Consistency is key. Please read, learn, and follow these guidelines. I fully understand that Opping in any channel puts you into a dynamic situation – that's why these are guidelines and not hard and fast rules. We should all strive to remain consistent in how we manage the channel.
People joining the channel are our customers, and they are our guests. Please treat them with respect whenever you can.
Ops and channel regulars must follow the channel rules. I know ops and regulars will have a little more latitude – but gross violations may result in suspension of your Op status.
I will be establishing a “back channel”. This channel is for Ops only, plus the bots. The benefits are many, and will be explained elsewhere. Ops should hang out in the backchannel as much as possible (when op'ed in channel). It's good to be able to chat among ourselves and ask questions, etc, without messing up the main channel.
1: No one is to be given ops for any reason – period. You are required to have an X account. If you cannot log in, your access will not be given by any other means. The only person who can override this is the channel owner.
2. Keep disagreements with other ops OUT OF CHANNEL! If there are issues between ops, bring it up either the admins or channel owner. Fighting in public can not be tolerated. See the info on the backchannel above.
3. Disallowed channels – The only channels we permanently disallow are ones that harbor bots, and obvious pedo channels. Do not ban for just key words. I.E. a channel name of ‘GirlsWhoLikeOlderGuys” is not enough reason to ban. A channel saying ‘KidsForSex” is. Use your heads. We do not ban for ‘suspected underage channels’. Some channels are 18+ but allow ageplay nicknames. Ageplay is not pedo activity. We ban for behavior, not kinks.
4. In general, we don't automatically ban for “bad” nicks. The exceptions will be for pedo (underage sex – e.g. PedoBob, DatesKids) and abuse (RapistM52, GirlBeater) – you can feel free to fully ban those outright. For other nicks, please message the guest and ask them to change their nick – if it is ignored, then kick with a message explaining why. If they rejoin with the same nick, then a nickname ban can be done (+b nick!*@* or .n nickname in channel). Nasty-sounding nicks are a part of IRC for many and even if distasteful to us, are not to be banned.
We do not allow kid nicks, or numbers in nicks that indicate under 18, e.g. Nikki14. No tweens, preteens, etc. Nicks with “lil” or “little” or “tiny”, etc, are at the Ops discretion – if they are obviously indicating underage, they need to change them or face a ban.
5. We do not permanently ban for idle time. The only exception to this is bots, who should not be in the channel anyway. Kicks are OK for idle times over 24 hours. You can ban with a one minute delay to stop auto-rejoiners. See the Bot info post for details.
6. Ops should NOT use the ignore feature to block channel posts. It's important to be able to see what anyone and everyone is doing in channel. If someone is PM'ing you and won't stop, use /ignore -p nickname (in mIRC) – this will allow you to ignore PMs from that person while still seeing what they are doing in channel.
7: Bans are to be set through the bot (.b nickname <duration> reason. Only senior ops/admins can issue permanent bans (blacklist). Let one of them know if it's needed. If the bot isn't working or is away, you can use X. Use your client as a last resort, please.
8. For the purpose of kicking or banning, ops will use the warn, kick, ban system.
Exceptions to this rule are Pedophiles, Intentional Flooding, Ban evaders, Sending Files (DCC), Posting nasty link, and Bots. These can be kicked/banned immediately.
All kicks and bans must be followed by a valid PG rated reason. No rudeness will be allowed even in the kick/ban messages. The messages are for the user's benefit (for kicks) and the benefit of other guests. For bans, the messages inform other guests and leave a record for the other Ops. Example kick message: Please change your nickname – we don't allow abusive nicks. Example ban message: repeated abusive nickname usage.
That's about it! If you have any questions, please ask.