[Foundation-l] Proposed guidelines in our IRC channels

[Oldak Quill]

The #wikipedia channel should not have more rules imposed upon it. At the
moment it is a relaxed place where Wikipedians can talk without worry about
channel policy. It helps to build relationships between Wikipedians and it
allows people to debate issues concerning Wikipedia.

The very fact that people can make jokes and have fun is the reason so many
Wikipedians spend such a long time there. The channel wouldn't be as full as
it is if users had to constantly watch their backs.

We can't impose anti-profanity rules on a channel which draws from many
countries, each with different standards. Apart from the reasons already
mentioned, it would give the channel an unneeded classroom atmosphere.

Last time I was using IRC (quite a few months), #wikipedia was the juvenile,
off-topic channel and #wikipedia-en (the official support channel for
en.wikipedia) was largely quiet. But, mainly for non-English speakers, it
may be useful to create an multilingual support channel free from off-topic
conversation.

-- 
Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)