Morph Forest User Policy

I. Purpose of the Morph Forest IRC Network

The Morph Forest IRC Network ("MorphForest") exists to provide internet users with a pleasant place to carry on peaceful conversation. At the same time, Morph Forest protects the right of those users to engage in undisturbed conversation, preventing other users from maliciously interrupting that conversation.

II. Use of Morph Forest

A. General Use

1.  Morph Forest is intended as a place for conversation. Any activities which
1.  jeopardize the rights of other users in that regard or generally, or the existance or
1.  functionality of Morph Forest as a whole are prohibited. These activities include
1.  the following.

A.  Attempting to evade channel bans against you.
B.  Impersonating another user with the intention to harm that person or his/her
B.  reputation.
C.  Sending repeated messages to a user or channel (flooding).
D.  Harassing users through inflammatory messages or behavior that
D.  obstructs channels and/or users.
E.  Constantly telling the founder and/or admins of a channel to STFU or
E.  STHU in their own channels.

2.  Further Morph Forest regulations include the following.

A.  Mass advertising, whether by notice, by query (also known as /msg), or
A.  any other medium is prohibited.
B.  The illegal distribution of software protected by copyright laws (also
B.  known as "WAREZ") is prohibited.
C.  The illegal distribution of other copyrighted intellectual property is
C.  prohibited.
D.  Channels pertaining to adult sexual topics are permitted, but must remain
D.  set to +s (secret) mode at all times.
E.  Channels pertaining to sexual topics relating to minors or child
E.  pornography are absolutely prohibited and could be shut down and
E.  forbidden on sight.
F.  Profanity channels whose names contain swear or cuss words are
F.  prohibited. Any such channel found registered with ChanServ will be
F.  immediately shut down and forbidden on sight.
G.  Nuking or DoS (Denial of Service) attacks or threats are absolutely
G.  prohibited and the user could end up reported to your ISP or the proper
G.  authorities.
H.  Any channel or user found in violation with any of the above (except if the
H.  adult sexual channel forgot to set the +s mode) will be immediately shut
H.  down, forbidden, and banned from the network pending a report with the
H.  proper authorities.
I.  Users running more than five (5) connections from one IP need to get
I.  permission and an exception from network administration before running
I.  more connections. If the user does not get permission and an exception
I.  from an IRC operator, their sixth connection attempt from the same IP will
I.  be akilled by services. They may also end up akilled altogether if they're
I.  attempting a clone attack or clone war.

3.  Note that while any violations brought to the attention of the Morph Forest
3.  administration will be dealt with, Morph Forest assumes no responsibility for the
3.  actions of those who use Morph Forest.

4.  Morph Forest is a privately owned and operated network. As such, Morph
4.  Forest reserves the right to remove any person or bot for any or all servers for
4.  any reason.

B. Bot Policy

1.  While Eggdrops/Windows and some mIRC related scripts are okay as long as
1.  they don't obstruct the network, its operations, or make any channel unusable,
1.  please make sure you check with a Server/Services admin before running anykind
1.  of bot.

2.  Any bot found flooding, spamming, causing problems to users or channels, or
2.  disrupting the network in anyway will be removed from the network.

C. Use of Services

1.  Morph Forest includes several services designed to assist IRC users which
1.  include NickServ, ChanServ, and MemoServ, and are collectively
1.  known as "Services". Services may not be used in any way that adversely affects
1.  Morph Forest or its users. Such ways include the following.

A.  Cracking, or attempting to crack other users' passwords.
B.  Flooding Services.

2.  There is also the service BotServ that list a number of bots in its botlist. These
2.  bots can be assigned to your channel(s), but only one to a channel at any given
2.  time.

III. Morph Forest Administration

A. Duties of an IRC operator

1.  All Morph Forest IRC operators have the following duties.

A.  To maintain a reasonably consistent presence on Morph Forest.
B.  To assist users with problems as far as they are able, or else to direct
B.  those users to sources of help.

B. Duties of an IRC server administrator

1.  In addition to those listed above, all Morph Forest IRC server administrators
1.  have the following duties.

A.  To keep their respective servers functioning smoothly, so that Morph
A.  Forest is not disrupted.
B.  To choose competent IRC operators to assist in maintaining the server.

•  If the administrators of other Morph Forest servers develop
•  reservations about the suitability of an operator, they should bring
•  those reservations to the administrator of the server in question. If
•  that administrator chooses not to remove said operator, he/she may
•  be overruled by a two-thirds majority of the remaining active server
•  administrators.

C.  To notify all other administrators at least one week in advance if the server
C.  must be taken down for any reason.
D.  To be reachable via e-mail within three days, or to notify all other
D.  administrators at least three days in advance about a longer absence.
E.  To participate in all Morph Forest administrative matters.

C. Policy for IRC operators and administrators

1.  All Morph Forest IRC operators may not issue random /kills without consulting
1.  with a Server/Services Admin first. Abuse of the /kill will lead to the removal of
1.  your oper status or no-op being put on your server (which is the services oper
1.  refusal for a given server).

2.  If you want to do a /mode in someone else's channel as an ircop, please take it up
2.  with that channel's founder or head SOP(s) in that matter. The only possible
2.  exception to this is if you are needing to voice (+v) yourself in a moderated (+m)
2.  channel, but you'll still need to make sure you are allowed voice in the channel
2.  before doing that.

3.  If you have your own server linked to Morph Forest, please do not relinquish
3.  control of your server to another administrator without discussing it with the other
3.  administrators and proper supervision at a lower admin level until a point where
3.  the individual is satisfactorily responsible for the task of administrating an irc
3.  server.

D. Policy decisions

Any policy decision, including addition (linking) or removal (delinking) of servers, changes to a server's status (physical or network location, connectivity, or administrator(s)), or changes to this document, must be approved by the administrators of two-thirds of Morph Forest's servers. A server that is the subject of such a decision does not have a say in that decision.