Idle On IRC Rule...? ~ REMOVED

[Satenza]

Since i have no clue where to post issues regarding the idle rule on IRC, i'll post here as you can access the applet via the forums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why is the idle rules there? What purpose does it hold? People just complain when getting kicked for being idle for over 12 hours for in my opinion no reason. I even saw Albosky idle 40+ hours there, but when a 'normal' user idles for over 12 they are kicked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remove the rule, as it serves no purpose. If it does, please explain it's purpose.

[Stephen9o3]

+1. When your connected on many servers and channels, closing your client and reopening everytime you leave and come back is a pain. Therefore I usually just leave my client open all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Often I'll leave my house at 8am to catch the bus for school, school gets out at 3, I walk to where I work and start at 4, get off at 10:30, meaining I'm away from home 14+ hours, exceeding the 12h idle rule. :roll:

[emofreak123]

and the rule does not even do anything to users who are connecting and disconnecting every 12 hours, even so on the weekends i never do speak in 12 hours. i havent said one word in irc in like 2 weeks, but im still in there and havent been kicked at all.

[Ks_Jeppe]

When i was op in #runescape i was first told to ignore this rule for regulars, then told to enforce it at 36 hrs+, and then told to ignore it totally again, and now it seems that the IRCops have been told to enforce it VERY strictly... Any chance we could at least get a final word made on this?

[Vidi]

Any chance we could get this rule, REMOVED?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a stupid rule, it doesnt do anything to help the chan in anyway, people have work/school and sleep, and find it hard to say a few words in irc in there busy schedule. =|

[Fat_Slug]

i can see why it is there.

 

 

 

its a chat room, and if you have no intention of chatting, unless you are running a usefull script i see no reason as to why you should idle for hours upon hours(a few hours is ok, i'm talking about 20+)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the question on my lips is why are you in a chat room if you are at school/work etc.

 

 

 

i leave irc if i plan on being away for a time.if i can i see no reason why anyone else can't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i feel that people who idle there are only there to "spy", and as a result i will kb excessive idlers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i do not know what the excact idle rule is now off the top of my head(not in irc so i can't see the rules atm) but i know ops are kicking at 12+ atm.

 

 

 

the only way of getting the final word on this is to get clarification off lightning/silverion....

[Satenza]

Spying on what though? People talking :o Wow let them then. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theres no reason for it, and it annoys people.

[Cruiser]

Idling for 24 hours or more is defiantly an exceptable reason for a kick, but 12 hours borders the line most people can easy hit because of school, homework and work. 8 hours of sleep, 7 hours of school, and you just blew through the 12 hour rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it's going to be enforced, enforce it for everyone. I know I complain about the rule a lot, but if it's going to be enforced, even regulars should be kicked. Then we'll watch how fast they all start yelling and complaining about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most IRC addicts don't like having to open and close their server windows constantly because of some idle rule. They leave them open to log any highlights that may occur while they're away. I've had mIRC open for a week and 4 days as of this post all because it's much easier than constantly opening and closing it every time I sit down to the computer.

[Sharper]

i can see why it is there.

 

 

 

its a chat room, and if you have no intention of chatting, unless you are running a usefull script i see no reason as to why you should idle for hours upon hours(a few hours is ok, i'm talking about 20+)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the question on my lips is why are you in a chat room if you are at school/work etc.

 

 

 

i leave irc if i plan on being away for a time.if i can i see no reason why anyone else can't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i feel that people who idle there are only there to "spy", and as a result i will kb excessive idlers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i do not know what the excact idle rule is now off the top of my head(not in irc so i can't see the rules atm) but i know ops are kicking at 12+ atm.

 

 

 

the only way of getting the final word on this is to get clarification off lightning/silverion....

 

 

 

I still haven't seen a valid reason why idling shouldn't be allowed. I fail to see how anyone can be seen to be spying in a channel that is publicly available to anyone. All I want to know is, what is lost by those users idling in the room when they are away?

[Vape]

As cruiser said, people leave IRC open in case anyone wants to leave a message for them while they are away, or in case something is discussed that they want to read/know about. People log the channel and read/scan scrollback at their leisure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a public channel - anyone can join, anyone can log it. People can post the logs on their website if they so choose... I don't see the problem with someone "spying" on a public channel - it's public! It's like disallowing reading posts by people who haven't posted in the last 12 hours, since they're clearly only here to "spy" on others. Some people just don't have reason/inclination to talk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing by some staffers' responses that in the past some undesirable hung around in the channel, didn't say anything, and collected someone's phone number when they stupidly wrote it in the channel, or something similar. How is disallowing idling really going to prevent this?

[the_tallest1]

and the rule does not even do anything to users who are connecting and disconnecting every 12 hours, even so on the weekends i never do speak in 12 hours. i havent said one word in irc in like 2 weeks, but im still in there and havent been kicked at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sidenote: I'm not quoting you to single you out specifically but more the mentality behind this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Referencing what Sluggy said, why does one go into a channel and never say a word. I really don't grasp what the prupose of loitering in a channel for days and weeks on end is when the person never participates in the discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me personally I will kick in excess of 24 hours, or at least that was my procedure before the server switch. I see little point in a channel being packed with 50 people if only half of them have spoken in the last 5 hours. I can understand people wanting to leave for work or school and leaving it on but you have to have a better excuse than it's a pain to log back in. Like Sluggy I log out if I'm going to be away for any length of time since me staying in the channel serves no purpose and hinders me in no way with getting contacted by someone. I'm sure between messengers, email and pms (amongst other things) a person cannot be that hard to get a hold of.

[Vape]

Referencing what Sluggy said, why does one go into a channel and never say a word. I really don't grasp what the prupose of loitering in a channel for days and weeks on end is when the person never participates in the discussion.

Are you going to start only allowing people to read the forum if they've posted in the last 24 hours?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's the point of reading the forums if you never post?

[____]

Not a lot of logical reasons to have it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me personally I will kick in excess of 24 hours, or at least that was my procedure before the server switch. I see little point in a channel being packed with 50 people if only half of them have spoken in the last 5 hours. I can understand people wanting to leave for work or school and leaving it on but you have to have a better excuse than it's a pain to log back in.

 

 

 

I prefer to have a record of events that transpire in channels I'm in.

 

 

 

Saves me time if I want to still be somewhat involved in conversation that's going on when I get back from where I was. I have the last x hours of chat there - all I need to do is scroll up a bit, and it's all good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a side note: *points to sig* Some people lurk. Are we going to start banning people on the forum who still login but hardly post? Didn't think so.

[jaklumen]

On a side note: *points to sig* Some people lurk. Are we going to start banning people on the forum who still login but hardly post? Didn't think so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a whole subculture around 'lurking'-- usually referring to forums. The idea sometimes seems like a dog chasing its tail-- they have some who post on their boards and then others that lurk even there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communities usually like to have their users participate-- it's a bit annoying to get something organized and then have passive spectators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't mind if so-called 'lurkers' commented/chatted once in a blue moon. But we have had some folks on IRC that come in and have said next to nothing, if ever. That's been more our rule of thumb- we'd like users to say something, even if it's only a great once in a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am sure there are debaters that are passionate on both sides of the argument and I expect this will be discussed for a while.

[Ks_Jeppe]

I wouldn't mind if so-called 'lurkers' commented/chatted once in a blue moon. But we have had some folks on IRC that come in and have said next to nothing, if ever. That's been more our rule of thumb- we'd like users to say something, even if it's only a great once in a while.

Agreed, people that have been 100+ hours idle (Can't mention the names, but all old and new IRC ops know who i'm talking about), should either talk some more, or get out... But really, 12 hrs is nothing, IMO "a great once in a while"/"days and weeks on end" is way more than 12 hours.. IMO this rule should at least be changed to "excessive idling is not allowed", and the admins should give the ops and IRCops a number of when "extensive" is... 12 hours is nothing, heck, i know people who sleep for that long...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sluggy & jak: No offence, but not all people are like you and log off when they leave irc, i mean, we've all seen even admins with 24+ hours idle time, if changing this rule would make people more happy to use the chat room, i don't see why you shouldn't do it? You don't have to defend yourselves here, you simply follow the rules set by admins, IMO and admin should already have posted here and given us some sort of clarification, but as was mentioned, light/silv are prob the only ones who can settle this, and they don't seem to be much around lately (correct me if i'm wrong, you know very well that i'm out of the loop in the staff community now)

[Chaosbringer]

Idle rule is moronic, when I was Opping #Runescape I never enforced it and noone ever told me too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the god damn people idle, some of them like to log chat and look over, admins do it all the time, I remember when grin_king was 98 hours+ idle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you care about how long someone is idle you're far too uptight.

[spling]

Here here! Down with idle rule!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But really, it doesn't serve any useful purpose. Methinks it's leftover from the old IRC days (nee scapeboard) when the ops had heavier boots on. Although there is something to be said for kicking people with 100+ hours of idling. Where do you draw the line though? Common sense. If the person idling is someone who has already established themselves as a member of IRC community, the rule should be far more forgiving than a person who is visiting the room for the first time.

[Looce]

I get highlighted once in a while with script help requests. I want to see these highlights. I have a script to single out the messages destined to me, and I read them the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something like this, taken from another network:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the highlight was important, I'll answer to them via MemoServ, or directly via a counter-highlight (AaF! ) when I get back. Sure, it's easy to rejoin #runescape, but I'd like not to have to. If I had to rejoin every channel I join daily, I'd spend lots of time just issuing /join commands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a !w## script that people use to get direct links to RuneScape game worlds. !kb to get a direct link to the knowledge base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a half-op in #help, and kick people who misbehave there after being banned from #runescape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a RuneScript admin, and often one to turn to when other admins are not there and a question/bug/etc. concerning RuneScript arises.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nazgul and others ask me specifically for scripting help in mIRC; when I'm not Looce-Away, I'm almost always available. And now can you say I do nothing constructive when idling?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post originates from a lurker account that I still post on once in a while. I quit the Tip.it Forums for the most part, though.

[spling]

Lol.. The IRC folk really rose to the occasion in this topic, eh? :

[pokemama]

Okay, I'll make a fool out of myself and speak from the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I go into the IRC channel, there are 25+ people supposedly "there", but there's often nobody talking, or maybe 2-4 people at most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's bizarre - like getting onto a school bus and finding that 80% of the seats are occupied by tightly-wrapped mummies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lightning explained to me once that she is running scripts on behalf of Tip.It, so that's why *she's* logged in. There are usually a couple of mod/operators there with half an ear open. Some are marked AFK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would it be possible for you folks who are idling to change your name to AFK like the others? It would just be nice for noobs (like me) to know how many actual, live people are around to talk to ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just my two cents.

[D. V. Devnull]

Lightning explained to me once that she is running scripts on behalf of Tip.It, so that's why *she's* logged in. There are usually a couple of mod/operators there with half an ear open. Some are marked AFK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would it be possible for you folks who are idling to change your name to AFK like the others? It would just be nice for noobs (like me) to know how many actual, live people are around to talk to ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just my two cents.

 

 

 

Pokemama, you just earned my $25 of mental thoughts in agreement with you. When I go AFK, be it Tip.It Chat or some other chat like SpinChat.com (mentioned just for discussion purposes, being that anyone that chats will normally use more than one chat site), I TRY to leave some hint that I have gone AFK, especially if I will be away more than 30 minutes. I feel that what you are asking is fully respectable, especially as it would allow for doing away with the "no idling rule"... =D> :thumbsup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Mr. D. V. Devnull

[Vape]

Pokemama: that's a slightly different issue surrounding IRC etiquette. There is actually an /away command that you can use to specify that you are away and if you desire, to give a reason or explanation of when you will be back, eg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/away Gone to the shops, back at 4AM UTC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, depending on which IRC client you use, it may or may not show this information to you visually. I know, for instance, that ChatZilla (my client.. open source, Mozilla developed, etc. :P) automatically checks the /away status of every user in the channel every few minutes or so. Users that have /away set have their names turn grey in the list of users (whereas people who don't have it set are black.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't believe mIRC visually shows this information, you have to /whois a user separately to see if they have /away set :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, this is just netiquette, not really something that needs to be enforced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and there are 130,867 users on the forums, does it worry you that only a few of them post?

[Albosky]

As Lightning and Silverion are both unavailable for comment , I'm going to issue an official , but temporary ruling on this until I am able to contact Silverion directly and get his personal response.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As stated in many posts above , between work , school, and sleep , its quite easy to remain idle for a 12 hour period. As many users do rely on IRC to get messages from friends and track highlights, the rule will be adjusted to 36+ hours. Honestly , if you are going to be away from your computer for more then 36 hours, you are wasting electricity and the money it costs to pay for it, shut your computer off :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All regularly opped users(staff), as well as IRC Operators are exempt from this rule as many of them run scripts or log the chat for certain reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course , as pokemama stated , it would be preferable if you gave some indication that you were away , by either changing your nick, or as Cameron suggested, running an away script.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We dont wish to expel users from the chat for silly reasons but Ops may use their best judgement at any time and we allow them the freedom to do so.

[Satenza]

albosky ftw on the idle rule discussion

 

 

 

^_^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yar!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with the pointing out you are away, if i go for a large amount of time i become "Sat|Afk" and i think people who choose to do that should do the same.

[Albosky]

[2] silverion says: lol we have 250 clients there it is silly to kick people for nothing ..

 

 

 

[3] silverion says: if people wish to stay afk they at last will read later at last i see it so .. it is only $1 USD to add 250 users more if EVER that will be needed ..

 

 

 

[3] Albosky says: so your opinion would be to remove the rule and stop kicking people who are idle ?

 

 

 

[3] silverion says: for me it is to make it as useful and fun to be there so people LIKE to stay here 24 h a day ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rule has been removed from the Website and Silverions official ruling is that he wants people to feel that they are welcome to use our IRC server for as long as they please , even if they arent actively chatting.