Netiquette
Chat Room Etiquette
Netiquette is a term used to describe the 'guidelines' of how to have a conversation on the Internet, including chat rooms.
Use of capital letters (CAPS)
In chat rooms, the use of capital letters is the real world equivelant of shouting - it is considered rude to have entire conversations, or to type entire lines of text, in capital letters. It's fine to use capitals to emphasise a few words in a sentence, like this:
<xander> what is WRONG with you?!
However, lines like this should be avoided:
<xander> WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
Colour and text styling
On CentralChat, it is possible to use colour, bold, underline and reverse to make
what you say stand out. This can make it difficult for some people to read what has been
said: some people may have customised their chat program to have a black background, and
if people start typing in dark blue text, they won't be able to see what's happening.
Bold, underline and reverse is, like capital letters, often attributed to shouting.
In some chat rooms, the use of colour has been blocked; if you use colour in these rooms,
you will see it, but nobody else will.
Flooding, spamming and repeating
Flooding, spamming and repeating are all basically the same thing: a person types multiple rows of text in a short space of time. This interrupts the flow of conersation in a chat room and, in many chat rooms, flooders or repeaters will be automatically 'kicked' from the chat room by a computer program (called a 'bot').
Rejoining as a different user
While not a part of netiquette, this behaviour deserves a mention as it is commonly seen in chat rooms. A user joins a chat room, talks for a short amount of time, and then leaves. That same person then rejoins the chat room using a different nickname, and pretends to be a completely different person. Chatters will be able to tell that it is the same person!
Every computer in the world has an IP address - this address is like the address of a house; no two houses can have the same address. The same goes for IP addresses. When you join a chat room, a 'masked', or partially hidden, version of your IP address is shown. Here is an example:
*** bob (meh@CentralChat-AF1B447C.adsl.esc.net.au) has joined #chat
The bit after the @ symbol, CentralChat-AF1B447C.adsl.esc.net.au, is the host mask of the user 'bob' - this host mask is unique to the computer that bob is using. If bob was to change his nickname and join the chat room again, it would look like this:
*** mandi (mandi@CentralChat-AF1B447C.adsl.esc.net.au) has joined #chat
The nickname may have changed, but the host mask is exactly the same. So don't bother trying to pretend you are a different person; chatters will know you are lying.
Channel Operators
Channel operators, or 'ops', are chatters who have operator status in a chat room. These users are the ones with an @ symbol next to their nickname (or a coloured dot on the Java client). Channel ops have the role of monitoring the channel for wrongdoers, and have the ability to remove those who break rules from the channel.
Channel op status is given to users by the channel owner, usually because they are friends. Joining a channel and asking for operator status will get you nowhere, so don't even bother trying. Operator status is generally given only to trustworthy users who are known by the channel owner.
IRC Operators / CentralChat Staff
IRC operators, or 'opers', are the staff of CentralChat. Staff members can remove users from a channel or the whole of CentralChat. Oper status is not handed out blindly, nor is it handed out to users who beg for it. If CentralChat ever needs more staff members, the Administration may post an announcement on the forums, inviting users to apply. Most likely, however, the position will be offered to existing CentralChat helpers or well known users on CentralChat. So please don't ask to become staff; the answer will always be "no".
