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Rasbelin
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Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Jul 20, 2006 3:57pm Post subject: |
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I rarely write here, but as I happen to notice such a good subject for a thread, thought I should add my own five cents as well.
While being the head honcho on one small IRC network, I frequent a bunch of other networks as well, the largest one being IRCnet. So over the years I've grasped the inner workings of several networks of different sizes, while never been as staff for any of those. The trend we're speaking of here, isn't really something new or unique. It has been around since we had more than one IRC network, but it has been indeed fused by how IRC has become very mainstream. Remember that we human beings are by default egocentric, so none of us are really mum's darlings at the bottom.
To encounter that fact that we're after all not so nice creatures, but just as predators as any other carnivorus animals, a good leadership for a IRC network should remember to break down the network into various levels and understand how these various levels are related to each other. Mainly speaking of how we have the network level, hub and leaf servers, the level of each individual server and their sublevels - local OPs, channel OPs, halfops, etc. etc. The problem which causes these power trips, tends to be in my and apparently in many of your opinions as well, that many younger or just otherwise ironfisted or less seasoned staff don't see that a IRC network is actually meant to have multiple layers. That's how it was already on day one when IRC was born. Instead they seem to have somekind of a vision that, if one has oper access, it means having a license to stick your nose in every aspect of the network. This is where IMHO the failure is, which is something that hasn't been weeded out by more seasoned IRC veterans (not speaking of myself, as I'm not that), but rather the IRC community at a whole has just brushed off the issue.
What I've also seen far too much IMO is network staff that have a need looking official and special wherever they are on their network. They keep themselves opered all the time, give themselves special priviledges on any channels thay chat on regularly and some even give themselves channel OP status on channels they don't even operate. I myself don't oper up most of the time, not to mention being channel OP on any channels (aside of the official helpdesk channel), as I don't believe I have a need to have special badges associated with my name all the time, plus it anyway gives me a second chance to think before acting on abuse, as I can't proceed to do anything right away. Well, I anyway take very rarely to any access restriction measures, as I believe in the same dogma MrBurns already mentioned:
| Quote: | | When it comes to people who are "annoying": on my network there is a simple rule... channel problems are for the channel operators, network problems are for the IRC operators. If somebody acts like a jerk, let the channel owner or one of the channel ops handle it. If they start flooding it becomes a network issue and they can be killed / glined. |
The very same dogma is actually also covered by the following excerpt from the "IRC Operators Guide" from 1997, by a former EFnet staffer. This is actually the principle I originally subscribed to, but which MrBurns rephrased better. 
| Quote: | V. Why Operators (Usually) Don't Get Involved In Channel Affairs
The primary function of opers is to maintain the servers and the network, not to deal with channels. The main reason the general policy is for opers not to get involved is because it is frequently difficult to determine who really should be controlling a channel. There are a lot of deceitful users out there that will ask you to help them get their channel back when it is not their channel in the first place. Even if you do know who the regular ops are, oper involvement is questioned and challenged, so many opers will ignore channel issues entirely just to save the grief.
In practice, you'll find opers defend their own channels, and turn their backs on others. It's a little pathetic, but after you get harassed enough by users saying "why are you getting involved? I thought opers weren't supposed to get involved in channel affairs" you'll start to understand the cynicism. |
Actually I have only issued one K:Line in my 2-3 years as admin, and that too after lots of personal insults and first discussing the issue with the rest of our team. The network is just some 30-40 people at the best, so not very lively anymore these days, but certainly it too gets its share of issues. In my experience a far better method for dealing with nuisance is having the community itself judging the traitors (think of it as a public shame pole). That's why indeed we have for instance that very simple ignore function in our IRC clients - so that we can quell the hoodlums by suffocating them in silence, as nobody replies to their pranks, so they soon get tired of the ignorance. More so channel OPs are also ones that belong much more to solving these issues, rather than the network staff. In the essence this is also what keeps large networks such as IRCnet going, as there's no staff that cares about this type of bantering.
My advices to any network would be:
- Understand that IRC is something with many layers and that you can't and shouldn't (I'd prefer to say mustn't) control all of them.
- Second opinions. Always ask for ones from your fellow staffers. Always discuss before taking network level action towards a troublesome user, unless it's obvious and warrants immidiate action, such as spam bots, etc. Your network and users won't die or suffer from getting some crap from some user for a while. They can always ignore it themselves, while you plan measured actions against it, if any.
- Let the community deal with the crapola. Let them be Caesar and show either thumb up or down. Don't underestimate their capability to deem something as unwelcome usage of the service. They will probably themselves beat up the nuisance, if they feel like doing so.
- Take yourself down to the grassroot level. Forget about actually being staff. Don't assume you have any special priviledges above the others. Enjoy the chat, don't be like a big brother when the situation doesn't warrant it.
One of the reasons why I wanted to reply in this thread, is that I recently became very disappointed in one unnamed medium sized network I have been using for quite a while (some 1-2 years now). All suddenly when I was as usually idling on the help channel for an unnamed service (I'm doing unofficial support there, helping people with what I can and if I have time), the oper of one of the servers on the network walk in and gets annoyed by how I do a few CTCP checks for whom he is (never seen before, so IMO quite understandable). Then the oper in question makes some childish gay jokes and has a few others also join the channel, one of them also being a local OP.
Then all suddenly, while I'm still just being a bystander and not saying anything (nobody greeted me or anything alike, so just stayed tune to what was happening), these strangers start bragging with "0wning" me. A few seconds later I notice being killed. I reconnect and don't get any real appology. However these villains leave as a more higher level staff member gets involved. Now I'm very patient and never did I lose my temper as it's a pretty minor issue, but I'm still quite sad that a network which I've seen as pretty well run, has this kind of power abusing staff.
My point here more or less is that the trend also involves not really understanding how few real opers are actually needed, as you can get it handled by sticking to the layered community model and involving what I would call community guides/tutors. Users that are staff, but don't have needless access to too many things, but which instead work at helping people being good IRC citizens. Also what I see happening even by more experienced networks, is hiring staff that simply isn't reliable and reputable enough. I myself for instance would never post a notice for hiring staff, which we anyway at our network have right on the website a clear policy for:
| Quote: | | Please understand that we don't need piles of staff membership applications in our mailboxes, so we have a very simple policy on hiring new staff: we don't hire any new staff. It's as simple as that. If we need someone in the team, we ask them ourselves. |
This is also because I would never pick up someone to join our small team, unless I know them from the past from at least a few years of contact online. Mainly because that's the only way I can trust them fully and work with them in a friendly environment. Too bad however that lately our network has set for a slow death, as the userbase has begun to diminish, so I can only hope for a salvage solution. 
Oh, BTW, small final note:
| MexDownunda wrote: | | If you are going to take your network off line, d-link or move, please, let these channels know, help them find new homes where they can stay together. |
This is an excellent advice. One of the type I myself would second and admire. Too bad I'm not a fellow staffer of yours.  |
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katsklaw
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Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 1061
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| Posted: Jul 20, 2006 5:40pm Post subject: |
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wow Rasbelin, very wise words! I'll have to look you up sometime and chat with you  |
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