##Linux

Please be polite to each other, and remember that you are in a channel which is mostly intended for discussion about Linux.

Rules

• English only.
• No excessive language usage, please try keep it family friendly.
• No flooding, no all-caps, no intentional annoyance. Anymore than 5 lines all at once is a flood.
• Stay on topic and stick to the discussion of Linux.
• No bots or automated responses allowed. The list of authorized bots can be found here.
• Don't discuss channel policy in the channel. Do it by PM or take it up in ##linux-ops.
• OPs judgement is final. If you wish to dispute it, you can PM the op or take it up in ##linux-ops .

How to be a good channel user/resident

• Be Nice!
• Polish your catalyst skills. The catalyst role is key to keeping channel interactions friendly and efficient. For more information on catalyst skills visit the Freenode Catalyst Information Page.
• Don't be elitist. Today's newbies are tomorrow's experts. A support channel is a place where people with knowledge lead by example. Is the example you want to set that technical knowledge is a hierarchy of control, or that people with knowledge have an inherent social advantage over people who don't? Please think before referring people to links, which combine suggestions for making support requests with a casual attitude of superiority over the newbie. Helping other people takes patience. It's better not to answer a question than to use the opportunity to emphasize the limitations of the person you're trying to help.
• Avoid highlighting and repetition. Words and sentences in all-uppercase, heavy use of highlighting, beeping (^G) and repeating the same or similar lines over and over.
• Avoid using foul language, remember we have alot of young Linux enthusiasts. In todays world people as young as 13 are installing and tinkering with Linux.
• Avoid advocacy debates. BSD versus GPL, vi versus emacs, centralized versus decentralized, RMS versus ESR, Linux versus Windows: these discussions are frequently religious and may not involve significant new ideas.
• Argue the point, not the person, i.e.: Don't argue a point by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument, rather address the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.
• You might not get too worked up if you're arguing the relative merits of poll() or kqueue(), but if you walk into a discussion with a strong emotional need to "get your way", consider the possibility you are simply arguing preference or personal affiliation. Advocacy discussions are best held quietly, via /msg, or on channels especially created for the purpose.
• Pasting: Please use http://paste.linuxassist.net to paste many lines of text and just share the link it gives you on the channel (or any other pastebin you like).
• Don't be caught by support burnout. It's nearly impossible to answer every technical question that comes to your channel. In many cases, the problem doesn't lie in the technical aspects of the question; cultural barriers may get in the way of communication, or it may be difficult to explain to a newbie just where to begin. When you try to answer every question, regardless of difficulty, you set yourself up for support burnout.

Off-topic Discussion

Channel operators ("ops") will react differently to off-topic discussions at different times of the day. Various reactions may be:

• Absolutely nothing.
• Request the discussion cease and be moved elsewhere, either pvt (private messaging) or another channel.
• Request the discussion simply cease. In that case, please respect that request and consider moving your conversation to a more appropriate place such as ##defocus or to a pm (private /query).
• Muting (+q) one or several of the participants entertaining the off-topic discussion.
• Kicking one or several of the participants entertaining the off-topic discussion.
• Kicking and banning one or several of the participants entertaining the off-topic discussion.

As the issue of off-topic debate is a sensitive topic for many people, factors influencing the ops decisions are briefly outlined below:

• Time of day affect ops decisions, what is acceptable at early hours of the morning when only two people are active may not be acceptable at the busiest times of the day.
• When on-topic discussion is taking place, it is more likely for off-topic discussion to be discouraged.
• When the participants in the discussion seem to have little care for which channel they're in. If two people join the channel in a short time period and start discussing off-topic issues, they will more than likely be dealt with more harshly than someone that has taken part in on-topic discussion and knows what the purpose of the channel is.
• The response ops get to warnings or actions taken. Swearing at, threatening, arguing with ops regarding a case of off-topic discussion is not a good idea.
• The amount of and frequency of off-topic discussion.
• Subject of the off-topic discussion, Topics that are more likely to generate alot of traffic from random people like (politics, sex, movies ... etc) are more than likely to get a response from an op.
• As "unfair" as it may seem, it doesn't matter if those in the channel are regulars or newbies, channels on IRC have a purpose and a topic.

Discussions that have come up frequently enough to make specific mention for off-topic or borderline discussions are outlined below:

• Non-standard devices and emulators: Nintendo, Playstation, X-Box, TiVo, etc, where the EULA contains provisions against reverse engineering or otherwise re-implementing the technology or modifying the hardware. Discussing these is considered off-topic. It is furthermore presumed that you agreed to such terms by the use of such a device. Installing Linux on a Playstation 3 is similarly off-topic, as Sony clearly prohibits it. Using an emulator to play such games uses reimplemented and copyrighted technology and is therefore also off-topic.
• Android: While Android uses Linux as its kernel, it's highly modified for each device running it and lacks much or most of the userland and toolsets of common GNU/Linux distributions. While we don't directly support or discourage the use of Android, there is a channel dedicated to it in #Android, and is officially sanctioned by Google.
• VPS & Hosting services: You may have Linux through the use of a VPS or other hosting provider. Though it may be running Linux, it may also be having problems beyond even your control to work with, fix, diagnose, etc. If you're having problems with it, it's always best to contact your provider's help, because either it's a restriction, terms-of-use issue, or just something that cannot be evaluated very clearly it is more up to the service provider to help you, and you are paying them for that fact. Setting up services like Apache and such will be acceptable if there's no major complications that may be a result of VPS/Hosting setup.
• Cygwin: Cygwin is made to be a Linux-like environment for Windows. It does not use the Linux kernel, and has a lot of the GNU tools, but are compiled for use in Windows. The support channel for Cygwin is #cygwin respectively.
• Torrents: Discussing torrents in the channel will not usually be permitted because of an overwhelming tendency it has to relate to pirating copyrighted materials. Discussing such things as The Pirate Bay is grounds for immediate removal without warning.

Despite this long and fascist-sounding list, ##Linux ops are generally sane people and if you make a minimal effort to respect the channel rules and guidelines you shouldn't have any problem.