wot do u look for in an irc server

[_dood_]

here is a quick poll for ya. wot sort of things do u look for in an server?

[Phase]

well i chose users, but I understand that might not be the case with newly started networks, also if i couldve chosen 2 it would have been "function channels" aswell, really i look for the staff (opers) arent jerks or abusive, etc.. and i'm no fan of warez and channels like that so having those types of chans bring a network down a bit from my expectations
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IRCq

[Asmo]

I reckon number of users would be the first options form the ones given...

But what I really think is important is that there are channels with topics I like, and the overall mood and feel of the network.
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Asmo

webmaster www.IRC-Junkie.org

[mite]

It's usually the goal or theme of a network that draws me to it. I chose 'function' channels though, as that seems to be the closest option.

[v0rtexio]

im going to have to say the amount of users .. this normally works in a way ' the-less-the-better' but i do hang on the big nets for channel stuff and own/run shit loads of networks... so ... users.. or the lack of is what i like mainly
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[DeadNotBuried]

personally i've gotten sick of all the politics and bitching on the networks i used to go to, and the few i have checked out since leaving them seem to all be the same.

thats why i decided to start one, and have it set up so everyone really is equal, that and it gave me a place to play around creating things for people to play with. the only thing i never really bothered doing was letting lots of people know it was there , so it never has really grown.

i am happy there though even though there aren't many users currently, those that are there make things work. there are no ircops so there is no IRCop abuse. and i've been writing games etc into services so the function channels are there.

if i had to pick another network, those three things would definately be at the top of the list.
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[v0rtexio]

what makes me laugh is how you have your chat network advertised under your name after your going on about how u dont advertise it!! LOL!! OH THE IRONY!
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[ShelLuser]

IMO I think that the decision to stay/hang out or not really is based on a combination of the items you mentioned above.

When we started out there were quite some people who started hanging out solely based on their assumptions on how the network would be run and managed. That helped us in starting a small userbase, and at this moment I see people getting interested solely based on the user amount. Before the time we were a real network those people used to hang out for, say, 3 days or so and didn't consider it very interesting. Now they're back and it looks to me as if they're really enjoying themselves.

And ofcourse there are also a few people who only hang out to play games idlerpg seems more popular than trivia these days
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With kind regards, Peter

NekoNet
www.neko-net.org / irc.neko-net.org

[Strike]

Its not a matter of IRCops who 'don't interfere'... they sometimes can be forced to. Its more about a network that provides a variety of services, and, mostly, has staff that is not abusive. This is why I can't seem to understand the QuakeNet phenomenon... why a user would pick a network where the fastest way to get glined is to join a help channel is beyond my comprehension... and all the QuakeNet users I have spoken to about this agree.

Regarding abuse, this can be solved with a simple policy. ElitistFaction, NetGamers, and GameSurge all have extremely stringent policies against staff abuse. Generally, such policies include a "Warn -> Suspend -> Remove -> Gline" clause; the resulting action incrementing either by repetition or level of abuse (ie. if an oper of mine glined a user and unregistered their channels due to personal reasons, I'd probably remove him immediately. If he also unregistered their friend's accounts, he would be removed from the network for a couple years.)

In terms of offering a variety of services, support must also be well distributed for such services. Networks such as GameSurge and ElitistFaction do an excellent job at doing so via various topic-specific help channels. Their services (srvx) also help enormously at managing several of these channels. Also, in order to ensure that users are helped quickly, but not providing for an excessive number of opers, the ability to have help staff that are not IRCops helps (I am specifically referring to networks with srvx and GNUworld). This allows an excellent training program example. Examples: NetGamers and GameSurge.

NetGamers and UnderNet take an interesting approach to solving both these issues, though I feel that NetGamers has done a better job at implementing it in coordination with other strategies, as their prevention of staff abuse is phenomenal. Both networks implement a system that divides up staff powers, forming two separate committees. One is the IRC Ops, which obviously need no further explanation. The other one is CSC, or the "Channel Services Committee". This is responsible for maintaining all user services on the network, including registering channels, managing nicknames, etc. If its a public function, or something that can be requested by a user regarding services, CSC does it. This separation leads to a 'separation of powers' if you will, preventing any one staff body from becoming all too powerful over the users of the network. IRCops will often ask CSC to perform functions for them, and vice-versa. This is not to say that a user can't be on both; he simply must be ridiculously qualified. This separation also ensures that each staff member has a clearly defined purpose, meaning that if a user needs help with services, they are promptly assisted by a CSC member instead of having to go to a general help channel where the user may encounter a staff member flooded with questions and demands coming from all different directions.

Another major motivator behind use of IRC networks and dedication to it is based on community. When I speak of community, I am not speaking of the community that exists within channels - this can be adequately replicated on any IRC network. I am, instead, speaking of community on the network. One of the major advantages of somewhat smaller networks is that it enables everybody to, at least somewhat, regularly come in contact with each other. NetGamers, ElitistFaction, and ChatSpike perform this well due to their relatively small size (at time of writing, ChatSpike had 1781 users and NetGamers had 3027).

I find that, with an increasing userbase, the level of staff abuse goes up and the level of personal support goes down, the one exception being GameSurge. In all cases that I know of, the level of community membership decreases with increasing size. The implementation and careful following of policies is essential to the combined goals of preventing staff abuse and maintaining a large userbase.
Hope this summarizes some of my feelings clearly enough.
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[katsklaw]

mature staff that have a clue.

[brain]

I guess 'function channels like #trivia' suits my definition of what i look for the most. I dont neccessarily go looking for trivia channels (got one of my own that im happy with), i keep myself busy on my own network, so when i go elsewhere to a channel, its usually a specific channel with a specific function, such as support channels for the various programs i use, discussion channels for developers on freenode, etc.
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InspIRCd - Modular IRC Server
ChatSpike - The Users Network
Portable IRC bot
SQL Based IRC Trivia

[Asmo]

[brain]

in my opinion the ratio of one oper for every 66 users (30 staff in 2000 connections) is the perfect holy grail number -- if chatspike's size doubled tomorrow to 4000 users, i'd be looking to take on more staff to maintain this ratio. obviously i wouldnt be taking them all on at once, or in a hurry, but keeping that ratio is important to us as we have always had that ratio of support which keeps that 'community spirit' and makes people feel like they can get help whenever they want it.

On chatspike not all staff are opers, our helper team are official staff, they have access to staff mailing lists, they have the ability to moderate the website quotes, gallery etc, and they have halfops on our main channel plus a vhost and the +h (helpop) user mode, but they cannot /KILL, set glines etc. Questions filter up the chain, for example most questions can be delt with by a helper (and there are more helpers than opers), if a question cannot be delt with by a helper, it is passed up to an oper, and then to a services admin, etc.

It takes a fair bit of drumming it in to get the users to not just assume that only an oper can help them, and not to just PM the opers, but in the end its worth it, as helpers can be taken on with much less vetting than opers meaning you can fill the quota of helpers very much faster than you would be able to recruit opers or admins.

The helper system also works as a training system, as only helpers may be promoted to IRC Operators in the future (we have never wavered from this rule) -- meaning that those who act like an ass with their power get noticed earlier on and taken back out of the helper list, as most people who abuse power will also abuse smaller amounts of power too, and they will manage to go crazy even given just halfops.
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InspIRCd - Modular IRC Server
ChatSpike - The Users Network
Portable IRC bot
SQL Based IRC Trivia

[Asmo]

[Ib3N]