The Constitution and Guiding Policy of the ChatNet IRC Network
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Revision 9.0.2 [4/29/1999] 
Written by mlong of RockHill.SC.US.ChatNet.Org
Michael Long (mlong@mlong.net) 
Changes via cadmin discussion and approval. 

[ Introduction ] 

This document is designed to be a guiding document for the ideals, 
values, and ideas of the ChatNet IRC network. 

[ Ideals ]

This network is here for the enjoyment and entertainment of our 
users. It is also designed for the free flow of ideas and opinions 
between individuals. Individuals should be able to state opinions 
without being killed or G:lined by administration. ChatNet officials 
are here to assist in the smooth operation of the network and to 
ensure users have a pleasant online experience. At all costs, anyone 
impacting the fun and entertainment environment of the network 
(especially through harassment, flooding, and extreme unprofessionalism 
or rudeness to users) must be removed from the network. 

[ Policies and Rules ]

There are few set policies on the ChatNet network other than this 
document because the administrators of this network want everyone 
to use common sense and to act sensibly and to the best of their 
abilities when conducting themselves on the network. ChatNet 
officials should use their best professional and moral judgment to the 
best of their abilities when dealing with situations on the network. 

[ Abuse, Complaints, and the Courts ] 

When any official of ChatNet acts in a manner which one considers to 
be abusive or inappropriate, a complaint may be made to 
complaints@chatnet.org. The complaint secretary (i.e., individual 
checking mail at complaints@chatnet.org) will then assign a tracking 
number to the complaint and email it to the appropriate jury AND the 
person being accused AND the accused's superior (for  ircops, 
it is the admin; for committees, it is the chair or leader). The jury 
will be a court of the accused's peers which will act through standard 
voting procedures and determine appropriate action (punishment or 
dismissal) to be taken against the accused. The jury shall review the 
complaint and all evidence, request more as needed, and vote for action, 
or lack thereof.

The jury is as follows: 
Accused Jury 
IRCop AbuseCom 
Admin AbuseCom 
CService CService or CService Leader (decided by CService) 
All Others Their own committee (RoutingCom, NewsCom, etc.) 

The accused shall be allowed to submit whatever necessary information or 
statements on his/her behalf to contradict any evidence submitted. 

Should the jury's decision be questioned, an appeal may be made to the 
admins. The admins can then decide to uphold or change the decision.

Should the appeal be against an admin jury, the appeal will go to the 
ChatNet Executive Committee.

No ChatNet Official is immune to discipline or the ideals of this 
network, and no official has sovereign rights when it comes to abuse 
and punishment. If a person constantly abuses the network, he or she 
will be removed. 

Should the accused be an ircop , the accused's admin may remove 
the individual at any time and effectively end the vote (causing the 
vote to be dismissed as ADMIN ACTION). The ircop  cannot serve 
in that capacity in the future if he or she was removed by the admin 
during the complaint discussion period. 

If the accused is removed for abuse by the jury, the accused cannot 
serve in any official capacity on the network in the future (including 
being an ircop  on a different server). 

All complaints will be kept on the ChatNet website, so that the network 
may track past complaints and determine if trends are occurring with an 
official. All complaints will be posted to the website with their tracking 
numbers and with the outcome of the vote. 

Complaints received from hotmail.com, yahoo.com, or any other free or 
anonymous remailer service should be disregarded unless:
A. the submitter resends using a non-free or non-anonymous host or 
B. the submitter is able to prove to the complaint secretary beyond 
   a reasonable doubt that they are who they say they are.

[ Personal Disputes ] 

Personal disputes between ChatNet officials have no place on the mailing 
lists or in public. Instead, the issue should be taken private, or there 
should be a kill war. The person to endure the longest wins. Or more likely, 
their aggression will fade after a while or they will get tired/bored and 
they will stop and determine a solution to their disagreement. Kill 
scripts are not allowed and will result in the user being taken out back 
and shot. 

[ Voting Process ] 

Anything related to the ChatNet network may be modified by a simple 
majority of voting cadmin members. CService and ChatWorld have one vote 
each. No server or individual may have more than one vote. If an admin 
is an admin for 2 servers, then the admin can appoint another admin or 
assistant admin of said server to vote. Only admins or assistant admins 
may vote on cadmin. 

Votes occur as follows:

3 days for discussion once discussion is completed, the secretary will 
post the issue for a vote. The post shall consist of the tracking number, 
the begin date and time, the end date and time, the issue being voted on, 
the choices/selections for the vote, and any special voting instructions. 
The vote lasts 4 days. 

[ RoutingCom ]

RoutingCom is responsible for maintaining, recruiting, filtering and 
linking the best servers available to ChatNet. In addition, RoutingCom 
is responsible for maintaining and distributing server lists to all 
known IRC clients and to the ChatNet webmaster(s). To this end, RoutingCom 
will be maintaining and publishing its own standards for determining 
the best servers to be linked, a website for collecting applications, 
its own process for weeding out undesirable links, and making the initial 
45 day probationary link to ChatNet. The committee will also maintain 
the C/N/H/U/Q, ServerIDs, numeric M codes, and server configuration 
information that is essential to the function of this network. Since 
cadmin does not necessarily have the time to interview and select the 
best group of people to serve in RoutingCom, and since sometimes the 
dynamics of an all volunteer group cause it to need more or less 
members at any given time, cadmin will pick a single person to chair 
the committee. Cadmin will choose a person whom it feels has the best 
ability to both understand routing and effectively lead a group. That 
person will pick his or her team and proceed on accomplishing the tasks 
and goals of RoutingCom. The RoutingCom chair will serve a 1 year term 
and can be reappointed/re-elected as many times as desired by cadmin. 

[ New Servers ]

New servers are automatically assigned to a probationary period of 45 
days. At the beginning of a probationary period, RoutingCom hands over 
all data about the probationary server to cadmin. A week before the 
end of the probationary period, RoutingCom will announce to cadmin 
that it must vote on a permanent link of the server. The cadmin 
secretary will proceed to setup and track the vote. Cadmin can vote 
on the server link at anytime before the end of the probationary period. 
Cadmin can also extend the period of a probationary link if it so chooses. 
If a server is voted to not be confirmed, that server must be delinked 
from the network within 24 hours. This includes jupe and removing 
CN lines from hubs. New servers will not have voting rights until they 
are out of the probationary period, and they will not be on the admin-only 
mailing list until they are out of the probationary period.

[ Mailing List ]

There are mailing lists for cadmin, admins and ircops. Admins are required 
to be subscribed to cadmin and check the list regularly (not filter it to 
the trash). Active admin participation is key to making this network a 
success. There will also be a separate admin-only list that admins will 
be required to subscribe to. 

[ CService ]

Admins and ircops should not interfere with the daily operation of 
CService pertaining to channel registrations or deletions. The only 
exception is an admin vote on specific actions when absolutely 
necessary (legal issues, etc.). Admins and ircops can help to solve 
K9-channel problems if they have been properly trained by CService. 
CService is a self-governing body with respect to members (it appoints 
its own members as needed). 

[ Fun ]

Ircops and admins can use wallops, can kill each other, and can use 
K9 say and act as long as things do not get out of hand. If someone 
asks you to stop, you should stop. 

[ Speaking Your Mind ]

It is ok to express any negative feelings you have about the network, 
a policy, and admin, or an ircop BUT they cannot be public. Do not mouth 
off in #nuthouse or wallops...keep it private. 

Similarly, the official ChatNet channels are for assisting users only. 
Users are offered no protection from kicks and bans when they state 
opinions or chat excessively in official channels. Officials shall do 
whatever is necessary to ensure that their effectiveness in helping users 
is not hampered by individuals who wish to chat, insult, or otherwise 
tie-up official channels. 

[ Official Channels ]

An official may be in any channel which is allowed on ChatNet. Individual 
servers may enact their own policies regarding what channels ircops  
are allowed in if they wish. Only in the case that both K9 and Chatworld are 
down at the same time will ops in official channels be allowed to op others. 
Whenever k9 or Chatworld are available then the only acceptable way to gain ops 
in official channels will be thru one of those. No auto-ops scripts will be 
allowed and the auto-ops function on k9 is not to be used in official channels. 
#nuthouse is the official administration channel. All ircops and admins should 
be in this channel when they are opered up. #administration is the ChatNet officials 
channel. #doghouse is the CService help channel. #help is the official help 
channel. All Admins/IRCOps will have their level on k9 established 
according to the channels individual "Code of Conduct" (CoC) and will be 
governed by their individual channel rules/guidelines. However, it is noted 
that any person who is legitimately +O in a channel (registered or not) may 
kick or ban any official for any reason. #help and #doghouse are help channels 
and should not be idled in as this confuses the user and the other helpers as 
to who can help and who is helping. If you aren't in there to help or there 
in some official capacity, then part.

[ Services ]

K9 is the official and only channel service. ChatWorld is the official and 
only operator service. There is no NickServ service, and private NickServ 
services or bots are banned from the network. No automated script or bot 
that is not an official service may have a O (global) line. 

[ Broadcasts ]

Officials should ensure any global broadcasts they perform are of a 
substantive and needed basis. ChatWorld broadcasts should not be used for 
fun and games. The exceptions are holidays and birthday/marriage 
announcements. 

[ Assistant Admins (aka co-admins) ]

Assistant admins are considered admins but must be confirmed on by the 
majority of voting cadmin. Assistant admins do not get voting rights 
unless the main admin does not vote (only one vote allowed per server). 
Assistant admins must be equal in ability as the main admin to be able 
to handle server emergencies. Assistant admins must meet the same 
requirements for competency that a main admin meets. Should a company 
employee 2 admins to maintain a server, the company shall provide written 
documentation validating this status. At that time, both admins will be 
considered equal, but only one may vote on cadmin issues. 

[ Local Ircops ]

Local ircops are treated the same as global ircops in all regards, except 
they do not have cross-kill access or access to ChatWorld services. 

[ K9 ]

Admins and assistant admins may add their own ircops  to official 
channels, but must send an email notifying cadmin and cservice of the addition. 

[ Opinion Protection ]

No official may be removed for speaking their opinions or views as long 
as it is in a private setting (not visible to users). This of course 
doesn't protect ircops  from being removed when they speak out 
against their own admin (though another admin can pick them up). 

[ Executive Council ]

The executive council consists of appointees of Nu Tech Software Solutions, 
Inc., the sponsor of K9 and DNS. Currently the council consists of Dr-Who, 
BP, and pHaNtAsy. The Executive Council will step in and make a decision when 
the admin vote is tied, the network is spiralling towards oblivion, all hell 
is breaking loose, or similar situations. The Executive Council will also help 
to clarify vague wording on policies, interpret policies when there is a 
question regarding meaning, and to act when cadmin needs guidance. 

[Server Officials]

The following list is a list of recognized ChatNet officials. All officials 
must fall into these categories:

-admin -assistant admin -ircop -local ircop -committee member (RoutingCom,CService,Executive Council)