Appropriate Use Policies
To make your visit as safe and enjoyable as possible, PurpleSurge has devised a set of standards that all users and staff must follow.
NOTE: PurpleSurge will not unban you from a chat room. If you were accidentally or wrongfully banned from a room, you will need to speak with the person who banned you. If you cannot get in touch with this person, then we suggest seeking help from the website where you logged into the chat. For inquiries about network related bans, you may contact kline [at] purplesurge.com. Again, we will NOT unban you from a specific room.
PurpleSurge General Policies
(1.) You are responsible for ALL activity that occurs on your IP address. If a friend or family member abuses our services, unfortunately everybody on that IP address will lose the ability to access PurpleSurge. Absolutely no exceptions.
(2.) If you are tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another person, you MUST: (a) leave the channel; (b) /ignore the user bothering you; and/or (c) report the user to the appropriate channel op or founder to request their removal. Generally speaking, IRC Operators will not become involved in complaints about cyberbullying. In very rare cases where the harassment is completely uncontrollable, IRC Operator intervention may take place. These rare, uncontrollable circumstances include, but are not limited to: multiple undesired memos targeted at the victim; channel topics that harass the victim; following the victim to all channels, forcing the victim to leave them all; and/or intentionally evading any /ignore in place. These cases must be provable by logs.
(3.) No flooding of any kind.
(4.) No fservs, XDCC, or any type of filesharing bots allowed.*
(5.) Spamming and flooding the network is not allowed. Flood bots will be killed immediately.
(6.) Mass advertising of any kind is prohibited.
(7.) Stealing channels or nicknames is a wrong thing to do. Do not attempt it.
(8.) Users may group up to 5 nicknames within a group. Only one nickname group is allowed per user. Special exceptions for a separate bot group are available with pre-approval from an IRC Admin.
(9.) Ban evasion will earn you a g:line. Don't try it.
(10.) Do not use the official channels to idle in or cause conflict. These channels are for assistance only.
(11.) Do not beg for network status.
(12.) Distribution of child pornography (including sharing external URLs) and solicitation of sex to minors is forbidden.
(13.) Lawful pornography and adult discussion are allowed only in channels marked +X and in private messages. No pornography or adult discussion of any type will be allowed outside a channel marked +X or outside a private message. You must have user mode +X enabled to join adult channels. We do not moderate the sharing of pornography or adult conversation in private messages, assuming it does not conflict with any other PurpleSurge policy.
(14.) Transmission of hate material and propaganda is prohibited. This policy DOES NOT limit free speech, which channel operators govern themselves. This DOES protect against hatred toward any group of people through a channel name or channel topic, or mass distributing unwanted hate material to users.
(15.) All bots (clients without humans) must set +B on join. (Non-bots are not allowed to have +B set)
(16.) Auto-ghosting features within IRC clients must be disabled. Use /nickserv recover in order to keep someone off your nick.
(17.) BotNets are frowned upon. You better have a darned good reason to have one.
(18.) Impersonating IRCops, or pretending to be one, is strictly prohibited. It is not tolerated, as it can be dangerous and degrading to unknowing users. (remember, you can always tell if someone is an IRCop by their /whois)
(19.) You must be in a channel at all times.***
Being respectful is the best way to avoid problems. We have the right to remove users from the network if we find they are causing any type of disturbance. The reason for removal does NOT have to be covered by an existing policy. We use common sense to keep PurpleSurge clean and pleasant. Our decisions are final.
Channel Policies
(1.) Do not share your channel password. If you want to give somebody owner (~) access to your channel, add them using the CHANSERV ACCESS command at level 9999. Join our #help channel for further assistance.
(2.) Only one services bot may be assigned to a channel at a time.**
(3.) All other rules are to be set by the channel founder.
Offenses and Consequences
How do we handle abusive users?
Every situation is handled individually. In some cases, we will issue a verbal warning or disconnect the abusive user. In more severe circumstances, the abusive user will be banned. The length of the ban is based on staff discretion. We have the right to exercise any consequence against any user who chooses to disregard our policies.
Special Exceptions for General Policies:
* There are very very rare cases in which this rule can be overridden, cases are dealt with on a case by case basis. If you are going to ask for permission, you must be able to prove that you own the full copyright of ALL material hosted on the bot(s). Ask in #Help for any questions.
** Service bots are considered to be "BotServ" bots, this does not include personal, eggdrops/windrops or mirc bots, please remember to have your bot set +B on connect. Limit 3 bots per channel (1 BotServ/ChanServ, and 2 Personal bots). It is up to the channel founder to limit personal bot usage.
*** Many floodbots/spambots/cambots stay out of channels and flood/spam channels/users from outside. Occasionally there is a scan to detect users not in channels. It will either warn you, disconnect you, or ban you.
Special Notes and Considerations
In the rare event that we believe security could be compromised, IRC administrators will put the network into "defcon" which forces channels to have +R temporarily. While this is extremely rare, it is done to protect the network and our users from flooding and other interferences.
Please be courteous to our staff, they are all volunteers and are not required to be here and are not paid (I know, so hard to believe!) Most staff members got their positions by contributing to the network, please do not ask to become a staff member. If you really want to help out, bring legitimate users, and help new users learn how to use the network.