Shoutbox

Rules on IRC are kind of inane. IRC is about mutual respect and not being a lamer. You can't govern IRC with rules for every petty little action. Read bash.org - notice the lack of respect for race, culture and anything in between in half of the quotes. Just as everywhere else respect is earnt on IRC; mostly by spending lots of time active, by hanging around channels for a long time; people soon learn that you are knowledgeable and not a lamer. In one channel I am in 80% of the members are ops and we all mutually respect each other's knowledge of IRC and general IRC behaviour - we're all veterans with experience - you work out 80% of 200 people. If you prove clueless or say stupid things then you are quickly removed. That's how IRC works.

Read about it: http://chowned.org/irc-guide.txt

Edit: This little tidbit from a ToS on a website that offers shell services for connecting to IRC sums up perfectly the ethic with which everyone should approach IRC:

quote:

---

"The good news:  We're not anal.  You can use your shell however you like as long as it doesn't disrupt other corp users, consume an abnormal amount of system resources or bandwidth, break irc rules, attract packets, isn't illegal or doesn't violate the generally accepted code of online ethics.  In other words, don't be a retarded lamer.

The bad news: Corp shells are for mature and clueful individuals who know how to behave.  If you're generally hated, have a tendency to attract negative attention, or are abusive on irc, then this isn't the place for you. Corp is a stable server for irc clients, bots, and bnc's.   We don't have a lot of stupid rules, but the general rule of common sense applies.  This means respect and show some courtesy to your fellow Corp users; don't ruin it for everyone.  Any form of abuse (or generally any form of stupidity) is not tolerated and dealt with swiftly.  We reserve the right to remove your account for any reason at any time. If your account is terminated, don't hold your breath expecting a refund, we don't have time to play games. "

---

The site is run by one of the most influential people on IRC, a long time admin on one of the biggest and oldest networks. His opinion is pretty much the way to go. He also wrote the irc-guide above.

Of course, like Ddunk said: if you want to get a point across about IRC - PM an op on the forums, or just talk to them on msn. We aren't inhuman or even scary. C'mon, am I really scary?! Seriously - we do listen and we do know that even people in a position of power on IRC can be lamers too.