IRC and the Feeling of Power

Hawkwind describes the "justice system" of IRC in his forward.

It seems to me that the kick/ban process on IRC is a good example of how
not to moderate a forum. Many people on IRC seem to be there for no other
purpose than to enjoy the testosterone high of being op. They go to a lot
of trouble to write bots which keep their channels open and op them when
they join. They take great pleasure in kicking people. There is often a
little clique which runs a channel, and whenever one of those people
joins, someone else ops him. Have you ever been on a channel where
nobody was saying anything, but people were constantly opping, de-opping,
kicking, banning, unbanning, coming back in and flooding the channel
before being kicked again, etc...? I don't use IRC that much, but from
what I've seen, that system doesn't work very well. An extropians-style
kill command would probably be better for IRC or the list. If someone is
causing trouble, you could just set to ignore them.

From the keyboard of Mike Ingle:

> It seems to me that the kick/ban process on IRC is a good example of how
> not to moderate a forum. 

As a more frequent user of IRC, I agree with you.  However, the problem is
generally technical.  This system was established because IRC channels have
no "home" server or organization which can claim "ownership" and
"responsibility" for the behavior and content of the channel.

> I don't use IRC that much, but from
> what I've seen, that system doesn't work very well. An extropians-style
> kill command would probably be better for IRC or the list. If someone is
> causing trouble, you could just set to ignore them.

I would prefer a system of "talkers" and "listeners".  The channel
administration, whatever this may be, decides who can talk and who must
listen.  There is a tentative first step toward this goal in the current
wave of server revisions.  

-- 
                                               Steve Davis (strat@cis.ksu.edu)
                                                       Kansas State University