Language Brigade Wiki:IRC policy/en

The IRC policy applies in the IRC at channel  on freenode. These rules do not apply in any other IRC, wiki chat, chatango or other chat room that may carry a WLB-related name.

To join the IRC, you can choose to do it either on an IRC client or through your browser. If you have a client, connect to freenode and then join. If you do not have a client or do not know what a client is, you can access both through the wiki or through webchat. However, make sure you have read these IRC rules before or soon after joining.

Behavior

 * Follow the general rules
 * Avoid posting empty lines, just dots or just emoticons
 * All languages are equal
 * Do not demand that others speak your language
 * If possible, speak a language other users in chat understand too
 * Linking within Wikia
 * Avoid linking wikis; it is allowed only if it's functional, asked for or topic of conversation
 * If it is in relation with a request, please link the request page instead
 * Advertising and posting links so that people will join your wiki is not allowed in any circumstances
 * Linking chats is only allowed in private chat and only upon request of other users
 * External links are also allowed, as long as they do not disrupt the chat
 * Political topics and news
 * Discussions about political topics and news should move to private messages if heated
 * Controversial or sensitive topics and news are not allowed
 * Shaming of another nationality, ethnicity, etc. is not allowed  (see also Wikia's Terms of Use) 
 * Listen to the chanops and other users with channel operator rights

Languages allowed
All languages are equal, so everyone is completely allowed to speak any foreign language in the chat. It is not allowed to demand another user to speak a language you understand.

However, please keep in mind these thumb rules:
 * If possible, you need to speak a language other users in chat understand too; if others in chat ask you to switch to a language that they understand and you speak that language, it would be nice to do so.
 * If a chanop asks you to change to another language that you also speak, you need to do so.

Chat bans

 * Any person with operator status is allowed to kick/ban at their own discresion
 * Wikia Staff, Helpers and VSTF who are also WLB members, can receive operator rights on request may act just like the channel's operators
 * Only the team of sysops and chanops will be automatically given IRC operator rights
 * Advised procedure
 * Kind warning and pointing out the rules
 * Stern warning
 * Kick (skip the previous 2 steps in the case of spamming, flooding or grave rule violations)
 * Chat ban
 * You cannot receive a wiki ban from breaking the IRC rules!

Channel operators
Channel operators exist to cover most major languages: they help people in chat, and they make sure chat goes smoothly and everyone feels welcome.

List
For a full list of the channel operators and some information about them, see Project:Chanops.

Promotions
Promotion of chanops happens in the following way:
 * Selection by an admin
 * Approval by wiki editors (through community vote)
 * NO self promotion

Some criteria kept into account for choosing a new chanop:
 * Relevance of the language: focus on major languages
 * Activity in the chat: how often does he/she come to chat
 * Helpfulness to users: does he/she help other users

Demotions
If a channel operator is absent from chat for over 1 month (30 days), his/her operator status will be taken away. Exception:
 * If he/she announced his/her absence [and reason thereof] on beforehand.
 * Reconsideration of chanops who left unannounced because of an emergency or other weighty reason.

Notes:
 * Before channel operator status is taken away, the operator will get a message on his/her message wall and gets a couple of days to respond.
 * If the number of channel operators goes down, it does not necessarily mean that we are looking for new operators to take their place.

Channel bot

 * The bot "ChanServ" is managed by freenode and not by this wiki.
 * Currently, Botalu is not available in the IRC.