IRC Code of Conduct
-------------------
We strive to make OPU IRC a place that everyone can enjoy. However, in order to achieve this goal, we need everyone to follow a few basic rules to insure that IRC remains a fun and interesting place to be.
General Guidelines:
- You must be at least 13 years of age to connect to IRC, or have parental permission to use IRC (with proof) if you are under 13. Violators will be G-lined from the network.
- Please avoid cloning (that is, logging onto IRC multiple times) if at all possible. However, you may need to clone if you get suddenly disconnected and need to wait for your own nickname to drop. If this is the case, please make your intentions clear in the channel.
Also, if you are moving from computer to computer (for example, you are going from the upstairs computer to the downstairs computer) please disconnect before leaving the computer you are at, then reconnect at the other computer.
- Do not 'hammer' the server with connections. People who do this will be G-lined without any warnings.
- No spam/advertising/MP3/system information/etc. types of scripts in the main channel. This includes large pastes or floods of text (for example, song lyrics). If you wish to spam or display mp3 / system stats please use #outpost2.lobby for these.
Advertising other channels or websites is prohibited. You may be banned for doing so. Also, please refrain from the use of /amsg and /ame mIRC commands.
- No nickname spam (changing your nickname repeatedly or for no reason). You may be temporarily banned if this occurs.
Also, impersonation or switching nicks with other people is strictly prohibited. Please note that we, not you, are the judge of this.
- Do not attempt to 'take over' any person's nickname or channel(s). This is strictly prohibited and violators will be banned (temporarily or G-lined depending on the severity of the offense) and will lose all Services privileges.
- Do not use abusive or offensive nicknames. Violators will be warned, their nickname will be forcefully changed back, and possibly tempbanned for later offenses.
- Do not register 'extra' nicknames into NickServ just because you want to own them (or want to barr someone else from using that nickname). 'Extra' nicknames will be dropped and you may lose NickServ privileges if you continue to re-register these nicks.
- Do not go around highlighting everyone in the channel asking if they want to play a game. Just ask simply "Anyone want to play?" or something like that. Otherwise it irritates a lot of people and people who continually highlight everyone after a warning may be tempbanned.
- The OPU| tag in front of some people's names is used to indicate that they are a member of the core OPU| team or support staff. Do not use this tag on your name unless you have gotten permission from the team first.
Violators will be banned until they remove the tag from their name.
- Bots are permitted only in the lobby. This includes text triggers such as beepers, or automatic responses to /me or other commands.
Text output by a bot will be seen as spam.
In addition, if you do choose to run a bot in the lobby, please tell us about it.
However, botnets/zombienets are strictly prohibited. If we discover that any of the bots are involved in a botnet/zombienet/etc they, as well as the bot's operators, will all be permanently g-lined.
- Bots which are run in the lobby must not automatically highlight, /msg, or /notice arbitrary users. Highlighting / messaging / noticing and the like is only allowed if the user in question gives a positive response (i.e. by joining a game on the bot / entering a command). Bots which don't respect this rule will be banned until the problem is taken care of.
Rule of thumb: A bot in the lobby should be something that is easy for someone to ignore if they don't wish to hear anything more from the bot (without actually having to place the bot on /ignore). Bots that automatically /notice people when they join, for example, are unacceptable because notices, messages, and highlights often cause sounds, pop-ups, or other notifications to be activated in the IRC client.
- Bots (run in any channel) should use the +B user mode on themselves when they connect to the network. (This imposes any extra restrictions which may be placed on bots, and allows other users to positively identify the user as being a bot). Bots which don't use the +B mode may be muted or otherwise banned until the problem is taken care of.
- Pasting any sort of malicious IRC scripts (or anything which could be seen as malicious) to public areas or in private messages to other users without their understanding is not permitted. This includes anything which contains script such as $decode and so forth (even if the $decode is not actually malicious). You will not get a warning for this. You WILL be permanently G-lined from the server for this offense.
- Abuse, flaming, and racist or offensive comments are not allowed. People who continually flame or abuse other people will be banned.
- Please refrain from religious or political-natured conversations in all channels (except for the lobby). OPU channels are primarily gaming channels, and many people do not wish to hear religion / politics being discussed.
- Act maturely. Acting immaturely or like a 'script kiddie' simply annoys everyone else in the room. If you act like a small child, expect for people to treat you as such, and discipline you in similar fashion. Staff may also give you a warning, kick, or ban for acting in such a manner. This includes while in #Outpost2.lobby. Some amount of spam / irrelevant chat is permitted, but if it becomes excessive or is only meant to disrupt other, more legitimate activities (such as conversations, games, etc) you must stop.
- Logging in OPU channels is allowed, as long as the log feature does not output any automatic responses.
- Do not abuse the channel bot, OPU|Bot. It has various commands that do useful things. However, if you abuse it by repeatedly issuing the same command over and over, you may lose the privileges to use the bot services. Likewise, do not abuse server services such as NickServ / ChanServ / etc. otherwise you may lose access to the services.
- The #outpost.lobby does not have many rules. You can spam in it, run games, run bots, clones etc, just as long as you don't flame anyone or cause some sort of problem for other users. If you do spam, please do not highlight others unless they are playing along with you.
- You may come to the #admin channel if you are looking for help, however, once you have received help, please do not idle in the #admin channel unless otherwise requested. Idlers will be kicked and/or tempbanned to be removed from the channel.
- If you have been issued a Vhost (virtual host) from HostServ, please set your hostname before joining the channel (in perform). Sometimes there is a delay before the hostname is activated, in this case type the command manually or use a timer to delay joining channels (changing your vhost while you are joined to a channel generates several lines of spam).
You can use a command such as the following to delay join #Outpost2 to be sure your Vhost is activated first in your mIRC perform:
/timer1 1 5 join #Outpost2
This will cause the client to wait 5 seconds before joining #Outpost2. (You should wait at least 2 seconds to allow time for services to respond after you use /HostServ on to activate your vhost).
- Please help people who are new to IRC and OPU in general.
- And last but certainly never least, have fun!
People who violate these rules may face disciplinary action. In general, for a first offense you will receive a kick. If you continue to break the rules, you may get a temporary ban. If after the temporary ban expires, you continue to break rules, your IP / hostname may be permanently banned from the OPU server (G-lined).
However, penalties may be less / more severe based on operator discretion and the severity of the offense involved.
Your cooperation helps make IRC and OPU the best it can be.
Halfop / Operator Code of Conduct
------------------------
If you have been granted halfop (mode +h, % on your nickname) or operator privileges (mode +o, @ on your nickname) you are required to abide by the following rules:
- You must follow all rules listed above.
- Kicking or banning users for fun is strictly prohibited. There is no warning for this offense - if it occurs, you will lose your ops. This includes kicking yourself, there is no reason to. (Kicking yourself does not pingout a client that got disconnected).
- Do not deop other operators, except in very extreme circumstances. Likewise, do not voice or devoice others. All voicing/devoicing will be done by ChanServ as needed.
- You should not give (half)operator privileges to anyone who is not supposed to have ops.
- Do not abuse channel management functions of OPU|Bot, or deop the bot.
- Please do not change channel modes unless there is a definite need (for example, being flooded with bots or similar).
- If you have been given IRCop status (you can /oper up to become 'server administrator') you have special responsibilities. Never give out your IRCop password to anyone or run any scripts that could allow others to gain IRCop access (for example, a script that sets vhosts for people directly or allows direct use of the (/kill,/gline,etc) command is not permitted).
- Being an operator is a privilege, not a right. Do not abuse these privileges or you will lose them.
- Remember that regular users look up to operators. As such, you should be a good example to users and not engage in 'questionable' activities or activities that break rules listed above.
For most violations involving kicking, banning, (de)opping for fun, you will lose your ops. These rules are your first and final warning. You will not get warned by another operator or the bot if you are seen breaking the rules, you will just get your ops removed. -- WE ARE COMPLETELY SERIOUS: THERE ARE NO WARNINGS --
We reserve the right to make changes to these rules at any time. It is your responsibility to reread the rules when such changes occur, we will not make any allowances if you are punished for breaking rules that you did not know existed.
We will try to post a notice when the rules are changed, but do not count on this as any notification that the rules have changed.
-- Again: failure to read the rules does not mean you are exempt from following them! --
