NETGAMERS OFFICIAL CHANNELS GUIDE
Status: Version 1.0
Rev: 19/08/2005
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Section 1 - Introduction
Section 2 - Becoming Official
Section 3 - Owning Official Channels
Section 4 - Official Channel Rules
Section 5 - Official Channel Benefits
Section 6 - Flags
Section 7 - Losing Official Status
Section 8 - That Bit At The End
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1) Introduction
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This document exists to facilitate the existence and creation of official
channels. An official channel is a channel that is of significant benefit to the
network or the users of a network and has been recognised as such. Examples
include #cservice, a network channel, #planetarion, an official channel
belonging to a partner and #fresh-anime, a "regular" official channel, or value
channel. Such official channels do not have sufficient merit to be full
partners, or are not run by network officials for the purpose of maintaining
smooth running, but are still valuable to the network as a whole.
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2) Becoming Official
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2.1) Value Channels
Applications for a channel that is not connected to a partner to become official
should be directed to partners@netgamers.org. Applications should include what
the purpose of the channel is, why you want the channel to be official, in what
ways it benefits the network, why you think the network should make it official
and any other pertinent details, such as a website. The channel should also have
a set of channel rules and have responsible channel operators to enforce the
channel rules.
It is generally preferred that the channel is registered prior to submitting the
application, to demonstrate that it is being used.
The Partners Team will then decide whether worthy of being made official, based
on the concepts outlined in the introduction, which will take no longer than 1
week. Whether it is or is not accepted, the applicant(s) will be informed. If it
is accepted, the appropriate flags and settings will be applied.
Channels connected to an official channel need not necessarily be official. For
instance, a small game that has an official channel #smallgame, based on its
value and benefit to the network, does not need the channel #smallgame-private
to be official. If their value to the network is sufficient, it is probably best
for them to become partners instead.
2.2) Partners
All channels that are relevant to and supported by a partner, as well as being
owned by a representative of a partner can be made official should the
appropriate partner official (Developer, Channel Manager etc.) or network
official (eg. Partner Team member) request it. In addition, if an appropriate
partner or network official asks, a channel can be manually registered to any
agreeing representative of a partner and made official immediately, rather than
going through the channel registration process.
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3) Owning Official Channels
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3.1) Owning Too Many Channels
Those who own official channels may find themselves to have reached the maximum
channel limit, which means that they cannot register any future personal
channels via the website. In this event, they may request that a CService
Administrator register a channel manually for them, although it must still
satisfy the channel registration requirements in the CService Rules document,
such as having two supporters.
3.2) Non-Official Channels
Owning an official channel is not a valid reason for other channels that you own
becoming official, even if they were manually registered; they are personal
channels unless they have also been accepted in the above procedure.
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4) Official Channel Rules
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4.1) Rules
All official channels must comply with the NetGamers and CService Rules and
Policy documents.
In addition to these, as representatives of the nature of the NetGamers network,
they all share the following rules:
- No flooding, advertising or offensive language.
- Channel representatives/operators must remain polite at all times.
- Channel representatives/operators are not to kick or ban users without good
reason.
4.2) Complaints
If a user wishes to complain about the behaviour of channel
representatives/operators, they should be free to do so to the owner(s) of the
channel. If there are repeated problems and the owner(s) of the channel do not
take action, users can email partners@netgamers.org with their complaints.
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5) Official Channel Benefits
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All official channels have the following benefits above a normal channel:
- Does not count towards the maximum channels per user limit.
- Can have more than one owner.
- Does not require supporters.
- Gains the NOPURGE flag.
In addition to these, each type of official channel has other benefits.
5.1) Value Channels
- Can request news and calendar entries on the website.
5.2) Partner Channels
- Gains the NOPART and PARTNER flags.
Partners also have other benefits detailed in section 4 of http://www.netgamers.org/index.php?page_id=9
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6) Flags
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None of the following flags are to be set on any channels other than those
fitting the description.
6.1) NOFORCE
This flag is to be used on those channels where additional powers on the network
are gained from access in the channel.
6.2) NOPART
This flag is to be used on all partner channels (e.g. #planetarion, #dawnofmyth),
and those channels connected to NetGamers committees, teams, etc. (e.g.
#cservice, #feds).
6.3) NOPURGE
This flag is to be used on all official channels.
6.4) PARTNER
This flag is only to be used, and is necessary on partner channels (e.g.
#planetarion, #dawnofmyth).
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7) Losing Official Status
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Official channels must remain a benefit to the network as well as adhering to
the rules. Periodically, and if a complaint is received, official channels will
be reviewed by Partners, who will ensure that the channel still meets the
criteria for being an official channel, mainly activity and the value it gives
to the network as a whole. If Partners decides that it is not meeting the
criteria, they will talk to the owner(s) of the channel in an attempt to remedy
the situation. If sufficient action is not taken, the channel will lose their
official status and be informed.
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8) That Bit At The End
- This is a set of guidelines and open to interpretation depending on
circumstances. As such the spirit of the rules is more important than the
wording and they shall be acted on in this context.
- This set of rules and procedures may be altered at any time by the Partners
Team.