hmm

if you are talking about our server u surely mean #beta right?

afaik there is no such restriction in our channel.
if there is, a registered nick in irc is something else than here in the forums.

in irc for registering your nick you would login as nik, if u get named different use

/nick nik

after that register it

/msg nickserv register YOURDESIRED PASSWORD YOUREMAILADDRESS

this will get u your nick registered on the irc server, u should get an email too, dont know if that is implemented yet on our relatively new server.

now you will need to identify every time you enter the server with

/msg nickserv identify YOURPASSWORD

all this procedure makes sure noone else can login to irc as nik...

if i miunderstood your problem...sorry