Channel #Israel Guidelines

Remember, a lot like in the army, veteran people have more rights than new ones. It doens't mean that a veteran can violate the rules, but s/he will have more access to do things new ones do not.

And last but not the least - these rules are not legally drafted. They are written in common language so everybody will understand them. Don't try to find weird interpretations to them.

Section A - Talk Behavior

This section refers to the way one should behave while talking on the channel. People violating these rules, will be first warned, then, after repeating their violation of the rules, will be kicked. If one keeps violating the rules, after the warning kick, s/he will be banned. Repeatingly violating these rules, will result in a permanent ban.

1. NO FLOODING. This includes repeating the same message over and over, sending garbage to the channel, sending all sort of ASCII pictures, and every other way of sending a lot of information to the channel, which is not for the purpose of chatting with others on the channel, and disturbs the others on the channel.

2. NO CURSING/INSULTING. One should not curse in the channel nor insult other channel users. Usually, a one time slip, in the heat of an argument, will be tolerated, but a constant "bad mouthing" behavior will NOT.

3. NO OP BEGGING. People who beg for ops, will very quickly find themselves outside the channel. See Part II, Section A, for "How To Get Ops".

4. NO HACKING/WAREZING. #Israel is NOT a channel for hacking and warez exchanging. There are the proper channels for this kind of action around the irc, and it will not be tolerated on israel. Don't discuss hacked accounts, or exchanging software on the channel.

5. NO HARASSING. People come to #israel to enjoy themselves, not to get harassed. Harassment can be in many ways, and non of them is allowed on #Israel. To make things specific - this includes sexual harassment, and people who will be sexual harassing other people, will be banned with no mercy!
   Note: Generally - those rules refer to channel action only, and not to private messages. HOWEVER, if someone will be using the channel to find victims to harass in private messages, actions will be taken against him/her as well!

6. NO RACISM. Channel #israel is trying to be pluralist, and keep the freedom of the speech. However, as in many democratic countries, freedom of speech has to be limited. This means that if one comes on channel and starts expressing extreme racist opinions against ethnical groups (be that Jews, Arabs, blacks, etc.), or tries to use the channel to divert people into murder or any other opinion that may hurt the feelings of most people on the channel, s/he will be punished. Usually, a warning kick will be issued, but on extreme cases - an immediate ban will take place.
   Note: A racist nick will not be tolerated as well!

7. NO HEBREW FONTS, COLORS, AND OTHER NON PLAIN ASCII CHARACTERS. Remember - channel #israel is for everybody. This includes people from other countries, and people using any kind of IRC clients. Colors, Hebrew fonts, and the like - are supported only by certain clients or operating systems, and as such cannot be seen by people using other clients. Any usage of such non plain ascii characters is forbidden on the channel.

8. NO FOREIGN LANGUAGES. #Israel's official language is English, and some comments in Hebrew (IN ENGLISH FONTS!), are tolerated. Nothing more. Foreign languages are not allowed on israel. This is a public channel, and most people won't understand anything out of Hebrew and English. You can use foreign languages in the proper channels for them, or in private messages - but not on the channel.

9. NO CAPS. Capsing is not allowed on the channel. It can be used for emphazising a certain word, but not for complete sentances!

10. NO ADVERTISING. Advertising on the channel is prohibited. This includes political propaganda, trying to sell any services or goods, advertising channels or web pages, etc.
    In case you want to advertise a certain non commercial issue, that might be interesting for some people (for instance: you are founding an organization to help IRC Addicts, and need volunteers to help you), you can ask one of the masters to grant you permission to advertise it.
    
    

Section B - Channel Behavior

This section refers to the way one should behave on the channel, in the more "technical" way, making sure order will be kept. Violating these rules will usually end very very quickly in a ban, or a permanent ban on the bots. We will NOT tolerate any attempts to disturb the channel's order!

1. NO FAKING. According to the global Internet rules (Netiquette), faking other people is illegal. This means, that first of all, nick faking is disallowed. Any attempt to fake a nick in order to gain one's privileges, will end in an IMMEDIATE ban. Moreover, any attempt to fake one's account (mainly through DynamicIP connection) is completely illegal, and not only will be punished in the channel level, but will be reported to the provider!

2. NO OP "HACKING". For this - hacking will be considered as any way of unlegitimately getting op. This can be through a netsplit, or through faking, or through many others way. All those ways, will not be tolerated. For legitimate ways of getting ops, see Part II, Section A.

3. NO TAKEOVER ATTEMPTS. Takeovers can be made in a lot of ways, and ALL of them are illegal! Taking over is disallowed, even if the ops were originally obtained in a legitimate way (and of course, esp. if the ops were obtained in NON legitimate ways).

4. NO CLONING. Cloning means putting 2 or more clients for the same user. It's not allowed by server rules, and is not allowed on the channel as well.

5. NO UNAUTHORIZED BOTS. The only bots that are allowed to stay on #israel are the bots who handle the channel. Any other, non authorized bot, is not allowed to be on the channel! Unauthorized bots will be banned and kicked with no warning.

Preface - Explanation of the #israel op mechanism.

In #israel, there's a constant presence of several bots. These bots handle all channel technical matters, like: giving ops to authorized users, auto kicking and banning abusive users, detecting floods and handling them, etc.

Each authorized user has a certain access level, which lets him do certain things. With time and experience, those access levels can be increased. Access levels are:

p	-	party line access. Giving access to the IsraNet botnet partyline, but not any channel privileges.
u	-	Allows one to kick and place temporary bans on users on the channel, through the bot. Does NOT give Channel Operator privileges.
e	-	Allows one to op himself on the channel, but not to op others.
o	-	Operator. Full channel operator status, and also allows user to place permanent bans on users.
f	-	Friend. Gives more control over the bot and users on it, and also has the right to participate in more votes.
m	-	Master. Full control over the bots, participates in all votes.

Section A - How To Get Ops

As mentioned in the preface, access is being given by more veteran ops, (who also have the ability to change access levels on the bots). Party line access can be given by any +f/+m user. Any access higher than that, needs to be voted upon (a vote for +p access should be placed, if objections for a +p user appear).

1. A Vote can be placed only by a +m user.

2. Votes for +p/+u/+e/+o access level will be open for all +f users. Votes for +f/+m access level will be open for +m users.

3. Between two votes on the same user, there will be a minimal period of time. This period of time refers both for trying again a vote that was rejected, or a vote for higher access after a successfull vote.
   

   • The minimal period of time between votes for +p/+e/+u/+o access is 60 days (This minimal period of time applies even if +p was given without a vote)
   • The minimal period of time between votes for +f/+m access is 90 days.

4. During a vote for user's access, lobbying for or against that user is forbidden. 'Lobbying' includes all personal comment and opinions regarding the fitness of that user to the proposed access. It does not, however, include discussion on specific information regarding abuse of that user.

5. After a vote ends, the result of the vote will be sent to the user, to the voters, logged into the history, and logged into the user's comment.

Section B - Ops Rules

Ops must of course follow all the rules that refers to regular users. The fact you have access - does not mean you are above the rules - The rules were meant for everybody on the channel! Asside than that - there are a few rules that apply to ops only:

1. NO MANUAL OPS. The bots are doing a great job most of the time - let them keep doing it. There's no better authentication mechanism than the bots' password checking, and therefore, manual ops are a security risk. No need to say that one should not op a user that doesn't even have the proper access to get ops from the bot!
   The only exception to this rule is when the bots are having technical problems, and do not give ops properly. In that case, op manually only if you're 100% sure that you know what you do, and only after being CERTAIN that the person you are talking to is who he claims to be, and has op rights on the channel.

2. NO OP WARS. - Or in other words - do not use your access against other ops on the channel - as this usually ends in op fights. If you have problems with another op - try to talk to him/her, and clear things out - and if everything else fails, talk to one of the masters. Avoid, however, starting a fight - it only harms the channel.

3. DO NOT KICK/BAN FOR PERSONAL REASONS. The op privileges are not given to settle personal arguments. Kicks, Bans, and Deops should be used only if it's for the channel's best. For personal problems, you can always use /ignore. (However, if one uses the CHANNEL, to insult and fight, this is violation of Part I, Section A/2, and thus can be punished).

4. WARN BEFORE KICKING/BANNING. Before kicking or banning a user, warn him/her, and try to explain what they did wrong. Many new users do not know the rules or do not understand them, and are violating the rules out of ignorance. If a user keeps violating the rules, then you could (and should) kick or ban.
   Of course - if a user is obviously trying to deliberatly violate rules and abuse the channel, or if he's a repeating abuser, you can skip the warning.

5. NO MASS-OPERATIONS. No mass ops, mass bans, mass kicks, etc. Mass mode changes/kicks/etc. are similar to flooding, and thus are illegal.

Section C - How To Lose Ops

Generally, there are two situations in which a user may lose his or hers ops (or more precisely, any level of bot access):

1. Abuse - In case of an abuse done by a user (channel, ops, or partyline), a vote may be placed to remove the user's access. Unlike with gaining ops, there's no limit to how many flags can be removed in one vote (that depends, obviously, on the severity of the abuse).
   In extreme cases, where the abuse may risk the channel, a master or a friend may remove the access prior to the vote, and make sure a vote is set right away to deal with it.

2. Timed Cleanup - A user that no longer joins the channel, will slowly lose his or hers access. Every 6 months of inactivity result in the loss of one flag, until the user is completely removed from the bots upon the loss of the +p.