#Help Code of Conduct

#Help is the official ChatNet help channel. This channel is administered by the ChatNet Help Committee. Due to the fact that this is ChatNet's official help channel, and it represents the network as a whole, Ops in this channel should present themselves in a helpful and professional manner. All attempts should be made to be courteous to the users that come in #Help. Since excess idling is not permitted in this channel, Ops should greet users on join, and try to help them with their question/problem to the best of their abilities. Once a user has been promptly greeted, and helped with his/her problem, they should then be asked if they are in need of anything additional assistance, and those not requiring additional assistance should then be asked to /part #Help.

The following guidelines are to outline how everyday channel business should be conducted in #Help. Please note these are just guidelines and are also subject to rules/guidelines outlined by the Help Committee. .

[1] Probably the most important rule of all . . . All Ops are to conduct themselves in a *USER FRIENDLY* fashion. This includes making all attempts to help users, and using good social habits.

[2] If a user is annoying, or interfering with the process of helping others in the channel, they are to be first warned, and then kicked with a brief reason for the kick. If this user continues to cause trouble, they are to be promptly banned, with a brief explanation of what they did to result in banning from the channel.

[3] Annoying or interfering behavior includes but is not limited to: chatting, messages, notices, pings, DCC's or any other method that distracts the Op's attention from the user or assisting others. Once the offending user has been banned from #Help, the user can then be placed on ignore to further prevent any interference/distraction as an ignore off-channel does not impede an Op's ability to monitor activity in #Help.

[4] Comments with K9 should not include vulgar or rude language, as should the sound files that accompany comments, thereby maintaining a professional atmosphere in #Help. If possible, comments should be limited or not used, as each time K9 parts and returns these comments are displayed and could cause interruptions to users being assisted or become annoying to other Op's in channel.

[5] All Ops in this channel are Op'd for one specific reason, which is to help the users who join with their questions/problems. If an Op must leave their keyboard for any lengthy time, or are not able to help at a certain time, they are asked to either Deop, and Voice themselves, or to part #Help. In a better actuality, if you are not there to help, please do not join.

[6] To facilitate recognition of a person that is accessed on K9, you are requested to either Op or voice yourself so others do not needlessly offer assistance to you. If you are unable to Op or voice yourself due to your being away from your computer, you should either part #Help or have a script that voice's you.

[7] If you have personal disagreements with a specific individual, it is always better to just /ignore them. It is probably the case that not everyone dislikes that person, and not being able to see their comments makes them a lot easier to tolerate. This channel is strictly for help, and public issues are not to be acted upon in #Help.

[8] Other Op's are to respect your right to ignore someone and not paste comments the person you have ignored would like you to see. Someone asking you to paste a comment to someone normally indicates that person is on ignore. You are not to use K9, OpNotices, OpMsg's or any other method to send messages to people that have placed you on ignore.

[9] If you are unable to resolve a problem with an individual it should be addressed to the Senior Ops. In the event Senior Ops are not able to resolve the dispute, the matter is then given to the Chair of the ChatNet Help Committee, who will have the final say in resolving the dispute.

[10] IRCD limits the number of bans a channel is allowed. All bans set for the channel that are in the server are subject to removal in a cleaning out process of the channel bans. If you want the ban to stay, use K9 to set the ban. Bans set through K9 stay in K9's database until they expire or are removed.

[11] Bans in K9 should only be removed by the person who set them. A person who inadvertently clears the K9 banlist should make every attempt to reconstruct the bans on K9 that were in place at the time of removal.

[12] Only Senior Ops and the Chair of the ChatNet Help Committee can remove bans if the person that set the ban has been consulted first. Long bans tend to hinder the help process and should therefore be kept to a minimum. No other person is allowed to remove a ban placed by another Op. Bans placed by Ops that are no longer a member of the Help Committee should be removed promptly.

[13] Under most circumstances, there should be no need for extra bots in #Help. Bots such as K9, ChatWorld, and HelpBot(s) that are deemed necessary by Help-Com are exempted from this rule.

[14] There is no need to have clones in #Help. Clones are permissible if a temporary specific question/problem arises that requires them, otherwise, they are not allowed in #Help.

[15] Access levels will vary according to the guidelines set by the ChatNet Help Committee. These guidelines may be found in the ChatNet Help Committee Internal Policy. All helpers should respect each other, that includes lower access levels and higher access levels. Abuse of access, and using higher access against lower will not be tolerated in #Help.

[16] Idlers are not allowed in #Help. Users in #Help that interfere with the Channel Operators providing help to users should be banned. Users that do excessive chatting in #Help should be asked to leave and banned if they continue, because excessive Chatting can interfere with providing assistance to other users.

[17] #Help is an official channel, which under ChatNet Help-Com policy grants access to Administrators and Operators of the network, however it is asked that if you do not plan to help on a regular basis, and actually be a part of this channel, please do not come for access, or interfere with channel affairs that do not concern you. This channel is owned by the network; however, it is lead by the ChatNet Help Committee and works to make the channel successful. No one is required to help in this channel, so if you feel obligated to join, don't.