Forum:IRC Channel Operator Discussion

{{Ark|time=02:25, 6 February 2012 (UTC)|XJR-9= I am XJR-9, and, for those of you who are not aware, I am the new manager of the Kingdom Hearts Wiki IRC channels, #KHWiki-social and #KHWiki-noticeboard on freenode, after DoorToNothing passed on his Founder rights to me. With the new staff elections taking place recently, it is time to review our policies relating to the management of our IRC channels. We must decide who will or will not be promoted, who will or will not be demoted, what our channel operators should be able to do and what sort of behaviour should be expected of them. Firstly, allow me to state for utmost clarity: '''my role is to manage the channels and to ensure their smooth operation, not to rule them as a despot. I will not act against community consensus.''' So that you, the community, may make an informed decision on what is best for our channels, I have detailed the key factors that make for a good channel operator. The basic problem with our current system is that we use channel operator rights as a ‘badge of honour’, automatically awarded to Wiki Staff. This is not how the allocation of channel operator rights should be decided. Channel operator rights should be awarded based on a combination of factors outlined below.

A good channel operator should be:
 * A good catalyst 
 * freenode provide a guide on what makes a good catalyst, and I advise you to read it.


 * Knowledgeable about IRC commands and operation
 * A good understanding of the mechanisms of IRC is essential. At minimum, a channel operator must know how to OP themselves, de-OP themselves, change the channel topic, quiet a user, ban a user, set an effective hostmask ban, and kick or remove a user. They should also understand the various channel modes used on freenode and how to utilise them. Remember that knowing the commands is not the same as going to look up the commands when needed; a channel operator must understand the primary commands in order to effectively manage the channel and be able to promptly deal with a channel emergency.


 * Calm and fair
 * It is important that a channel operator has the right temperament; hot-headedness is very poorly suited to the role.


 * Active and contactable
 * A channel operator should be regularly online and easily contactable in the event of a channel emergency.


 * Respectful of channel guidelines
 * All users should respect the channel guidelines, but it is particularly important that channel operators adhere to the guidelines that they are supposedly enforcing.

So, if new operators are chosen based on these factors, what should be done about the current operators? That is, of course, ultimately up to you to decide. The current channel Access List can be seen here. There are three options to consider. Firstly, they could be left as they are, retaining their channel operator rights; secondly, I could remove some of those users’ channel operator rights whilst leaving them with the ability to Voice themselves and change the channel topic; thirdly, I could remove some of those users from the Access List, thus returning them to standard users.

Further Information

 * I have previously mentioned the possibility of automatically Voicing all Wiki Staff members in #KHWiki-noticeboard. As mentioned earlier, Voice is independent of channel operator rights - Voice allows a user to speak in a moderated channel, and provides visual distinction between normal users and staff, which may be useful in the ‘official Wiki-business channel’. An example of such a system can be seen in #freenode, where all freenode staff members are Voiced. I will not add Auto-Voice rights without consensus, though, so please comment on this idea below.


 * I have added freenode staff to the channel Access List of both primary channels, meaning that all freenode staff members have operator rights in our channels. In the event that none of our operators are available to help with a channel emergency (such as a problem user), you can contact a staff member in #freenode for assistance. As mentioned above, staff members are Voiced in #freenode.


 * I have created a separate sandbox channel, #KHWiki-OPs, the key to which is ‘.net’. The purpose of this channel is to allow users to experiment with channel operator powers with no consequences; every user has operator rights in this channel, and they are free to use them pretty much as they wish.


 * Considering the existence of #KHWiki-OPs, there is absolutely no excuse for any abuse of power in the primary channels. In the event of abuse of power from a channel operator in #KHWiki-social or #KHWiki-noticeboard, I will remove that user’s operator rights. The community can then debate and decide whether or not the user deserves to regain their operator rights and I will respect that decision after it has been properly discussed. Understand that ‘abuse of power’ is quite different to an error of judgement, a genuine mistake or actions taken in the heat of the moment; any of these will, of course, not result in an immediate removal of operator rights.

I will act upon the aforementioned rights changes in accordance with consensus after this forum has been open for discussion for one week.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I will try to answer any questions that you may have below. }}