Code Of Conduct - Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

This document is designed to give you an understanding of what is and isn't permitted in the chat room, and to make it a better place for genuine visitors seeking support. For most people, these rules should be easy to conform to as they reflect acceptable behaviours you might observe in family, social and workplace settings.

Please check back from time to time, as we will review and update the policies as appropriate to reflect feedback received from chat room visitors and the moderator team.

Introduction

• The main objective of the chat room is bringing people together to discuss their problems. When new visitors enter the room, you should acknowledge their arrival especially if you're engaged in social chit-chat / passing time. Failure to do so is likely to result in them leaving the chat room feeling unsupported;


• You should try to minimise the chances of conflict by being open minded and accepting of others. Understand that we each have a unique set of values, and we are all entitled to our own opinions;


• Feel free to share your views on someone else's problem as an outsider, but avoid using excessive force, and don't expect your thoughts and ideas to be accepted all of the time.


• We're an English speaking community but welcome all nationalities. If you find yourself speaking primarily in a different language in the main chat, please PM that person to continue the conversation. (added 14th Aug 2019)

Trolling / Spamming / Bad Behaviour

• Soliciting / advertising is not allowed;


• Offensive, rude, disruptive and unwanted behaviour may cause you to get banned without warning (depending on the severity);


• Posting of pornographic / gore / nude images is not permitted;


• Harassment, name calling, racist or sexist remarks, profanity towards others and other forms of bullying will not be tolerated;


• Insensitive behaviour may result in being muted - this will be judged by the reaction of others in the room;


• Flirting is not permitted in main chat (it's not a dating service) - take these conversations to private chat;


• Posting of links (URLs) to offensive material, sites hosting malware, initiating downloads or promoting illegal activities is not permitted;


• Flooding the chat is not permitted;


• VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections are disallowed;


• Encouraging visitors to utilise other chat rooms / personal messaging services is not permitted.

Adult / Inappropriate Themes

• Sexual topics do come up from time to time, as they are a regular part of most adult relationships and do need to be discussed. Going into detail about things of a sexual nature ought to be done in PM (Private Messages) so as not to disturb the regular flow of chat. We do not want or need to know the intimate details as it may bring back unwanted memories for some members of our community;


• Should moderators deem a subject matter to be inappropriate for the chatroom and / or the current audience, they may at their discretion make contact via Private Message, making clear any requirement to cease discussing the topic.

Moderation

• Chat room moderators volunteer their time to help keep the room running smoothly and are responsible for managing often complex situations;


• Moderators are given exclusive privileges to help maximise the effectiveness of the room;


• If you are asked to modify your behaviour or given some other form of instruction but fail to comply, you are likely to be removed from the chat room for a discretionary period of time depending on the severity of the matter;


• When being corrected by a moderator, please do not argue with them in main chat. You should request a PM session to help avoid conflict and keep the involvement of others to a minimum;


• Attacking moderators in the chat room will likely result in a ban. Any genuine visitor should respect their decisions - they have nothing to gain from issuing bans / mutes and are doing so to the best of their ability, on behalf of the community;


• Moderators may choose to request users to leave if they're deemed to be a risk to the safety of the general users / guests within the chatroom. Not adhering to the request will result in manual removal;


• An appeal can be requested but is to the discretion of the moderator who issued that ban / mute - however, this is not a given right. To make an appeal, please PM the respective moderator (you will need to join an IRC channel other than #peoplesproblems if you have been banned);


• If you believe that a moderator has misused their authority and you have complied 100% with the rules documented on this page, please forward the following details to admin@peoplesproblems.org:
  

  - Moderator's IRC nickname;
  - What you believe they have done that demonstrates abuse of power;
  - Associated dates and times - required to review log files etc.

  Note that it can take some time to review log files and liaise with the moderator team, so please don't expect an immediate response.

• You are welcome to return to the chat room once your ban period expires, but please be mindful of the reason(s) you got banned, abide by the rules and take into account any moderator feedback received.


• If a ban is evaded within the designated period (for any reason), please note that our moderators may extend the ban beyond the original lapse date.

Related documents

The following documents may also be relevant to you depending on how you interact with our service(s):

• Privacy policy
• Terms of use
• Forum code of conduct