Chat Guide

[DATA CORRUPT]

Production Notes

My goals with this rewrite were:

1. Get the rules in one place. Mostly accomplished; the philosophical underpinning of most of our rules (i.e. "don't be a dick") is expanded upon in one tab, while examples of the execution of that underpinning are contained in another tab. The first is useful for newbies, the second is useful for ops as a reference of what we have specifically told people not to do already. The idea is to clarify our expectations of users while simplifying our efforts to remind people of those expectations; no more "Oh shit, where in the Chat Guide does it say ?" If the chat guide says what we want it to say, we cite it in one place; if it doesn't we cite Wheaton's Law and op supremacy.

2. Simply the language for people who don't typically use IRC. Terms like IRC, OP, permaban, nick, backseat modding, and trolling have caused confusion for users in the past; it's no sweat off our backs to define them clearly in user-friendly terms.

3. Get rid of some of the more patronizing shit. "Got all that? Awesome, read it again", "Read all of them. Not skim, read." Shit like that makes it sound like we're talking to second graders and we're not going to be in elementary education much longer if we don't unfuck our attitudes. I tried to make it sound a little more professional and a little less aggressive.

4. Get rid of some of the baggage from previous iterations of the Guide. We don't need to keep telling people that we have Nala instead of Grape. We don't need specific rules just about how you shouldn't argue Firefox vs. Chrome. Stuff like that was mostly added for specific users and situations; our current crop of users don't seem to need help with points that minute. Getting rid of the chaff will make the super important wheat (i.e. QUIT BEING FUCKING CREEPY) stand out better.

5. Rearrange the components of the guide into a more logical order. Someone starting from square one needs to know how to get a chat client before they need to know how to register. And why only mention Nala whatsoever at the very end, when people will see her being used almost immediately upon entering chat (and might not know what a chatbot is or how it works)?

Hope you liek.

— Eskobar

So you're interested in SCP live chat?

The SCP wiki deals almost exclusively with adding to the body of work surrounding the Foundation, the Groups of Interest, and the collective world they live in. But what about interacting with the people behind the scenes? The SCP realtime chatrooms are a great place for getting critique on SCP and tale drafts, shooting the shit with veteran SCP writers and all-around cool people, and general shenanigans. If you've seen the "Snippets from Chat" posts on the forum, this is where they come from.

This guide outlines the SCP Foundation internet relay chat (IRC) chatrooms, and the rules and expectations therein. IRC is a popular chat system with common commands and rules. All of our chatrooms are IRC channels in the SynIRC irc network. For more general information about using IRC, see http://www.ircbeginner.com/ircinfo/ircc-commands.html. For further information, Google is a lovely and welcoming friend.

This guide specifically refers to the rules and administration of #site19, the general chatroom for SCP stuff. Several other SCP IRC channels exist, and we'll talk about them later; they have their own rules and administration, and you should talk with an operator there if you have any questions.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE CHAT OPS IF SOMEONE IS HARASSING YOU OR MAKING YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, EVEN IF THEY'RE DOING SO IN PRIVATE MESSAGES.

Connecting

Connecting

To connect to any IRC chatroom, you need a program called a "client". Different clients have different features with their own benefits Here are some common free IRC clients, along with instructions on how to use them to access the synIRC network:

• Xchat - Available for Windows or Linux
• Chatzilla (Firefox)
• mIRC (Windows)
• Mibbit (Web)
• Pidgin (Multiplatform IM)

Instructions for mIRC

1. Set up mIRC for your computer.
2. Copy paste this (without quotations) "irc://irc.synirc.net" into your browser and hit enter.
3. Type "/join #site19"

Instructions for Chatzilla

1. Set up Chatzilla for your computer.
2. Copy this into the text bar: /attach irc.synirc.net (or just click here: irc://irc.synirc.net/site19)
3. Type /join #site19

If you still want to use a brower based client:

Instructions For Mibbit

1. Go to http://www.mibbit.com/chat
2. Select "SynIRC webirc" from the drop down menu.
3. Pick an appropriate handle and click "Connect"
4. Identify your nick as listed above, then type "/join #site19" and press enter.
5. Enjoy your pie.

Registering

#site19 is open to all: you don't have to be a site member to join. However, for security purposes, you must have what's called a "registered nick" (nickname) to join #Site19. For those unfamiliar with registering a nick, here's how to do it:

1. Type the following into the text input area of your client:

/msg NickServ register [PASSWORD] [EMAIL]

Substitute the stuff in brackets with your desired password and email. (And remember to not leave in the brackets!)

2. You should get a confirmation email with a code in it. In the text input area, type:

/msg NickServ confirm [CONFIRMATION CODE]

Your nick is now registered with NickServ and should work on all synIRC channels.

3. To activate your registered nick, you simply type "/msg nickserv identify [password]" without the quotes. Alternatively, "/ns identify [password]" works as well on some clients. (Again, no brackets.)

Congratulations, you have now registered and identified and can join the channel. Some chat clients, including Mibbit, have settings that can save your identified username and password, automatically identifying you as soon as you activate the client. It is highly recommended that if you don't ID automatically, you don't type out the command in a public channel. This is because while any command beginning with "/msg" will only be displayed to the person you are sending the message to (NickServ, in this case), if you accidentally type " /msg" with a space before it or otherwise fail to use the correct syntax, it will display whatever you are typing to the entire room, telling everyone what your password is. In addition, you might want to use the SECURE command so nobody else can use your nick when you aren't around. Type "/ns set secure on" once you get in the channel,

To get to the other rules for #site19, click on the other tabs.

General Principles and Ettiquette

General Principles

1. Chat in #site19 is not entirely free/general discussion. The first priority in the chatroom is reviewing drafts for SCPs, Tales or other wiki-related stuff. If a user has a draft, OPs (chat operators, identified by most clients with a star or an @) will stop all other conversations and redirect the group's attention to the draft for a period of time. If you have a draft and are having difficulty getting attention, feel free to message or get the attention of an OP and ask them for help with this. Don't be shy about asking! Helping with critique is literally what the chatroom is there for, and we do it many, many times a day.

2. All operator activities governing general discussion center around Wheaton's Law, which states, quite simply,

"Don't be a dick."

This is a very deliberately and overtly vague rule, but it's best used by the user rather than the enforcer of the rule. When behaving, consider whether or not you're being a dick. If at all curious if you are being a dick, please feel free to talk to an OP about whether or not a given behavior is dickish. If you do not ask, you are subject to all disciplinary consequences that follow.

Chatbot Ettiquette

When in #site19, you may use Nala as a reference and general tool for a variety of purposes. Nala is a chatbot with many functions within the chat. Nala is maintained by Aelanna (though murphy_slaw can perform upkeep in a pinch) and is currently our primary bot. Some of Nala's most useful and popular functions include:

• SCP Lookup: Type "scp-XXXX" in its own line or "!scp-XXXX" in another line to pull up documentation for an SCP.
• Tale Lookup: Type ".tale ______" to search for Foundation Tales by name.
• Author Lookup: Type ".author ______" or ".au _______" to pull up a brief statistical breakdown of an author's works.
• Author Detail Lookup: Type ".authordetail ________" or ".ad ________" to generate a page with a detailed breakdown of an author's works.
• Wiki Search: Type ".search ________" or ".sea _______" to search the SCP Wiki for a keyword.
• Google Search: Type ".g __________" to carry out a Google search.
• Wikipedia Search: Type ".wikipedia _______" or ".w ________" to search for a keyword on English Wikipedia.
• YouTube Search: Type ".youtube _______" or ".y ________" to search for a keyword on Youtube.

A complete list of commands can be found at Nala's website. You are explicitly not permitted to use Nala's .update function; that is limited to Aelanna and her assigned delegates for technical reasons.

The key to using Nala politely is to avoid overusing her. If you are having trouble finding the SCP you want or the Wikipedia article you meant to search for, don't just keep prompting Nala over and over again. It fills up the chat screen very quickly and derails any conversation that is taking place. When in doubt, contact Nala in PMs by typing either "/msg Nala" or "/query Nala", which will open up a private message dialog box where you can talk to Nala to your heart's content.

The last rule involving bots in #site19: Do not bring any of your own bots into this chat.

Specific Rules

This section governs more specific applications of the Second Principle stated in the last tab. These rules are by no means exhaustive! No set of rules can cover every possible situation. OPs retain the right to deem an action unacceptable or grounds for warning/kicking/banning even if not included on this list. Where there is any doubt, the decision of the OP is final.

Banning and Bannable Offenses

At the end of the day, the real rule of #site19 is "You may stay until it is deemed that you need to leave." Operators will watch the chatroom and monitor user behavior. Operators may enforce rules through

• general warning ("Hey, you guys, cool it down"),
• muting the channel (using the IRC +m command to prevent others from talking while the operator explains the misbehavior)
• specific warning ("JohnDoe22, you need to stop being creepy"),
• kicking (temporary removal from the chatroom),
• tempbanning (removal from the chatroom combined with being forbidden to return for a period of time), or
• permabanning (permanent removal).

Ops will generally proceed through those steps in that order, though they retain the right to skip to more severe measures if warranted.

The following behaviors are considered inappropriate and will lead to disciplinary action:

• Harassment. Bothering others. This includes:
  • Sexual harassment (asking for pictures, pressuring others to discuss their sex lives, etc.).
  • Talking to a user who has asked you to stop talking to them.
  • Deliberately making others uncomfortable.
• Creepiness. A subset of making others uncomfortable. This is difficult to define, but generally amounts to "behaving in a manner that would be extremely socially inappropriate if done in public." Individuals with disorders such as Asperger's syndrome and other conditions that hamper social development and interaction skills should know that such disorders will not be accepted as excuses for creepiness. If you have such a disorder or have been warned about creepiness in the past, please avoid potentially creepy statements until you have spent more time in the chatroom or ask an operator about the appropriateness of the comments you would like to make.
  • Corollary: Almost anything involving rape will fall under creepiness. Rape jokes fall under Being a Dick.
• Trolling. Behaving in a way that is deliberately inflammatory in order to elicit emotional responses. If you're doing it, you know you're doing it. If we're accusing you of it and you're not doing it, you need to rethink your behavior.
• Discussing or encouraging illegal activities. This includes using file sharing sites or clients. We don't want the attention of law enforcement types.
• Failing to identify NSFW pictures/videos/links, or materials that are not safe for workplace environments (NSFW). The basic types of posts that should be tagged are a) porn/nudity/sexual images, b) violence/gore/blood/guts, and c) jump scares/screamers/anything with flashing lights. Either a) or b) can be tagged with as little as "NSFW" in the same line as the picture or video; c) should be tagged with words or phrases identifying what is in the post. The first two are courtesy, the third one is medically necessary for individuals with photosensitive seizure conditions such as epilepsy.
• Being underage. Fifteen (15) years old is the age cutoff for participation in #site19 and membership in the wiki.
• Disobeying OP commands. If you feel an operator's orders are inappropriate or incorrect, you may contact other ops or the chat owner and appeal. Direct disobedience, however, will lead to harsher punishment and will weaken your case should you want to appeal later.
• Backseat moderation. This means telling others what to do in an authoritative manner when you yourself do not have the authority to do so. It will not endear you to anybody, and it can confuse other users to see non-ops giving orders and directing conversation. You may bring an issue to the operators' attention, but don't start doing their jobs for them. Additionally, if an OP is carrying out disciplinary actions, that is not the time to make sarcastic comments or attack the user.
• Role playing. SCPs are not real, the Foundation is not real, and pretending they are will not endear you to the locals. #site19 is a strictly out-of-character environment. Users can direct you to other chatrooms for role-playing environments.
• Spamming. This includes excessive pimping (advertising recently-written SCPs and Tales), repeatedly using the chatbot, Nala, to perform commands that could more easily have been performed in private messages (PMs)
• Incomprehensibility. As an English-language writing website, we have some preferences for vaguely correct grammar, syntax, capitalization, and punctuation. You are not required to type in the chatroom the same way you would write a legal brief, but some effort in the direction of correct sentence structure and spelling will go a long way to keeping conversations on track — and you in them.
• Personal derailing. Repeatedly redirecting conversations to be about yourself. Inserting yourself into conversations with the apparent intent of gaining attention for yourself for its own sake. As with trolling, if you're being accused of it, regardless of whether you're doing it on purpose, you need to take several steps back and cool down for a while.

For elaboration, go on to the next tab.

Chat Operators

Chat Operators (OPs)

Chat OPs are the people we trust to run the channel and keep order. They have the following powers:

• Redirecting. This essentially means ending a discussion or calling for a change of topic, or telling one user or group of users to shut up. If an OP tells you to drop a subject, drop it immediately: don't get in the last word, don't say one more thing, just stop and move on.

• Kicking. This just removes you from the chat until you rejoin. If you're kicked, feel free to re-enter unless told otherwise. However, if you were kicked, it's for a reason, so if you get kicked for doing something, stop doing that thing.

• Banning. Prevents the user from speaking or joining the chat; often accompanied by a kick. Usually preceded by a warning (except for egregious offenses), bans can be temporary, usually 24 hours, or permanent. If you get permabanned, wait a year or so, and if you can show that you've improved, you might be let back in.
  • If you see someone kicked and banned for something that isn't banworthy, and then unbanned shortly afterwards, that's just to stop people's autojoin from activating. Don't sweat it.

• Setting Channel Modes. The only one of these you really have to worry about is +m, which prevents anyone who doesn't have OP or Voice from talking. If an OP sets the channel to +m to talk, listen up, and don't change your name to comment on the situation.

• If you think a chat OP is abusing their power, tell someone. Start with a different OP first. The final authority in the chat is thedeadlymoose, the Chat Owner: report any serious misuses of authority to him.

While there is quite a bit of overlap between wiki staff and chat staff, they are not one and the same: we have several Chat OPs who are not Wiki Staff and should not be treated as such. Likewise, not all staff on the wiki have power in chat, and should not be expected to wield any.

Name	Wiki Status
thedeadlymoose	Admin
DrBright / Bright	Admin
DrClef / Clef	Admin
Photosynthetic	Admin
Quikngruvn	Admin
Sorts	Admin
TroyL	Admin
Waxx	Admin
Dexanote	Moderator
Eskobar	Moderator
Pig_catapult	Moderator
Roget / Bananaman	Moderator
SoullessSingularity / Soulless	Moderator
Zyn	Moderator
EchoFourDelta	Staff
FlameShirt	Staff
DrKens	Staff
Tuomey Tombstone / Tuomey	Staff
Wogglebug	Staff
Adam Smascher / Nusquam	Member
Sad Xiao / Xiao	Member

Discussion (Avoidance) Suggestions

Discussion (Avoidance) Suggestions

The primary purpose of #site19 is the discussion of the SCP Foundation wiki and its related works. Secondary discussions, like socializing and such, are also allowed, but not to the detriment of the main subject. It is up to the chat operators to decide if a topic has gone too far and too long and should be stopped or taken to another room. The decision of the operator is final; complaining about it is annoying and unproductive.

The following topics have a tendency to take over and disrupt the chat when brought up, so do your best not to. If you must discuss them, make a separate room for it, or if there's an existing room for it (see below), go there. This list may be added onto or expanded in the future.

• Politics
• Religion
• Firearms
• Rape

In addition, we're not interested in talking badly about people behind their backs. Several prominent site users left under inauspicious circumstances; don't ask what happened to them. If you must know, PM someone instead of bringing it up in public. If you find that such users are being discussed anyway, then the "don't shit on them behind their backs" rule still applies.

Other

Secondary Chatrooms

The following chatrooms are associated with the SCP Foundation Wiki and #site19. These channels are not under #site19 rules, except where noted. Typically, they have their own rules and are run by individual community members. Consult with one of their OPs if you have any questions.

Roleplaying:

• origins-ooc - Origins' out-of-character chat. Currently run by Roget and his GM team. Origins is a roleplay based on the early days of the Foundation and how the Foundation grew into what it is today. The game takes places at Site-19, with characters going on missions to retrieve, destroy, or otherwise interact with SCP objects.

• #farreconooc - Far Recon's out-of-character chat. Currently run by TheRaven and his GM team. You can access the out-of-character chatroom here. Far Recon is a roleplay based on SCP-354 and the personnel who work there. The game takes places at Area-354, with characters going on missions into the pool.

Extracurricular:

• #site17 - Chatroom just for chatting with the staff of the SCP Foundation. Ask us questions, bring up issues. Keep excess general chitchat in #site19; rules are otherwise the same as #site19. We are much more likely to be lenient if you're new. Owned by Foundation admins and run by all Foundation staff (including mods, senior staff, & 19 chat ops). May be joined easily from http://05command.wikidot.com/chat.

• #Area14 - Chatroom just for SCP critique. Especially good for highly technical help. Heavy on moderation. Goes by a one-strike rule, so tread carefully. Owned by EchoFourDelta; staffed by a subset of Foundation staff.

• #ethicscommittee - A channel for discussion of sensitive topics. A semi-safe space; zero tolerance for harassment. Owned by thedeadlymoose.

• SCP MineCraft - A project for multiplayer minecraft run by TheRaven, Roget, and Snowshoe.

• #scpguntalk - All things firearms, or other side chatter. Owned by PaulS.

• #WanderersLibrary - The official chat for the Wanderer's Library, listed here due to the connection to this site. Owned by DrMann; staffed by Library staff.

If you have any further questions, contact an OP. If they have time, they should be able to give you an answer. If they don't, they should be able to point you to someone who can.