GayHalifaxPolicy

July 5, 2006: DanielMacKay writes: This page documents some history about the interactions of people on the local gay IrcChannel. It should all eventually be moved together into a history page.

GrizzLeBear writes: Ok. Here it is. For those who want it, there is some history about why things are as they are, after the guidelines.

Here's the simplest set of rules I could come up with.

#. This channel was founded because people were banned from the other channel. Therefore, there should be no permanent bans in this channel, and everyone should be welcome to be here. #. (1) should not be taken as license for people to run rampant on the channel. Warnings and kicks are acceptable, and /ignore works well for most people. #. Channel regulars know other channel regulars, and since this is a channel for channel regulars, they are appointed operator status. Should someone be found to be abusing this privilege, it can and will be withdrawn. So, if you have ops, and recognize a friend to be responsible, op them! #. BonMot is a friendly chatterbot, and adds levity to the channel, often when it's least expected. If you can't stand BonMot, feel free to /ignore BonMot. Kicking BonMot is not acceptable.

There, that's it. Pretty simple, eh?

A long, long time ago, there was a channel called #GayHalifax. But then along came some nasty people who took over the channel, and didn't let anyone in. So, gradually people learned of a new channel, #Gay_Halifax, and moved over there.

#Gay_Halifax survived for quite some time. It survived attacks by bashers and skriptkiddies, who went power-crazy and spent their time kicking, banning, and harassing the regulars. Eventually they gave up, but sadly, there was another destructive force, from within the community.

Just like in George Orwell's Animal Farm, all people were equal, but some people were more equal than others, and this was changing on a day-to-day basis. One day, a small clique managed to take over, and ban many regulars from the channel. Something had to be done.

Since the abusers had left the original channel covered in dust and rubble, it didn't take much to sweep it off, and resurrect #GayHalifax. I was one of the people who got banned early on, and took responsibility for the (re)creation of the channel, I thought I'd write down my idea of channel policy. Feel free to add your comments to the bottom of this page, and I'll think about them when I get a chance.