🚨 Entry to this channel implies your agreement to obey freenode™ server policies or Terms of Service (ToS), as well as channel rules, policies, and guidelines.

Welcome to ##Politics-Uncensored

A U.S.-centric political discussion channel founded on August 7 2016. We encourage constructive dialogue and rigorous debate but maintain standards of respect, common values, and decency.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. — Thomas Jefferson

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire

1. Starship Command

2. Mission Statement

Politics impact every aspect of our lives and is a natural topic of discussion in a text chat forum such as IRC. Unfortunately due to their tendency to become acrimonious, political discussions are often considered off-topic and unwelcome in other channels on this network.

While other political discussion channels exist, they tend to employ what we consider heavy-handed moderation tactics which appear intended to promote and reinforce a certain political agenda. This results in a one-sided discussion and suppression of alternative or non-mainstream opinions and viewpoints.

Our mission in creating ##Politics-Uncensored is to provide an open forum where users can discuss political topics and controversial subjects without fear of the perennially over-used ban hammer so readily wielded in other channels. We hope to foster interesting, engaging, enlightening conversations about politics, history, morality, and other subjects without yielding to our more base instincts of territoriality and cynicism.

Please help us promote free and open dialogue in a healthy and constructive manner.

3. Guidelines

1. 🆘 Uncensored does not mean unmoderated or “anything goes”.
2. 🆘 Uncensored in our context means no arbitrary suppression of legitimate political expression and discussion.
3. The channel should be a place where everybody can feel comfortable expressing their viewpoints on political topics.
4. All participants are expected to remain civil and respect other people and their opinions whether they agree or not.
5. At no time are you permitted to be rude, judgmental, or belittling.
6. No specific word(s) is/are banned from usage but gratuitous use of uncivil or offensive words in any language are unwelcome. This channel is not a sailor pub and language is expected to reflect such behavior as presumed in polite company.
7. Do not accuse, provoke or intentionally offend others, solicit violence or retribution, or engage in personal attacks.
8. Do not discuss or taunt users who have been removed, kicked, banned, quieted or devoiced.
9. All drama related to any other channel on this network is unwelcome in ##Politics-Uncensored.
10. Likewise, do not allow your political discussions from ##Politics-Uncensored to spill over to other channels on this network.

4. Technical Rules

1. Our /topic is unlocked. The use of /invite is similarly unlocked. Do not abuse these privileges.
2. Posting of graphic\pornographic\violent\hateful\gory images or slogans are not tolerated.
3. Flooding, spamming, trolling, are not political discourse and are not tolerated.
4. Bots & Scripts are not permitted.
5. All users are expected to report ToS violations to channel ops. All reports are treated as confidential.
6. Public logging of this channel is discouraged.
7. All reports of ToS violations will be investigated utilizing official channel or server op logs only.
8. Any action taken upon any complaint/report is private and will not be discussed or reviewed with the reporter.
9. Reports are confidential.
10. Do not expect ANY overt response to ANY report.
11. Administrative preemption: Any user deemed to be Disruptive™ will be quieted, de-voiced, and/or removed from the channel without notice and without recourse.

5. Server Rules

1. 🆘 Any topic that is not tolerated on #freenode, or freenode™ is not tolerated in ##politics-uncensored.
2. 🆘 Sexuality, potentially illegal activities and the like are unwelcome. These topics are not banned, but should be approached responsibly; stating your position is valid, but trolling, baiting, hostility or repetition are not.
3. 🆘 If you are asked to disengage from any topic of discussion, please do so immediately and politely.

🚨 In accordance with UK law freenode™ has no tolerance for any activity that could be construed as incitement to racial hatred, incitement to religious hatred, or any other behavior meant to deliberately put upon a person harassment, alarm or distress. We do NOT endorse or encourage discrimination on the grounds of e.g. race, religion, gender or SEXUAL PREFERENCE and operate with a zero-tolerance policy for libel and defamation.

6. Operator Actions

1. We employ an @iban system to discourage unhelpful contributions to channel discussions and a Doge Wallet system to positively reinforce valuable contribution to channel discussions.
2. An @iban is issued as a ban, but functions as a +q or quiet. The user is still permitted to be present in channel, but is simply unable to contribute to the conversation for a period of time. The user is effectively “put in the corner” to think about what they’ve said and, the manner in which they’ve expressed it.
3. If you receive an @iban moderation action, please note the numerical limit of the action. The number is representative of seconds, so @iban value of 120 is only a two-minute quiet. There is no need to “ragequit” for a simple/short @iban ; simply compose yourself and defend your position in a more civilized manner.
4. Respect decisions by channel and server staff and do not disrupt the channel. If you disagree with an operator action please discuss privately with the operator in PM. However, please note that you are not entitled to any response under any circumstances and repeated harassment will only lengthen your participation restriction.

7. Operator/Moderator rules

1. Any user may be granted Moderation Privileges (+oO) regardless of political affiliation.
2. Users are granted moderation privileges based upon their demonstrated ability to maintain impartiality.
3. If you are a trusted moderator (granted +oO or any variation thereof), you are expected to enforce freenode™ Terms of Service without regard for personal considerations.
4. “Revenge Moderation” is not tolerated. If you kick/ban/moderate a user, be sure you can justify your actions or risk losing +o. We will not tolerate moderator actions for petty revenge.
5. If at any time you become unwilling or unable to enforce freenode™ ToS, you may request to be excused from moderation duties without consequence.
6. Abuse of moderator privileges will result in summary loss of moderation abilities without recourse.
7. Channel moderators shall not air grievances in channel.
8. Channel moderators shall not reverse decisions by other moderators without consensus. Those who have a disagreement should discuss their reasoning & objections with one another in PM and come to a consensus.
9. In all moderation cases where disagreements may arise, Commander decisions will stand until reviewed by Captain.

Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy. — Isaac Newton

8. Bots

1. Bots of any type or utility not authorized by channel staff are not permitted.
2. Wallet is a Doge Wallet bot. For more information please /msg Wallet help.
3. GunsRGood is our bot to hunt or befriend ducks.
4. Dr. Jekyll is the channel digital assistant.
5. layer-3ight is a text substitution bot.
6. Abuse of any channel bot is not tolerated.

Wallet

🆘 PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE.

1. The Wallet bot is effectively an anonymous banking system operated by Bill48105.
2. All issues with the bot are to be directed to Bill48105.
3. Information about Dogecoin
4. Any monies deposited to your account are yours anonymously and you need not share your deposits, withdrawals, or balance to anyone for any reason.
5. .balance - Check Doge balance.
6. .balances - Check ALL coin balances. (wallet can hold multiple digital currencies.)
7. .tip <user> <amount> - removes <amount> from YOUR balance and gives it to <user>.
8. The “gambling” system employed by Wallet may be restricted or illegal in some municipalities.

GunsRGood

Official Duckhunt Documentation

It’s hunting season. Shoot as many ducks as you can. How you ask? To shoot a duck you would simply type @bang 8 Remember that the macro-key 8 will be random with every duck!

You say you care about the environment? We hear ya! Save the duck before someone shoots it by befriending it! To befriend a duck type: @befr 8

DrJekyll

1. Ask him questions: DrJekyll, <question>

   DrJekyll: Do you like Green eggs & Ham?
   <DrJekyll> insomnia: Maybe...
   

2. @<item> will return a value from the factoid database. Users may contribute factoids with syntax:
   • @learn ##politics-uncensored <item> is <text>
   • 🆘 Do not abuse this function. You can and will be excluded from this function for abuse.
3. @roulette spin - Spin the chamber.
4. @roulette - pull the trigger. What could PROBABLY go wrong?
5. @weather <zip code or city> - Current weather forecast.
6. @ud <word> - Urban Dictionary definition for word.
7. @google <whatever> - Search Daddy Google for whatever.
8. @kickme - Guess what this does?
9. @topic add <text> - Appends text to the current topic.
10. @td - Sets /topic to the Default.
11. @x0 LINK - Creates an x0.no short url for LINK.
12. @godwin - Invoke Godwin’s Law caveat.

layer-3ight

This is a text substitution bot which accepts standard UNIX SED expressions. If you say, “Hello rFiends!” in channel and wish to correct it, simply use: s/rFiends!/Friends! The bot will send your corrected statement to channel!

9. Caveats

@godwin

Godwin’s law is an Internet adage which asserts that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches”. ##Politics-Uncensored has adopted this debate rule so that once such a comparison is made, the debate is finished and whoever mentioned Hitler has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress.

@noway

A ##Politics-Uncensored Caveat which (once invoked), is equivalent to throwing down or calling out an incredulous assertion. Once No Way has been invoked, failure to provide definitive proof of assertion results in immediate dismissal of same.

@bribe

1. (n) Money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person., or
2. Gleefully accepted by channel Captain and Commander. (Only applicable to these two Sr. Staff positions in perpetuity.)
3. Special consideration bribes have a mandatory minimum of 1 million doge.

@pyramid

Please consider raising the quality of the discussion by climbing up the pyramid

These channel guidelines are written and approved by insomnia and palasso.

As a large project it has a set of well-thought-out General Expectations for Conduct, mandatory general policies, as well as some channel guidelines and a philosophy.

While these policies and guidelines seem to be long to read I strongly recommend everyone to read them and maybe even use them as a source of inspiration for documenting guidelines of conduct for other projects as well.

I will not try to argue here on why I find these policies and guidelines well done but I will quote from the “General Expectations for Conduct” the 2 bullet points which I believe summarize them:

• We expect all users to act in good faith at all times, and this includes assuming the same of others. Where another user’s behaviour admits several interpretations, work on the basis of the most charitable one until you have strong evidence to the contrary.
• freenode aims to be welcoming, inclusive, and non-discriminatory and we encourage everyone to be tolerant and respectful of others.

Based on that it is natural to expect that freenode would be “inclusive, non-discriminatory and tolerant” of a small channel such as ours. After all it is owned by Private Internet Access, a VPN provider that positions itself as an enabler of free speech. Their VPN service is advertised as a technological solution to “Unblock Censorship Filters” and their blog is updated continually with new articles about the importance of freedom of speech. Additionally freenode is run by a person who blogs and tweets about the very same idea.

Unfortunately, despite what freenode’s documentation and PIAs marketing suggests, it seems that there is a difference between what is documented and communicated, with what actually happens.

I was contacted by a freenode staffer that our small channel would be censored. I found that quite odd and I asked why?

there are cases where political views overlap with sentiments that we’d rather not see expressed on freenode

we’re not really concerned with specific users here – if that were the issue, we’d hopefully be able to resolve things another way

but there are topics – e.g. when it comes to legislation regarding LGBT rights – where there’s a thin line between political discourse, and sentiments we might consider as hateful

Of course I was surprised not so much by the act of censoring the channel (as there were rumors beforehand) but by the justification provided to me as well as by the lack of any communication before that. The staffer wanted to reassure me that

we’ve indeed tried our best to collaborate with you

we all have our individual minds, of course, but we do avoid getting personal opinions mixed up with what we say in our staff roles in an official fashion

Even though I asked for postponing any action on our 4 year old channel the staffer was eager to add a censorship filter, just 2 hours after contacting me, resulting with no one being able to speak. Later on the action was justified for having “major internal challenges”.

Of course the world will not change from censoring a small channel such as ours but people who want to change the world are currently using freenode and PIA. If freenode and/or PIA are facing “major internal challenges” from the mere existence of our small channel I can not imagine what kind of challenges they must be facing from authoritarian governmental entities trying to identify people who use their services to remain anonymous.

From my personal experience I can only derive that there are some unwritten rules which override the written ones. Because of that I do not feel comfortable being part of freenode.

— palasso

Everyone who supports our cause please join our channel as a way of supporting us even if you can’t speak.

I will try to reverse this unjust measure. In the meantime for everyone who wants to talk about politics there is #politics-uncensored on irc.rizon.net

— palasso

We live at times where society is moving towards more authoritarian ideologies. Unfortunately fanaticism and tribalism are prevailing both in the west and in the east for different reasons. Freedom of thought, speech and expression are always important but at times like these they are crucial. If we subjugate ourselves to censorship we let ignorance and zealotry to prevail. Some say history repeats itself. I hope that we can prevent the dark ages happening again.

For this reason, preserving the channel is a worthwhile and important goal and I hope we can achieve it. Despite the increased political censorship in our lives, I am optimistic whenever I read other people stating the same goal we have and I believe that we are many out there ready to challenge the status quo of censorship. After all the free in freenode is “free as in freedom” not “free as in beer”.

— palasso

P.S.1: We will have new announcements if there are any new radical developments

P.S.2: We have established a backup/sister channel #Politics-Uncensored on irc.rizon.net

— palasso

Freenode Staff member ‘tomaw’ has threatened to close the ##politics-uncensored channel and failed to give any reasoning for his threat other than to state:

Nov 21 16:52:10 [tomaw] Regardless, I'd like to talk to you about moving ##p-u off of freenode. Not urgently certainly, and something we can talk about, but still doing it anyway.
[..]
Nov 21 17:00:29 [tomaw] I'm saying I'd like you to move to a different network and will do everything I can to assist that.
[..]
Nov 21 17:01:00 [insomnia] And I'm saying I'd like you to explain yourself.
Nov 21 17:02:33 [tomaw] The channel and the network have never been a good fit, you must unders4tand that it's been lots of work to even get to this point.

After many words exchanged (and none of them helpful), it filtered down to me through other channel staff that ‘tomaw’ was upset because some days prior I had admonished the channel management of #reddit and the server staff members present, when the word ‘nigger’ was used repeatedly in channel but not a word of admonishment was issued by either channel management or staff.

If this had happened in ##politics-uncensored, I would have had staff up my ass in < 1 hour threatening to close the channel.

Plot twist:

Instead, by my asking the staff of that channel to enforce the Freenode policies against racism and hatred, the Staff decided that turning on me and threatening to close my channel down was the proper course of action.

At this point it became clear to me that this was apparently some personal vendetta against me (likely originating at staff bully ‘el’), and so in order to put some distance between myself and the ##Politics-Uncensored channel, I decided it was time to cede control to Commander Palasso.

Captain Palasso is more even-tempered than myself and is less likely to bring negative attention to ##politics-uncensored channel management. All users are requested to respect the change in leadership and to give Captain Palasso your full support and cooperation.

Thanks

— insomnia

Mr. Palasso has been promoted to successor of the chan for many good reasons. First and foremost, he’s quite capable of being impartial. Palasso has proven himself capable of challenging his own assumptions and considering alternative viewpoints time and time again. He’s a young man, but I respect his opinions and viewpoints. Please welcome him as your new backup overlord. Othewise, you would have all decisions made by Giddles. No. Not joking. If all else fails, Giddles is the failsafe owner of ##politics-uncensored.

Personally I have been through quite a lot. My anxiety level over employment has resulted in numerous health conditions and near heart-attacks. No I’m not joking. Some of you homos know how stressful my employment is but most of you don’t have a clue. I may be a 1%er, but the price I pay for that is measured in years off my life expectancy.

After nearly 2 years the Russia Collusion story is nearly dead; Even Mueller himself says Trump is not a criminal investigation target. This may come as some surprise to many, but me? Nah, I knew DJT was not a Russian shill from the get-go. Trump & I grew up in the height of the Cold War; He may seem to be a bit of a buffoon from time to time, but he’s definitely an American who could never be bought by Russians. I don’t know what the material outcome of this “investigation” is going to be, but as I said in chan, “Both sides will feel righteous and justified. They’ll both be convinced of complete and total victory. But they’ll also both be left empty, hungry, and feeling cheated. Unsatisfied. This witch hunt has done nothing to improve the lives of anyone except Mueller & his band of cronies who get to bill the U.S. Government for hour upon hour of wasted time.”

I classify Stormy Daniels as “A washed-up has-been who got paid to have sex, wanting to get paid to talk about having sex.” No story here either folks. I don’t think anybody really cares who DJT had sex with before he was President. Or after he was President for that matter. Hell, nobody wants to even imagine his pasty white ass banging Melania let alone tit-fucking Stormy. Can we please just let this go already? Cheating on your wife wasn’t enough to remove William J. Clinton from office, what makes anyone think it will be enough to remove someone like Don Trump? Get the fuck outta’ here with that already.

On the tariffs and impending trade war, I say “bring it.” I’m disgusted and disheartened by all of these talking heads who know-tow to the Chinese and seem to want to beg Beijing for mercy. Piss on the Chinese. They’ve taken advantage of a 300 billion dollar trade deficit for years, when Trump says “Knock that shit off.” they slam another $50 billion on us? FUCK YOU, CHINA. It’s ON. I say we go for $100 billion after that, and another $100 billion after that. Lets do business in America! Or how about we work with Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, other south American countries where people need work too? These candy-ass reporters clamoring to suck up to China should be ashamed of themselves. How about putting your fellow Americans back to work instead of sucking Chinese Corporate Cock for a change?

I know you fags don’t care about the ##Cars racing team, but I’m going to mention that we’re trying to get the team out to Buttonwillow California in September 2018 for another event. Feel free to donate to anger@anger.zone, 100% of donations go to “Racing. Wait, what?”.

Piss off.

— Insomnia

I created the ##Politics-Uncensored channel because ##Politics is entirely too moderation heavy. Anyone with a minority opinion is squashed, banned, and kicked out without sympathy or recourse. I firmly believe that in a pure democracy where majority always rules, there is no tolerance for minority opinions.

On February 9 2017, we were unceremoniously shut down by server operations staff for alleged violations of TOS.

The following log will show that the primary instigators of this action were non channel staff members, and one of them is an active staff member of the ##Politics channel – which does not appreciate our respect for minority opinions.

In the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson = “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences of too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it.”

Our story begins in the early hours of February 9:

Feb 09 06:46:43 * KillerFr0st_ (~DarkPrinc@unaffiliated/darkprincess) has joined

* Burrito has changed the topic to: Make America Grate Again 🧀🧀🧀
* Torvalds has changed the topic to: Kunwon1's IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

<KillerFr0st_> amyliz, you are a stupid loser of a cunt why dont you get some friends or a life you obviously dont have anything good going on lol
<nikio_> why such language
* KillerFr0st_ is now known as KillerFr0st

* erasmus sighs – I'm sorry amyliz. Men can be so obnoxious sometimes.
<KillerFr0st> yeah you animals can be; but you will be put in your motherfucking place by feminist justice
<erasmus> yes you can.
<KillerFr0st> shutup pig – animals should know their place
<erasmus> yes you should.
<KillerFr0st> know your role, boy
<erasmus> but it's clear that you don't.
<erasmus> ok son
<KillerFr0st> retarded faggot

Channel moderator attempts to direct this individual toward more appropriate chat:

<erasmus> be nice boy

Channel visitor blatantly violates server TOS ; This visitor is NOT a member of channel staff

<Torvalds> plz ddos the ip in the topic ; he is a cunt
<niko> Torvalds: asking for ddos is a network violation, i suggest you to stop
<KillerFr0st> I reported this channel to staff already
<Torvalds> KillerFr0st: stfu
<KillerFr0st> for publishing uncloaked hostmasks and requesting DDOS

Another channel member removes the offending information within seconds:

* niko has changed the topic to: ""

Seconds later:

<KillerFr0st> I reported you torvalds
<Torvalds> good

<KillerFr0st> so if you got a problem, then you have a problem with me
<Torvalds> be happy

<niko> Torvalds: you have been warned at least
<Torvalds> niko: and yeah, i'd like to report kunwon1 and his faggotry to the staff; just go and see what he does
Feb 09 07:58:08 <erasmus> they know ##politics is a shit channel. Trust that.
<KillerFr0st> kunwon gets reported every fucking day; sometimes multiple times a day; lol
<niko> i also think this channel has nothing to do on freenode
<Torvalds> he is a pedo
<erasmus> nothing to do ? ; what do you mean by that?
<niko> i mean it should not exist

<Torvalds> this is offtopic for a foss friendly irc network

<erasmus> why? ; the irc protocol has been around for decades; this isn't the first and only uncensored channel.
<niko> because it's only used for racial comments, decloack and attract troll.

<KillerFr0st> this channel needs to be ckilled/cbanned; I would kline everyone in here tbh ; these people are a cancer on this network ; and flagrant TOS violators
<erasmus> niko I don't see it that way.  KillerFr0st you have spent enough time in this channel to see that no one behaves anywhere near as poorly as you do.

Feb 09 08:00:41 <KillerFr0st> they just harrass users and engage in constant antisocial behavior and attempt to DDOS, doxx; troll, impersonate other users ; this is a hive of scum and villainy
Feb 09 08:00:54 <erasmus> who?

Feb 09 08:01:02 <Torvalds> YEAH AND I AHVE A PROBLEM WITH ##POLITICS
Feb 09 08:01:03 <Kiss> erasmus they're just dumbasses
Feb 09 08:01:13 <Torvalds> I WAS HUMILOATED AND BANNED FOR NO FUCKING REASON
Feb 09 08:01:17 <Torvalds> JUST FOR BEING HERE

Feb 09 08:01:21 <KillerFr0st> good; you sound like an idiot; I hope im the one that banned you
Feb 09 08:01:28 <Torvalds> you too
Feb 09 08:01:31 <KillerFr0st> you deserve it loser; get mad at me more please ;  I love your tears;  😀

Feb 09 08:01:44 <Torvalds> oh you're the cosmicbitch

##Politics moderator changes nick to avoid being recorded clearly:

<KillerFr0st> im not exactly hiding it
* KillerFr0st is now known as BarbatosLupusRex

Feb 09 08:06:38 <BarbatosLupusRex> I laugh at your meaningless right wing existence
Feb 09 08:06:43 <BarbatosLupusRex> of ignorance, brutality and stupidity
Feb 09 08:06:47 <BarbatosLupusRex> what lowly, base creatures
Feb 09 08:06:56 <BarbatosLupusRex> gnashing their teeth at things they dont understand
Feb 09 08:06:59 <BarbatosLupusRex> like their betters
Feb 09 08:07:05 <BarbatosLupusRex> what amusement they provide
Feb 09 08:07:12 <BarbatosLupusRex> with their mimickry of higher forms
Feb 09 08:07:17 <BarbatosLupusRex> its like a parody
Feb 09 08:07:53 <BarbatosLupusRex> okay cuck, if you say so!
Feb 09 08:07:57 <BarbatosLupusRex> cuck says what? 😉
Feb 09 08:08:06 <niko> erasmus: you didn't get whay i mean when i say about how useless this channel is ?
Feb 09 08:08:18 <erasmus> no
Feb 09 08:08:28 <Torvalds> niko: we talk fine unless two of these faggots show up
Feb 09 08:08:30 <erasmus> I think you should use /ignore and then it will be better

Feb 09 08:08:34 <BarbatosLupusRex> erasmus, is a 40 year old maladjusted manchild with personality disorders

Feb 09 08:08:47 <BarbatosLupusRex> of course the idiot doesnt know how to act right or be an actual adult
Feb 09 08:08:49 <BarbatosLupusRex> its funny

Feb 09 08:08:54 <Torvalds> and yu're a 12 yo cocksucker who kunwon molests
Feb 09 08:09:02 <BarbatosLupusRex> is that your fantasy kid?
Feb 09 08:09:05 <BarbatosLupusRex> you're sick

Server staff takes action on the above report:

Feb 09 08:10:03 * Torvalds has quit (K-Lined)

Feb 09 08:10:17 <Oxygen> ^ o fuk

<BarbatosLupusRex> okay time to behave
<BarbatosLupusRex> so ummm cooperation between republicans and democrats is good right
<BarbatosLupusRex> >.>

<Burrito> funny how the absence of Freenode staff just makes this channel go batshit
<Kiss> the thing needs to come here to troll for things to talk about in its' busted ass channel
<BarbatosLupusRex> ive got agents in here reporting TOS violations; silent patriots of socialism ;I know you might ban me, but my people will be watching ; you guys dont even know; the surveillance regime in place; its so funny!

<Oxygen> actions have consequences
<BarbatosLupusRex> im feeling tingly down there; im rubbing into my chair, im kinda hot; you neanderthals have gone far too far by double

Sometime later – the channel ##Politics-Uncensored is unceremoniously shut down by server staff, all users are kicked out with the message “THIS CHANNEL IS CLOSED BY SERVER STAFF”

I discover this a few minutes later and immediately send a pm to the Head Nerd In Charge :

Feb 09 09:15:13 <DieFledermaus> Can I ask why my channel ##Politics-Uncensored is "shut down" ?

Feb 09 09:15:16 * <HNIC> is away (Goneeeee.)

**** ENDING LOGGING AT Thu Feb  9 09:29:02 2017

**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Thu Feb  9 09:17:02 2017

Shit. No response.

Let’s go to #[MAIN SERVER CHANNEL] and make an inquiry of any staff on-hand:

Feb 09 09:17:07 <DieFledermaus> Why is my channel shut down?

<ADMIN> Failure to follow rules and genral stupidity, I would imagine.

NOT AN ENCOURAGING RESPONSE

<DieFledermaus> what rules were violated and by whom?

(The Bat becomes insomnia )

<insomnia> So this sort of thing is allowed to be done without documentation?

<ADMIN> We're all volunteers, with jobs, etc, so it's not always possible to instantly get a response from other staffers.

 <insomnia> So other staffers do whatever they want and answer to nobody?  they don't even have to tell anyone why they've done something?

<insomnia> I demand you reinstate the channel until an answer is provided. ;  until a valid reason is provided.

<ADMIN> Oh, I've had enough of you now.; I was willing to be civil and find out, but I've got better things to do.  I bid you good day.

<insomnia> Oh, bless me with your time o server angel.

**** ENDING LOGGING AT Thu Feb  9 09:30:54 2017

**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Thu Feb  9 09:36:20 2017

<ADMIN> I see you're talking to HNIC about it now, so I'll leave you in X capable hands, I'm sure X help get to the bottom of it ; I know she's looking in to it as she's discussing it in the staff channel, so sit tight, she will respond when she's gathered full details

<insomnia> someone told me that cosmicwitch/a.k.a. killerfr0st was spamming the  chan

<ADMIN> Just bear in mind what I said already, that staffers are volunteers so getting hold of another staffer to find out more info isn't always instant

Feb 09 09:37:24 <insomnia> I know, but ;  and I'm sorry ; but look, I've been trying to have a channel for political discussion for a long time; and the ##politics people will NOT let us be.

<insomnia> they keep coming in and spamming & disrupting and stuff ; just *trying* to start trouble.;  and this morning, I get up to see how my friends are;  only to find we're shut down without reason.; try to understand okay?  I'm friends with a lot of the members.

<ADMIN> yeah, I understand your frustration

<insomnia> Ok. ; thanks.

<ADMIN> and if it turns out that it was shut down for no good reason, HNIC (and, less importantly, I) will not be very impressed;  Can you confirm if you've had any contact from staff regarding the channel, its operation or the behaviour of anyone in it?

<insomnia>ANOTHERADMIN ; came in the otther day and said someone violated a rule and I said, "Was it channel [Management]?"; he said no ; he didn't tell me what it was; he just said someone did "something"; but didn't elaborate ; and he said it wasn't done in my chan ; but he said the person was in the chan when he did it

<insomnia> and I was like, "Well that's not really my fault?  How can I know what anyone is doing?"; he hung around a while; saw we were talking politics; and I hope he saw killerfr0st coming in spouting disruptive stuff; and we all just ignored it.; don't take the bait

<ADMIN> Has there been any encouragement to DDoS / de-cloak people?  I saw some vague mentions of that at one point, including that the /topic was being used for that

<insomnia> not that I know of; so what I was told this morning; is that a guy named 'torvalds' put an IP in the topic this morning ; and someone else removed it immediately; our /topic is unlocked (and there's no rule against that);  but there is never any encouragement for that sort of silliness

<insomnia> Torvalds is the guy to hold responsible; not my channel ;  he could have just as easily msgd it to the whole network

<ADMIN> He's not an op / representative of your channel, I assume?

<insomnia> negative

<insomnia> if I had been there, I would have kicked or quieted him; or locked the topic temporarly; as I do frequently when it gets into tpic war where two people fight over it.; I think a little topic play is fun and a stress relief; but I'd never let it be used for that.; I been here too long.;and zero bans

<ADMIN> Personally, I'm always wary of -t, simply because any user can put offensive stuff in the topic and have it show in the topic list

<insomnia> we let people talk.  sometimes they get rambunctious but we do put the kibash on it.

<ADMIN> and, rightly or wrongly, it gets interpreted as an "official" thing that represents the channel

<insomnia> and I can see that point; but people *can* do bad stuff; I try to let them have leash to prove they'll do good stuff; sure, we get a few bad actors; but as our channel entrymsg says ; "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences of too much liberty, than those attending too small a degree of it."

<ADMIN> Please note I'm not trying to say "you used -t so it's your fault", just offering my personal opinion on it 🙂

<insomnia> Ok.  I'll respect your opinion.  But I would rather give people a chance to be good; rather than suspect them all of being evil

<ADMIN> Yeah – it's nicer to be able to assume good faith, I'll definitely agree that; but, sadly, there are a lot of people out there who will abuse that

<insomnia> and that is my goal with the channel; in ##Politics everyone feels abused by the ops;so I created a place for them to go; Instead of messing with the ##politics channel and trying to ban evade; I said, "Just come here and chat.  We don't need them." ;then someone over there got a bug in their bonnet about our channel and would not leave us alone

<ADMIN> As with everything, it's a fine line between providing some freedom, and actively permitting racism / hate speech / illegal activities

<ADMIN> I'd like to think you're on the "right" side of that line, but I don't have personal experience of the channel

<insomnia> we are ; some people come in and try to go off on racism and whatnot; just as 'shock value'; when they see it has no value to shock, they drop it.; Its my psychology at work;If you let them scream it once in a while; they get it out of their system;

<insomnia> and I'm just really hurt by this; we were giving a much needed outlet

I had no response from anyone in a little while, so I decided to try & join the channel to see if it were open. It was!

Immediately I sent msgs of gratitude.

Feb 09 10:49:46 <insomnia> Hi

Feb 09 10:49:47 * <ADMIN> is away (off home)

Feb 09 10:55:24 <insomnia> Thank you.

Feb 09 10:55:28 * insomnia tips hat

**** ENDING LOGGING AT Thu Feb  9 10:55:36 2017

PM to Head Nerd In Charge to express gratitude:

<insomnia> Thank you.

<HNIC> no, thank you — for being candid with XXXXXX (and XXXXXXX with XXXX) — i am very sorry that this situation occured and for the poor way it had been managed by staff

<insomnia> No worries.  Thanks for letting us exist.  Do I have to keep the topic locked?

<HNIC> no, i would say not — if i can ask one thing, then perhaps it will be that if people attack the channel or try to incite hatespeech, etc. under the guise of free speech or encourage people to attack others, let us know — while we understand you want to provide an unmoderated venue for discussion and are loathe to ban people, we can, if they do not get bored on their own, push them off the cliff as it were without you needing to ban anyone or upset any of the other channel regulars by leaving them in the channel! 🙂

<insomnia> That sounds very good.

<insomnia> We've had an issue with a few folks, but I….worked some psychology miracles and they stopped on their own

<HNIC> yeah, i think a lot of the time lack of response makes for a boring audience 🙂

<insomnia> exactly.