These are not necessarily strictly enforced, but these are the general social expectations of people who participate in ##netizen. You will not receive any kind of warnings or punishments for not abiding these, but if you don’t, it will likely detract from the energy and culture that has developed in ##netizen.
If you are a part of netizen.town or join ##netizen, it is generally expected that you create something of some sort - art, websites, programs, writing, any variety of things, and likely come with the intention of sharing what you’ve made. This is not a standard or expectation - this is an assumption.
netizen.town itself is part of the indie web - there is an expectation that members of ##netizen are interested in, or at least respectful towards, the indie and self-sufficient web, regardless of hosting standards or site contents.
Members of ##netizen are expected to be positive, encouraging, and uplifting to the best of their ability - regardless of if the subject is present in the channel or not.
(i.e. in most cases it is questionable and distasteful to share someones’ art or website for the purpose of insulting it or exclusively criticising it)
Constructive criticism is welcome - encouraging people that what they’ve done so far is good, and offering advice and pointers on what might help it become better.
(i.e. in opposition to the earlier note, it is fine to voice that you think something would look better with higher-contrast colors, or a bigger text size, etc)
Members of ##netizen are expected to acknowledge each other - this means that if someone sends their website, their art, their writing, etc, it should not go unacknowledged and not responded to. Even simple phrases such as “this looks awesome” or “the colors here are so pretty” go very, very far in a world where people constantly feel ignored and unseen.
When people ask questions about something they haven’t learned or a joke they don’t understand, if you are equipped with the knowledge to explain it, try to either explain the topic at hand, or offer some words/phrases that would help someone search for more information.
In example: “A QA engineer walks into a bar. Runs into a bar. Crawls into a bar. Dances into a bar. Tiptoes into a bar. Rams a bar. Jumps into a bar.” “I don’t get it, what does that mean?” “QA stands for Quality Assurance, it’s a job you can search about”
Please be mindful of bot usage. Playing with the bots is okay, but please do not flood the chat, and please be mindful of recent backlog. Read the last few messages, and if it seems like a serious conversation is going on, abstain from the bot games until it seems that the moment has passed.
##netizen Channel Rules:
These rules are enforced. These rules protect ##netizen from bad actors and keep the channel online on the Libera.Chat network. Breaking, disrespecting, or intentionally trying to find loopholes in these rules is grounds for termination from the channel.
First and foremost, this channel exists on the Libera.Chat network. this means that we are expected to oblige libera.chat's Network Policies while connected to this network, and using this channel.
To stress the point: please review the Network Policies for the Libera.Chat prohibited topics and behavior. In short, we are expected to keep chat topics legal and indiscriminate. no doxxing others' information, no inciting violence, and notably, no discussions or distributions of pirated material.
Bear in mind that this channel is not 18+ or adults-exclusive; minors do visit and speak in this channel. Try to avoid sexually explicit conversations - the one exception to this is educational context, i.e. discussing how something like hormone replacement therapy works.
There are no strict rules on vocabulary - for example, users are fully welcome to curse, type with txtspeek, and, more specifically, are allowed to refer to themselves or jokingly, each other, with slurs (but please keep #5 in mind while doing so).
If any member voices discomfort with being called something, everyone is expected to stop immediately, and if anyone repeats the infraction, people should correct them. Insisting on referring to people with terms they’ve said they’re not okay with is grounds for immediate removal from ##netizen without warning or appeal.
If any member behaves disrespectfully, rudely, or makes people feel on edge, please notify potter or kepler immediately. Action may not be taken at first, depending on if, or how many, other people have voiced concerns about the user in question.
It is not okay and not acceptable to come into the channel and immediately, even if jokingly, try to say things like “I hate this thing that you’re talking about.” It serves no purpose other than even unintentionally making people feel bad for the things they enjoy, which is not welcome behavior here.
Channel operators are not always present - channel users are welcome and encouraged to remind each other of the rules in place. If users are hostile, aggressive, or discriminatory, notify an operator (kepler, Fuzzy, potter, calciume) via direct message to get the fastest response. This also applies to users that appear to be intentionally engaging in bad faith.