General Code of Conduct for #Help

#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.