www.chatzone.ws

Section 1, General
 
#Chatzone is an Internet Relay Chat channel located on the Undernet IRC network whose purpose is to allow users of all nationalities and backgrounds to freely converse with one another on any clean, friendly and/or humorous topics.
 
Section 2, Channel Conduct
 
Channel conduct shall be in accordance with the channel's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) at all times. The AUP may be modified to reflect the needs of the channel by the channel administrators at any time.
 
Only automated entities (bots) that have been approved by the channel administration are allowed on the channel. All other bots will be forcibly removed.
 
The channel operators will not treat private messages as offensive to the channel, regardless of their content. Users who initiate abusive or harassing messages may be in direct violation of the AUP and subject to procedures outlined therein.
 
Operator disagreements about channel management shall be kept off the open channel. Operators will show respect for one another in public, particularly by leaving other Operator's bans up for a reasonable amount of time.
 
Channel operators are not permitted to give operator status to anyone except in special circumstances, as cited in Section 6. Only people elected by the op body and added to the bots by the channel administrators may be channel operators. Operators may obtain ops through the bots or through a channel administrator who has verified that the individual is actually a channel operator. The authorized bots shall not be kicked, banned, or otherwise prevented from performing their functions unless necessary for the maintenance of good order as provided for in Section 6.
 
Channel operators are empowered to use their discretion while enforcing the channel's AUP.
 
Section 3, Channel Administration
 
Chatzone is managed as a hierarchy, as described below. All channel operators and other functionaries are elected to their positions and are subject to peer review at all times.
 
Chatzone has five channel administrators. These administrators are channel operators who are responsible for setting channel policies, resolving disputes, and operating the channel bots. The Channel Administrators have additional responsibilities described below.
 
The Channel Administrators, individually or as a whole, may take any action in the best interests of the channel. Any exercise of this power may be overruled by a vote of 3 of the 5 Channel Administrators.
 
All channel operators with the exception of the channel administrators will have the same access level as determined by the administration. For further information on channel operators and expectations, please see the chatzone chop docs and the AUP.
 
Section 3.1, The Recorder
 
The Recorder is appointed by the channel administrators to serve as a vote recorder. The Recorder must mind the time limits set for votes and post reminders to the list or directly to the administrators regarding ongoing votes and vote deadlines, as well as keeping dates pertaining to operator suspensions and the number of times an operator has been suspended.
 
Section 3.2, Channel Operators
 
All Chatzone operators are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the Charter and the AUP while on the channel. For further information on the expectations of channel operators, please consult the Chatzone chop docs and the AUP.
 
Section 4.0, Chatzone Mailing list
 
The Channel Administrators shall, by a majority vote, establish the official mailing list for all purposes under this charter.
 
In accordance with administrative responsibilities, the channel administrators may modify the policies of the mailing list including but not limited to who may submit posts, read posts and whether the list is moderated to provide an environment conducive to discussion of channel matters, benefiting the channel as a whole.
 
All channel administrators are required to be subscribed to the mailing list. All operators are *strongly encouraged* to subscribe.
 
Section 5.0, Voting, Demotion, Promotion of Operators Section
 
5.1
a. The method for voting shall be by secret ballot emailed to two designated vote counters.
 
b. Three ops are required to initially support an op rec. These three ops can be any combination of channel operators and administrators with the exception of probationary operators. Their role is to act as "mentor/trainer" to the new op. Before they submit the op rec for voting by the general op body, these three mentors must be confident that the op rec is completely trained and ready to go. The three rec supporters then post to the list.
 
c. The initial op rec should include something along the lines of:
"I would like to nominate user <xyz> (followed by <xyz's> address) for ops. This nomination is supported by <abc> and <def>. We believe that <xyz> is blah blah blah.
 
The second and third mentors should then post that they agree and Support this rec. This formality should streamline the process, and will reduce The number of people jumping up saying "I second it", "I third it" etc.
 
d. No votes should be cast until the three mentors have all posted their support and vote counters have been identified and their addresses have been posted to the list. When emailing votes, place "vote for *oprec* in the subject line to make it easier for the counters to distinguish what is and isn't a formal vote.
 
e. The voting period opens with the post of support from the third mentor and upon the identification of vote counters, and ends two weeks from that date. Votes will be privately emailed to two vote counters.
 
f. All new ops will be considered "probationary" for three months after their voting period is over. During this time they cannot vote, or be a part of any new op recs or demotions. The probationary status is to ensure the readiness for them to perform an ops' duties satisfactorily and to ensure the new op adheres to channel rules and standards.
 
g. After the three months is over the "probationary" op will receive full op status, provided they are still an op, which will allow them full voting and mentoring rights. All other channel responsibilities/privileges/rights will apply from the moment the new op is added to the bots. The promotion process is not subject to another vote. The Recorder will maintain a list of new ops and post their dates of election and promotion to the mailing list on a regular basis. If people experience problems with a "probationary" op, please refer to the "Removal of Ops" section.
 
h. Before an op votes YES or NO they should have taken the op rec aside, talked with him/her and made an evaluation of the op rec. Ops who haven't done this should NOT vote. The op should check for a basic knowledge of IRC commands such as kicking and banning and a general knowledge of the channel rules, as well as an evaluation on whether the rec's actions and dealings with users lend towards a friendly channel atmosphere. All attempts should be made to make an unbiased, objective evaluation disregarding any personal problems between the rec and the evaluator.
 
i. There is no need to explain your vote, but reason should be included to have an impact on decisions that go to the channel administrators for final determination.
 
j. As the new op rec needs three ops to rec them, they automatically start off with three YES votes. The rec then requires the majority of YES votes in order to be accepted as a new op.
 
k. All recs that receive 3 or more NO votes are subject to review by the channel administration, but are not automatically failed in their bid regardless of the number of no votes.
 
l. If an op rec fails in his/her bid for ops, he/she is ineligible to be recced again for another three months. The Recorder will also track this information. After this time the user in question becomes eligible to be re-recced for ops. It does not matter if the mentors are the same three ops or three different ones. Voting ops should treat the rec as a new rec, and re-evaluate the rec at this time, before casting their votes.
 
m. The channel administrators can add any new op to the bots at any time as a "probationary" op for the purpose of evaluating the persons abilities.
 
n. There will be no more than two active op recs at any given time. If a new op rec is ready to go and there are already two op recs open for voting, they will have to wait for one of them to end. This is to prevent a flood of new ops. The channel administrators can also close op recs if the need arises.
 
o. The channel administrators have final approval.
 
Section 5.2, The Channel Administrators
 
a. In the event that a channel administrator retires from their position, a general election will be held to determine their replacement.
 
The election of a new channel administrator is subject to the following guidelines:
 
Once the election has been initiated, nominations for new channel administrators will be accepted for a period of time to be determined by the channel administration. These nominations will be tracked by the Recorder. Only operators in good standing are eligeable to place nominations and vote in the election. Only operators in good standing are eligeable to be nominated to become channel administrators. After a nomination has been made, the nomination must then be seconded by another operator in good standing. The nominee must then accept his/her nomination prior to the conclusion of the nomination process.  
 
Voting will commence when the Recorder announces the conclusion of the nomination process, at this time the Recorder will also identify the second vote counter and announce the email addresses in which to send votes to. All votes must be made privately. Votes will be accepted for a period of two weeks. Once the voting process has begun all operators who are participating in the election must send their votes to both the recorder and the second vote counter in order for their vote to be counted.  After the conclusion of the two week voting period, the Recorder and vote counter will tally the results and post the name of the winner to the general discussion list. The winner of the election will be raised to the level of administrator.  In the event of a tie a second election will take place to determine the winner.
 
b. From time to time, the body of ops may feel that a channel administrator is not working in the best interests of the channel. In order to call a confidence vote on a channel administrator, a current op that has passed through their probation must make a posting to the list with good reasons and the signatures of at least 7 other non-probationary ops. The Recorder will then call a two week confidence vote based on this to decide whether or not the channel administrator in question stays. The Recorder, a channel administrator, and a second vote counter will count the votes. If more than 60% of the votes cast are to remove the channel administrator (a minimum of 15 votes cast are required), that persons level will be changed to that of the existing op body and the usual nomination and voting process for channel administrator's will take place. A channel administrator cannot be called up for a confidence vote if they have less than six months of service under their belt.
 
c. A channel administrator can be removed with a vote of 3/5's of the channel administration.
 
Section 5.3, *REMOVAL OF OPS
 
a. The mechanism for removing an op will be handled by the channel administrators, but can be requested by any op with the exception of "probationary" ops. The basic guidelines for the removal of an op are done on a case-by-case basis. All channel operators are required for abide by the Acceptable Use Policy at all times. Ops that cannot abide by the Acceptable Use Policy and/or who abuse their op powers are subject to removal of ops.
 
b. "Probationary" ops will be evaluated when two ops present complaints (with supporting logs) to the channel administration. The complaints will be evaluated and, if the op is found to be in violation of the AUP, disciplinary measures will be taken.
 
c. Regular ops will be evaluated when three ops present complaints (with supporting logs) to the channel administration. Again, the complaints will be evaluated and, if the op is found to be in violation of the AUP, disciplinary measures will be taken.
 
d. Complaints or logs regarding the demotion of an op should be emailed privately to the channel administrators, NOT posted to the mailing list. Email addresses of the current channel administrators are listed below.
 
e. After reviewing the logs, the channel administrators will contact the person(s) who is the subject of these complaints privately to discuss the complaints and allow the person to respond. If after reviewing the complaints and the response, the channel administrators agree to a demotion it will be posted to the mailing list, with their reasons.
 
f. Any complaints or logs posted publicly will not be evaluated. We wish to keep the channel and list friendly, and avoid any kind of witch-hunt mentality. If you have an opinion or a complaint, please email it privately to one of the channel administrators for evaluation.
 
g. The channel administration can remove any op with a 3/5 vote, and channel notification via the mailing list.
 
Section 5.4, Permanent Bans
 
Channel administrators may place permanent bans via the bots at any time or allow regular channel ops, at their discretion, to place permanent bans. For an operator to request a permanent ban, aka a shitlist, they may post to the mailing list with an appropriate subject heading or contact someone online who is authorized to add shitlists to the bots.
 
The channel administration reserves the right to add, remove or review permanent bans at any time. They are under no obligation to remove permanent bans. Users who have been permanently banned may follow the procedures outlined in the AUP regarding appealing a violation if they wish to have a ban removed on their behalf.
 
Section 5.5, Modifications to Channel Policy and the Charter
 
If a modification to the Chatzone charter is desired, it must be written or rewritten, posted for debate and/or revision on the mailing list and then the final form of the addition(s) or change(s) will be voted upon separately by the channel administrators. To be accepted, it must win the support of a majority of votes from the channel administrators.
 
6. Emergency Channel Operations
 
All operators may use whatever means necessary to maintain order on the channel. Under unusual circumstances, this may include removing other operators or malfunctioning robots and so forth. Operators who take such actions shall report the circumstances and the actions taken to the mailing list. No disciplinary action (See Section 5.4) will be taken against an operator who does this, unless the action taken was deemed wholly inappropriate by a 3/5 majority of channel administrators. Changing channel modes temporarily is considered within the norm of daily channel operation.