EFnet Philosophy-Science-Mathematics/Spirituality & Arts Channels Constitution & Rules

This is for the channels ('rooms') #ad&d, #art, #astral_projection, #chikung, #d&d, #demoscene, #esoteric, #europe, #hinduism, #india, #gnosis, #luciferianism, #magic, #meditation, #mysticism, #neikung, #notmath, #not-math, #occult, #pagan, #philalethia, #rpg, #satanism, #science, #scotland, #spirit, #spiritual, #spirituality, #vegan, #vegetarian, #yoga.

Rules

  1. Be polite (i.e., use appropriate language if minors are online; do not prosyletize; do not talk off-topic during on-topic conversation; follow standard IRC netiquette such as don't paste/infodrop/log/doxx information from conversation/people elsewhere).
  2. If you think an op is impolite/unfair, tell the main ops, who may be in a secondary help/rules/operations channel. They judge if rules were broken, and ops (including main ones) that break the rules can have op status removed.

Op Rules

  1. Use the same nickname, or message other ops at the time you change it, and deop anyone opped who breaks this rule and seems like an illegitimate op.
  2. Ops must have a passphrase. Do not op someone unless you are sure who they are beyond reasonable doubt. Auto-ops must only be used on personal systems with their own domain or static IP address that do not allow remote logins, except trustworthy people with key-encrypted SSH.
  3. If possible, keep a continuous connection to the channel.
  4. Ops should also be polite and make careful effort to treat all channel members, politely, fairly, level-headedly, even if the member is angry. Do not ban people if they talk off-topic until it is written here what is off-topic, and if you dislike something about them or their words or nick, do not ban them unless they actually break the rules: keep a cool head, and try to tolerate people who may have had a bad day or life but are otherwise normal.
  5. When someone breaks the rules, ops must notify them (preferably) and/or request they read the rules (required), and state the rules to them, if inaccessible, from one's personal copy of the rules. On a second offence, politely warn the person, and on channels using voice, devoice her/him, and voice her/him after a minute or so, depending on the offence. On a third offence, kick the person from the channel. On a fourth offence, ban the person for a certain amount of time, such as in a bot set to ban for a day or permanently, at discretion, depending on the offence and further discussion. Anyone banned who returns has no right to be warned before a ban, but can (and preferably should, unless they are a known very problematic troublemaker/troll), at ops' discretion.

Constitution

Article 1

The EFnet IRC philosophical and spiritual chat rooms are Platonic republics.

Article 2

  1. The founding op(s) (moderators) (or if they have left, then ops who have been there longest) are considered the channel owner(s) and main op(s). (S)he/they appoint main ops so there is an odd number of of founders and odd number of main ops, unless it is two founders and a main op, who then has equal authority.
  2. The founders and main ops write the constitution & rules and decide on new ops by voting unanimously.
  3. Channel regulars can make rules suggestions and nominate people for ops.
  4. A channel regular can become an op after a reasonable amount of time of rule-abiding activity (preferably at least two to four weeks, though it is known to take years on some channels).
  5. An op can become a main op after a reasonable amount of time of helpful, trustworthy activity.
  6. The founders' say is final, but they should always consider the ideas of the main ops and regular members.
  7. Particularly, a founder can nominate a friend for new ops to be voted on by the other founders (or main op triad). Also, a main op can nominate a friend for new ops, who will have a short, but adequate period of being observed by the ops (starting from when they first came to the channel) before being voted on for ops by all main ops. A non-main op or channel regular (person who has been active and rule-abiding at least a month) can also do this, but then all ops will vote.

Article 3

This means the founders, unless there are three present, should give up some of their authority and instead call for op votes and in cases they choose, allow regulars to call for votes and participate. On the other hand, channel members should respect the authority of the founders and other main ops.

Article 4

If a founder or main op has been gone for a reasonable amount of time (preferably at least two to four weeks), new main ops will be inducted until the old ones return. If they are still present but active, the others should wait until a weekend the non-active person is active until deciding anything important, e.g. voting on new ops (not other, day-to-day channel management).

Article 5

If a channel has fewer than three founder/main ops or four people, the main ops will be sole philosopher-rulers, but should still respect the wishes of any serious, polite people interested in the channel.