IRC Moderation

[CloudDancing]

We can't control people and what chat rooms they open. In fact I encourage the creative commons and healthy venues for people explore and vent their frustrations. But we can control how others perceive us and our ability to extend compassion as well as forgiveness.

The ability to forgive the small slights and insults of other community members is what defines a community and builds it up.

[oldgrayrogue]

I avoid IRC like the plague. Some of it can be funny but most is just inane chatter, and personally I'd rather spend my time playing. I don't think it causes harm, regardless of the language used. I think we are all adults here. I agree with Castano though that the last thing DMs or Admin who volunteer their time to try to make the project better want to hear is a bunch of griping about them on IRC, or on the boards for that matter. It just sucks and kills your motivation. Like why bother if you're not appreciated?

It is quite useful however for having group conversations between faction members, or discussing plot related issues with DMs as a group. It is also useful when something happens IG that requires a DM and you can find one on IRC to log on to help.

[gonz.0]

It is quite useful however for having group conversations between faction members, or discussing plot related issues with DMs as a group. It is also useful when something happens IG that requires a DM and you can find one on IRC to log on to help.

Yes, it is. Also why it needs to be friendly to the players who are more likely to need help, the newbies who don't yet know who to ask for help, but need to send a shout out and hope.

[Swift]

Yes, it is. Also why it needs to be friendly to the players who are more likely to need help, the newbies who don't yet know who to ask for help, but need to send a shout out and hope.

Most times this happens, they get just the help they need and pretty quickly at that. Answering straight up questions is done pretty efficiently. I would put forward Jern as a recent new player who has been asking a lot of questions and getting most, if not all, answered, despite what the conversation in the channel may be at the time and despite, initially, very few people knowing him.

If a new player just joins the channel and idles without joining in, yeah, they are going to see people just shooting the breeze and crapping on about whatever and may not get a good impression, but I submit that is no different to joining any group of people you don't know who have all been around each other for a long time. I also submit that is a way of building a feeling of community. If there was, essentially, no ALFA outside of the servers (ie no chat or forums), where would the community feeling come in? You would know nothing but the PCs, not the people that play them.

Interaction is the key. If they are nervous about wading into chat, it may simply not be for them. Again, chat will never be good for everyone, because what everyone wants from chat varies wildly.

[Ithildur]

With all the concerns about player retention/why we don't get more players etc that's being tossed about... 'I like it just fine' 'That's their problem' or even 'IRC is not for everyone' etc would not be acceptable responses if this were say a profit driven project and we'd heard specific cases of potential customers being turned off and leaving; for any sane organization it would be imperative that the issue be addressed and a better experience (at such a basic fundamental level) for potential new people be seriously discussed.

While we don't run things like a bottom line driven corporation (it's a gaming community after all) there certainly is a place for making reasonable, good faith effort to ensure we do all we can to not drive away ANY potential players (especially more mature folks), as well as simply make some effort to be less abrasive and snarky.

I've noticed I have definitely developed habits while in IRC I'm not pleased about; I have no expectations that anyone else will change anything, but I for one intend to self monitor a bit more... as much for the potential new folks as for myself so I don't feel like I've just walked away from the online equivalent of a Cheetos fight on a regular basis.

Sort of a New Year's resolution I guess!

[paazin]

Use bans more liberally?

[loulabelle]

I nominate Lou to be irc moderator/admin and call for more games of ALFA Truth or Dare. I want to hear all of your dirty shameful secret behavior related to ALFA.

YES YES GIVE IT TO ME. GIVE ME ALL THE POWER.

[Veilan]

I nominate Lou to be irc moderator/admin and call for more games of ALFA Truth or Dare. I want to hear all of your dirty shameful secret behavior related to ALFA.

YES YES GIVE IT TO ME. GIVE ME ALL THE POWER.

I'm sorry, but the mod team is a bit like the Voter Apathy Party

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUCO5qHGKg

[fluffmonster]

Chat has been this way since the beginning. Every now and then a do-gooder or few will make the effort to clean it up and they inevitably fail, sometimes increasing community acrimony in the process.

The reason these efforts fail is always because of a simple but incorrect assumption: that all the evils of chat derive from "misbehavior", and if the misbehavior can be eliminated then chat will be a happy, benevolent place where everyone is happy.

The truth is that the problems of chat are not even mostly due to misbehavior. Sure, outright trolling and harassment have happened. However, chat being the medium it is, being part of a community of peers and sometimes friends, it is rife with other aspects of the human condition: playful teasing, misunderstandings and misinterpretations, legitimate argument and conflict, differences in value systems, and sometimes people simply venting. In real life we deal with these by choosing who we spend time with, but we don't have that liberty in chat and never will.

One response to this could be the common response of demanding "professional" conduct, but this is not a workplace, its a hobby. Any imposition of "right" behavior ultimately has to be one person's vision of right which will never satisfy everyone anyway. The least common denominator is a stultifying and dull list of acceptable topics and language which at an extreme could be a simple drop-down list of acceptable utterances.

The infra staff are old hands who have a wealth of experience and history behind them. The current policy was not arrived at blindly or lazily. It will not please everyone, but no content-based policy can. It is, however, sustainable and relatively efficient.

The only measure which would have a meaningful impact is when misbehavior can be attributed to specific individuals, and those individuals are permanently banned. There is in place a system whereby complaint against individuals can be brought to the attention of the Infra Admin and action taken, but I would question whether such an individual is even present. That one person annoys the hell out of another is hardly the same as misbehavior.

[Veilan]

Right,

to increase coverage during our peak hours, kmj2587 reenlisted as a moderator. That brings our total moderation team to five people ( 3 American, 1 Oceanian, 1 European) - hopefully more than enough.

Cheers,

[Swift]

I'd enlist to upgrade my + to an @, but then I'd have to stop with all the shenanigans. Plus, nobody would take me seriously anyway

[Veilan]

I'd enlist to upgrade my + to an @, but then I'd have to stop with all the shenanigans. Plus, nobody would take me seriously anyway

Thanks for reminding me!

What "+"?

[Magile]

I'd enlist to upgrade my + to an @, but then I'd have to stop with all the shenanigans. Plus, nobody would take me seriously anyway

Thanks for reminding me!

What "+"?

I'll take an @ even at the cost of me never trolling again... which is saying a lot of giving up if you know me.

[I-KP]

I'd enlist to upgrade my + to an @, but then I'd have to stop with all the shenanigans. Plus, nobody would take me seriously anyway

Thanks for reminding me!
What "+"?

I'll take an @ even at the cost of me never trolling again... which is saying a lot of giving up if you know me.

Impossibru!

[Castano]

IRC comes with a /ignore command. For example /ignore zicada will prevent you from seeing any text by zicada.

I've made liberal use of /ignore this past month and I love IRC even better now.