diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index dd93fba70..2012774a8 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ install:
     - pip install --use-mirrors -r .travis/requirements-$BUILDENV.txt
 script:
     - trial scrapy
+branches:
+    only:
+        - master
+        - /^[0-9].*$/
 notifications:
-    - irc:
-        - "irc.freenode.org#scrapy"
+    irc:
+        channels:
+            - "irc.freenode.org#scrapy"
+        use_notice: true
+        skip_join: true