Etiquette on IRC


* Language

The Freenet system is used by many varied people, and people on some channels
may be speaking languages other than your own. Be tolerant of people using
other languages, and if you want to limit the language on a particular channel
use the /TOPIC command to say so, as:

	/TOPIC Francais seulement, s.v.p.


* Confusion

On a busy channel there can be more than one conversation going on at
once. One convention used to indicate who a comment is addressed to
(perhaps a reply) is to prefix the comment with the nick of the person
most interested in it, as:

Mermaid: Yes, but I really think grapple-grommets should be banned anyway.


* Topic

It's a good idea to listen for a while when joining a busy channel to get
an idea of what's being discussed, as well as what language it's in.
Using the /TOPIC command can give other people in IRC an idea of
whether they'd like to join your channel (and can also be fun).


* Floods

Most people get irritated at automated floods of text from one person,
as when someone feels the need to dump an ASCII picture repeatedly on
a channel. IRC becomes like an "environment" for most people; please
respect the environment of others.


* "Op Wars"

Channel Operator status is a tool used to maintain some sort of sanity
on IRC channels, not a privilege, mark of friendship, or other badge.
Mass "ops" and "deops" generally don't do much for the level of conversation.
Use channel mode changes when necessary, but keep them under control.

* In general

Remember that the people you meet on IRC form their opinions about you
from your actions and comments on IRC. Think before you type, don't take
anything too seriously, and have fun.