==[ GalaxyNet IRC Network - Policy (rev. 3) ]============================= The intent of this policy is not to create law. It's intended to be a guideline for us to follow. But at the same time this policy shall constitute the rules of operation on GalaxyNet. *** Introduction ********************************************************* We must all remember the most important element of this network, the users. Without them we might as well just down our servers and go back to using another network. User rights shall be a paramount concern for all of us. Users must be treated with respect at all times. If there are any personal problems between you and a specific user, /ignore or /silence them. Never act irresponsible or immature. As an oper you represent all of GalaxyNet. Ill behavior will result in the users not only disliking you, but will change their attitude towards our whole network. *** Committees ********************************************************** The governing body of GalaxyNet is divided into three groups. The Administrators, the Network Committee (net-com) and the Channel Service Committee (cservice-com). * The Administrators: The Administrators as a group shall have final authority in any matter. Invoking this authority requires a vote of the administrators and a simple majority will make the decision final. There are exceptions to this which are defined later in this document. Administrators should turn over any actions against another admin, oper or user to the net-com for review. Administrators shall never pursue action on their own. * Committee voting: The committees shall be panels of elected officials and shall consist of five members or a total of 10% of all server administrators - whichever number is greater. To qualify for nomination the nominees must either be an administrator or oper and must receive 2 nominations. Committees shall be elected by accumulating the largest number of votes from the administrators. For each nominee the administrators will vote yes or no. The people with the largest number of yes votes shall be part of the committee. In the event of a tie vote, the administrators shall vote on the two or more individuals seperately. The term of a committee member is 1 year. Committee members may be removed by 4 administrators requesting the action. A discussion period of 72 hours will take place on the admin list server followed by a vote of the administrators. Removal requires a 60% majority. * The Network Committee: Net-com members shall investigate and/or mediate any difficulties on the network. Should their recommendation be one of either removing of a server or an oper, the recommendation is forwarded to all admins for a vote. Committee members shall investigate continuous abuse by a user. They may recommend to the Admins a user should receive a global kline. The recommendation is forwarded to the admins for a vote. The net-com shall investigate user complaints against any admin or oper. Any complaints involving another admin, oper or global kline request for a user shall be sent to the net-com for review. The committee shall reach a decision within 72 hours. Include additional logs or other documents with your complaint as well. Forged documentation will result in immediate disposal of the complaint. Should the committee reject your complaint, you shall have the right to request a vote of the admins if 4 other admins are willing to support your complaint. The net-com will handle and take care of GalaxyNet's routing scheme, decide where new servers will be linked, and keep track of the ircd versions the servers are running. Servers not complying with net-com's decisions without a valid reason may be juped or permanently delinked. However, before the server is removed the situation will be discussed and voted on by the Administrators. Temporary jupes may be set if the server is a security risk to the rest of the network. The Administrators shall have final say in any major net-com decision using the voting process. * The Channel Service Committee: The cservice committee shall handle complaints and questions about the Channel Service, the NickName Service and any registered channel. The Committee members will handle new channel registration requests, and investigate users or channels abusing the Channel Service. Continuing abuse shall result in either the channel being set in NoOp mode, or the Channel Service being removed from the channel. In the case of a user abusing the Channel Service, his/her record may be disabled to prevent further abuse. *** Voting ************************************************************** To ensure each server has an equal vote only admins are eligible to vote. This is 1 vote per admin. If an admin owns 2 or more servers he/she shall be eligible for 1 vote only. The goal here is to keep the playing field level for everyone. The only exception to voting eligibility shall be if an admin has been recommended for removal. He/she shall not have the right to vote on that action. All major decisions shall be subject to vote, admins will have 72 hours to vote. These decisions shall include: 1) Forceful removal of a server (60% majority required) 2) Forceful removal of an oper (51% majority required) 3) Global Klines (60% majority required) *** Server Code ********************************************************* No admin shall install a patch which increases vulnerability to the network or that has an adverse effect on it. This includes ircd patches that allow opers to perform mode changes without being a valid chanop, or that circumvent channel bans. All patches that are not part of the ircd-glx must be voted on before any server may install them. When a new ircd version is officially released, all servers must upgrade within 30 days. Any servers that haven't upgraded after 30 days without a valid reason may be temporarily juped or permanently delinked, depending on the decision of net-com and the Administrators' voting results. *** Channel Registration ************************************************ Users are limited to registering two channels each. To register a channel you must have 3 supporting users. You can register either via our www site, or by getting the registration form from GalaxyBot (/msg GalaxyBot HELP). The cservice committee will verify the supporters via email, and check the channel on IRC prior to registration. Channel registration does not imply approval of your channel or its contents. It's up to the channel owners to maintain legal content on their channels. GalaxyNet shall not be liable for any actions on any channel. *** IRC Operator/Admin Guidelines *************************************** Opers shall not get involved in channel politics at any time. Users will fight, let them resolve their problems. We are not a police force. Should the dispute involve a registered channel where someone has taken it over, inform a member of the cservice committee or an administrator with access to Pulsar's commands. Opers are not to use channel services to give themselves ops, remove bans on themselves or otherwise disrupt the operations of a channel. You are only to use these functions when either a) you are requested to do so by the owners of the channel, or b) in an extreme emergency that can't be solved any other way. Abuse will be reprimanded appropriately. Opers should not split their server from the rest of the network for personal reasons. Servers should only be squited when they need to be rerouted or to solve a net desynch. Administrators are responsible to maintain their configuration in accordance with network requirements. These requirements include U: lines, H: lines and Q: lines. U: and Q: lines are not to be used without approval. If a node poses an immediate danger to the stability of the net the HUB may temporarily remove the c/n pair or add a Q: line. But, the stability of the net must be at risk and you must have proof to this effect. Leafs are not to add Q: lines under any condition. You should /msg $servername prior to using /die. Allow your users a few minutes to change servers prior to downing it. The same goes for rebooting or rerouting the server. A server crash, understandably, will not give you the chance to notify your users. The /kill command should be used only if other methods do not work. Warn the user first, if they persist then go ahead and kill them. You must put a valid reason in the /kill comment. Idiot, lamer, twit, etc. are not considered good kill comments and will probably get you a lot of msgs from people asking what the kill was for. * Reasons to /kill: 1 Clonebots (defined by more than 5 clients from the same host, run by the same user). If the clones keep coming back a local oper should add a K: line to stop the clones. If there are no local opers online at the time, or if the clonebots are on more than one server a temporary GLINE should be set for the appropriate hostmask. NOTE: There is a difference between clonebots and a user having more than one real connection (although it is unlikely anyone with over 5 connections is actually using them all as real clients). If you are not sure something is a clone ask another oper for help. 2 Floodbots (these deserve instant death). 3 Persistent CTCP floods. 4 User requests you to kill his ghost. Make sure the hostmasks match, please. * Reasons NOT to /kill: 1 A fight on a channel. It's not our place to get involved with channel politics. They have the ability to ban the user from the channel. It's not YOUR fight. 2 Someone calling you names. You have the option to use /ignore or /silence. 3 Any other reason not covered by Reasons to /kill. Global K: lines (GLINEs) may only be set if the offending client(s) are on more than one server, or if there is no local oper available to add a kline. All admins online at the time must agree a GLINE is needed. Should an IRC Operator be found to have abused/misused the commands available to him/her, a ruling will be held by the net-com as to what actions shall be taken to prevent another incident. It should be stressed that NO ONE is to be excused from abuse of power, even if it involves the admin of a server. *** User behavior (includes admins and opers) *************************** Users are not to flood under any circumstances. Violation of this will usually result in a kline on the server. Persistent flooders may be klined from the entire network. Non-hostile bots are permitted. Bot policy varies from server to server so check with the server admin prior to using his/her server for your bot. Clonebots are prohibited and if you frequently launch clones you will find yourself with a global kline. Clonebots are defined as more than 5 clients from the same host, run by the same user. Our channel services will auto-detect these and will not show any favoratism here. If your script supports nethack protection turn it off. There is no reason for it. GalaxyNet servers can't be used for netsplit hacks. *** New server links **************************************************** New servers must be announced to the operlist BEFORE they are linked. If the server is not run by the admin of the machine, permission must be obtained prior to announcing the link. If needed this can be checked via email by the net-com. There will be a period of 72 hours for anyone to ask questions or make complaints about the new link. If there are no complaints, the Network Committee will decide who the new server will get as their primary, secondary, and backup links. If there are objections to connecting the new server the Administrators will vote on whether to link it or not. There will be a 7-day voting dead line. A majority (60%) of yes votes is needed to pass the new server application. The new server will be evaluated for a period of 2 weeks. During this time the server won't have voting privileges, but can still observe the voting process via the operlist. The server will stay a leaf for the duration of the evaluation period. One exception to this rule is a net merge, which is further described below. If there are any complaints about the new server after the evaluation period, the Administrators will vote on whether to keep or disconnect the new link. The same rules apply as for the new server application vote. *** Net merges ********************************************************** Servers linking in as a group will be evaluated as a group, not on a server-by-server basis. During the evaluation period the merging net will stay linked as it were, with only one server connected to the galaxynet HUBs at one time. This rule only applies to large networks that will take a long time to integrate into the existing net. Networks composed of less than 7 servers will be linked individually. If, after the evaluation period, there are complaints about any of the new servers, the Administrators will vote on whether to keep or disconnect the new net. The same rules apply as for the new server application vote. If the net merge passes the evaluation period the new servers will be divided and linked in the best way possible. The Network Committee will take care of this. *** Server application form ********************************************* Server name: Server location: IRCD version: Type of machine: Operating system: Memory available: Bandwidth available: Your full name: IRC nickname: Email address: Ping and traceroute results to the nearest HUBs: (Ask on #outerlimits for a current list of GalaxyNet HUBs)