deskthority

SL89 · 23 Jan 2016, 16:07

So I have a few questions about our IRC:

Do we have any official policys regarding content, spam, trolling, etc?

Who has the Founder status, Who has OPs, Do we have halfops? Are we moderated with +m, what lets people have voice?

who runs red-robot? so on and so forth!

scottc · 23 Jan 2016, 16:10

No official policies that I know of.

Acfrazier has founder status but isn't active on there or the forums anymore (from what I can tell). Myself, ne0phyte, Medowy, and Compgeke have ops. No halfops.

We don't use +m currently.

red-robot is run by fireglow, it's not officially a part of the channel or anything.

gogusrl · 20 Feb 2016, 07:00

scottc wrote: ↑red-robot is run by fireglow, it's not officially a part of the channel or anything.

None of us would be here right now without red-robot. There's life saving services provided by the robot you so easily dismiss. Without him, every morning there's a risk I could trip, fall over and die when I go to check the temperature outside. With red-robot, that risk is 100% avoided. Life Saved !

elecplus · 26 Mar 2016, 05:27

What steps can be taken to prevent non-members from trolling the IRC? Just curious, after tonight's idiot tried so hard to sell us Manhattan keyboards, a small keyboard for $400 or more, and then 50 Topres, IIRC. He also said he runs a board biz but does not stock Model Fs because they are so plentiful. It was funny and stupid at the same time.

Redmaus · 26 Mar 2016, 05:30

Oh wow I wish I could have seen that. I have no idea how to stop trolls though

Compgeke · 26 Mar 2016, 17:28

I'm a big fan of hope they go away after the first time then ban the next. Often times if they don't get the response they want they just give up and go away, on IRC anyways.

scottc · 26 Mar 2016, 17:42

It's best to just ignore bluefive on IRC. He's either a poor troll or just incredibly deluded. The mods can kick and ban people, but probably not just for being stupid. You can just do /ignore to pretend he's not there.

Ander · 10 May 2016, 23:11

Hi guys – Here's a basic question for you: How does one get a password for Deskthority's IRC channel? Do you create an IRC-wide account, or one specifically for DT's channel? Maybe I'm just being stoopid, but I can't find details anywhere. Thanks!

Type on, A.

scottc · 10 May 2016, 23:19

You don't need a password. You can register your nick with a password on freenode by messaging NickServ directly. That should give you enough google-able terms to figure it out.

Ander · 13 May 2016, 10:55

Yup, this is exactly why people hire technical writers: They can't tell how obscure they're being, since they already know what the other people want to know. As a tech writer, I guess I should be grateful for the phenomenon.

fireglow · 31 Aug 2016, 22:06

+r has been set on #deskthority, meaning people wanting to join the channel need to identify to/register with NickServ before joining.
The downside of this is that people, especially ones not familiar with IRC in general and NickServ in particular, will be kept out of the chat.
The reason for this is: There has been an influx in off-topic links lately, presumably all from the same person. Their behaviour can be described as trolling. Since they used different proxies and VPNs every time, no banmask could keep them out for long.
+r now makes it a lot harder, or at the very least more time-consuming, to do this sort of drive-by trolling.
The chanmode should remain set for some time (6-8 weeks), maybe our anonymous poster will have found some place else to post by then.

Wodan · 31 Aug 2016, 22:08

I am sorry I was such a little bitch.

Ander · 01 Sep 2016, 09:19

fireglow wrote: ↑+r has been set on #deskthority, meaning people wanting to join the channel need to identify to/register with NickServ before joining... The downside of this is that people, especially ones not familiar with IRC in general and NickServ in particular, will be kept out of the chat... The reason for this is: There has been an influx in off-topic links lately, presumably all from the same person. Their behaviour can be described as trolling. Since they used different proxies and VPNs every time, no banmask could keep them out for long... +r now makes it a lot harder, or at the very least more time-consuming, to do this sort of drive-by trolling. The chanmode should remain set for some time (6-8 weeks), maybe our anonymous poster will have found some place else to post by then.

This makes me wonder how anyone ever figures out how to do this. Maybe someone shows them at a meet-up?

Thumper · 01 Sep 2016, 09:42

Ander wrote: ↑
fireglow wrote: ↑+r has been set on #deskthority, meaning people wanting to join the channel need to identify to/register with NickServ before joining... The downside of this is that people, especially ones not familiar with IRC in general and NickServ in particular, will be kept out of the chat... The reason for this is: There has been an influx in off-topic links lately, presumably all from the same person. Their behaviour can be described as trolling. Since they used different proxies and VPNs every time, no banmask could keep them out for long... +r now makes it a lot harder, or at the very least more time-consuming, to do this sort of drive-by trolling. The chanmode should remain set for some time (6-8 weeks), maybe our anonymous poster will have found some place else to post by then.
This makes me wonder how anyone ever figures out how to do this. Maybe someone shows them at a meet-up?

I registered my nick, but only because i had the time to read nearly the whole freenode help page.

Wodan · 01 Sep 2016, 09:55

I've had an extended, excessive complaining session about this IRC spamming and have to say I embrace these measures.

Most of the activity in the DT IRC channel is community members chatting and there's very few occasional users - at least in the time since I joined the IRC channel.

Hopefully we can lift this protective measure in the near future and MAYBE we can come up with a little IRC promotion program?

And the earlier you learn to register your nick on an IRC server the better. Nasty surprises await if you don't ...

webwit · 01 Sep 2016, 12:34

I think one of the main reasons the IRC channel is not so active is its barrier of entry in terms of usability and complexity. We just made that problem worse.

SL89 · 01 Sep 2016, 15:45

Was there a spam issue that I missed?

Thumper · 01 Sep 2016, 20:43

SL89 wrote:Was there a spam issue that I missed?

Somehow I missed it, too. Will check my logs tomorrow

Alkhar · 25 Sep 2016, 21:40

Is there any chance that you could try to regain access to the non login member ?
With freenode down half of the time at the moment, its even not possible to log in ...

XMIT · 13 Dec 2016, 04:39

I'm really lazy, so, this is what I eventually did to be able to get back in:

https://freenode.net/kb/answer/registration

Medowy · 11 Jan 2017, 11:41

We could try Discord if people want to chat.

It's easy to setup and use. You can also use voice chat!

andrewjoy · 11 Jan 2017, 11:45

Discord is a pile of crap!

If you want to voice chat use mumble or teamspeak.

Medowy · 11 Jan 2017, 11:51

andrewjoy wrote: ↑Discord is a pile of crap!

If you want to voice chat use mumble or teamspeak.

It's been good for me atleast.

andrewjoy · 11 Jan 2017, 11:54

I find the voice quality is just terrible.

Mumble and TS can use very high bitrate versions of all of the major codecs. They even have the option for CD quality audio if you want to play music or if you have a mic with a very low noise floor.

Discord sounds like skype over a 2g connection

.

Medowy · 11 Jan 2017, 12:02

andrewjoy wrote: ↑I find the voice quality is just terrible.

Mumble and TS can use very high bitrate versions of all of the major codecs. They even have the option for CD quality audio if you want to play music or if you have a mic with a very low noise floor.

Discord sounds like skype over a 2g connection .

Could be but the text chat is pretty nice.

Wodan · 11 Jan 2017, 12:10

I have recently grown pretty fond of Telegram messenger. It is an open platform, allows group chats, has clients for web, desktop, mobile, tablet, mac and most of all does a great job handling files / links

No need to stay "Online" all the time and you can simply continue chatting on your mobile after you shut down your pc. All chats & logs will by syncronized.

Medowy · 11 Jan 2017, 12:13

Wodan wrote: ↑I have recently grown pretty fond of Telegram messenger. It is an open platform, allows group chats, has clients for web, desktop, mobile, tablet, mac and most of all does a great job handling files / links

No need to stay "Online" all the time and you can simply continue chatting on your mobile after you shut down your pc. All chats & logs will by syncronized.

It's the same with Discord + CRAPPY voice chat.

Wodan · 11 Jan 2017, 12:24

Medowy wrote: ↑ It's the same with Discord + CRAPPY voice chat.

It looks very gaming oriented to me. No one is really looking for voice chat here ... it's just not the scenario.

I've already used Telegram with several DT IRC users to share photos, my guess is far more DT users already use Telegram than any other viable alternative.

The media sharing capabilities are really nice, great for "deals" where you take a few snaps with you smartphone to share them with someone and then go back to your PC to continue the conversation.

Findecanor · 11 Jan 2017, 12:26

andrewjoy wrote: ↑Discord sounds like skype over a 2g connection .

My router is heavier than 2 grams.

Medowy · 11 Jan 2017, 12:26

Wodan wrote: ↑
Medowy wrote: ↑ It's the same with Discord + CRAPPY voice chat.
It looks very gaming oriented to me. No one is really looking for voice chat here ... it's just not the scenario.

I've already used Telegram with several DT IRC users to share photos, my guess is far more DT users already use Telegram than any other viable alternative.

The media sharing capabilities are really nice, great for "deals" where you take a few snaps with you smartphone to share them with someone and then go back to your PC to continue the conversation.

You are correct. Maybe we could try Telegram if people are willing to change from IRC.