).

In ProtoMUCK and GlowMUCK, an alternate term is frobbing and the resulting object is called "The soul of ...".

Toading/frobbing does not delete the objects (things, rooms, programs) owned by the player, so as a second argument, the name of a second character that will inherit these objects should be given; if it is not, the toading wizard gains ownership. This can be used if a player wishes to play one less character, or if the player owned programs vital to the muck. To delete all objects owned by a player, most MUCKs have a @purge command. Tapestries MUCK offers @toadme for self-toading and purging.

Although some wizards have been accused of toading arbitrarily, typically users can be toaded for several reasons:
 * By user request. Typically users who no longer plan on visiting the MUD or are quitting due to disagreements will request a toading.
 * By inactive purges. In order to reduce the size of the database and make unused names available, users may be toaded over an extended period of inactivity time determined by the MUD administration.
 * By abusive actions on the part of the players, such as violations of the MUD's policies.

Syntax: @toad =

External link

 * How to get Toaded on Tapestries MUCK

Toading