With the move to the new server mostly completed(some minor bugs may exist, we'll work on resolving them) the IRC missions are now back in action.
To those couple of 100 people who were trying to do them these past few months, sorry for the delay.

Remember though, to do the IRC missions or programming 8, you will need to register your IRC nick with NickServ. Then, you'll need to link that account with your HTS account by using the "!link <your HTS account>" command in #htb, #perm8, #help or #bots.
After that, you'll be sent back to the site where you can verify that that specific IRC nick is your nickname. From then on, give the start command "!htb" in #htb and start hacking! (I consider this process mission 0, and unfortunately have seen far too many people fail it.)

There is generally speaking no help available for the IRC missions as that kinda spoils them. Each level the bot will have some sort of clue available so you know what to target. If you're familiar with IRC and writing bots you'll have no trouble exploiting the bot for the IRC missions.
Some of these are old real exploits, some are common mistakes bot makers make. A lot of them still exist in the wild for some reason, although pointing them out to people who make bots will usually get them fixed fairly quickly.

Good luck and have fun! :D