Network Policy

Updated 2016-08-31

The following page may contain information that is out-of-date and is provided for archival purposes only. The StormBit IRC network shut-down on the 1st of June, 2024.

By connecting to StormBit you agree to abide by the following rules. Failure to do so may result in termination of your connection. You indemnify the network against any damages which may arise from misuse of their services.

If you have any issues or concerns, you may contact staff via IRC, or email.

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

As a StormBit user, you are expected to respect other users and network staff.

The following attitudes and actions shall not be tolerated

  • Threatening, stalking, or abusing other users or the network.
  • Withholding information that may be legally relevant to using the network.
  • Evading ignores or bans.
  • Making channels to attack or disrupt others (even non-users of the network).
  • Abusing services to attack or disrupt other users.
  • Being a jerk, as a Wikipedian so kindly put it.

Guidelines for staff

  • Staff must not interfere with independent channels (those not owned by the network) unless requested by channel owners or, in some cases, operators on the channel access list. If asked to step in, staff will make judgement calls based on network health and safety.
  • All channels are independent of the network, there are no restrictions on what is allowed in them as long as they are compliant with United States law and don’t harm the network, other networks or other users.
  • Staff must not abuse their privileges to enforce network or channel rules in independent channels, unless in compliance with the exceptions outlined below.
  • Staff must put out notice of any alterations to these rules.
  • Staff shall actively interfere in the case of “stalkers” and other exceptional circumstances, regardless of whether you ignored them.
  • Staff shall actively interfere with any and all entities masquerading as being a part of the network, as this is considered a direct attack on both new and existing users.
  • Staff reserve the right to remove you for any reason without notice or warning.

Guidelines for you

  • If somebody is harassing you and not explicitly breaking any rules, at a first instance you should use the /ignore functionality built into your IRC client. If they persist or attempt to evade this, you must immediately contact the network staff.
  • Bots, file servers, and proxies (including Tor) are allowed, as long as you comply with the rest of the rules.
  • Bots should set usermode +B on themselves to avoid confusion.
  • Our stance on vhosts is rather liberal. Anything goes as long as it doesn’t explicitly attack other users or their views or is grossly inappropriate. Domain names are even allowed, as long as you can prove you represent the owner of the domain; however, while these can be requested through HostServ, you must also contact a staff member.
  • With vhosts, we only ask that you be reasonable; Explicit vhosts are allowed, however please consider that this is shown to any and all users upon joining a channel.
  • If found to be in breach of the rules, and this breach is considered negligible or an accident, the network staff may message you with a warning. Failure to comply or repeat offenses shall result in a ban.
  • IP masking is enabled by default. You can set usermode -x on yourself to disable this.

Changes and alterations to this document may be considered binding two days (48 hours) after being published. Alterations and suggestions may be proposed by anybody at any time, subject to peer-review.

Changelog