The New Policies

One of the several problems that's become obvious in recent times is that we  have too many policies, they're often not consistent with each other, and we've spent too much time and effort wondering whether something, which is obviously the right thing to do, fits with our published policy. With that in mind, the following stripped-back set of policies will apply in future, with the intention that we can set out a simple set of baselines and apply common sense on top of them.

Nickname ownership

Nicknames are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, to the first person who registers the name with NickServ. However, we expect users to act in good faith and reserve the right to remove a nickname registration where we believe that this has not been the case. Nickname and account registrations expire ten weeks after they are last used. For nicknames, 'used' means that you were using the nickname while logged in to the account which owns it. For accounts, 'used' means that you logged in to the account, regardless of the nickname you used to do so. Nicknames which are the primary account name only expire when the entire account is expired. In some cases, such as for very old accounts, we may, at our discretion, extend the expiry time of a nickname or account. We will not normally do this beyond 15 weeks past the last use.

Some nicknames and accounts, including but not limited to some of those owned by current or former network staff, do not expire at all. These accounts can be identified by the 'Hold' flag in their NickServ info output.

Nicknames and accounts which are expired will not automatically be dropped. Please contact network staff if you would like to take over an expired nickname.

Channel ownership

Channels on freenode fall into one of two categories. Primary channels, which begin with a single # character, are reserved for on-topic projects. If you'd like to take over one of these channels, then you'll need to be associated in some way with the project in question. Topical, or 'about' channels, begin with two # characters, and these are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to the first person who registers it with ChanServ. As with nicknames, however, we reserve the right to remove or alter registrations where we believe they have not been made in good faith.

Primary channels do not expire with inactivity, though they can be claimed at any time by a representative of an on-topic project with the appropriate name. Topical channels expire after 60 days in which no user on the access list for the channel has joined it.

On-topic Use

freenode's primary goal is to encourage and foster the development and use of free and open source software projects and other peer-directed communities producing broadly licensed creative output. Any project falling under this broad description is likely to be considered on-topic for the purposes of primary channel naming and other project services which we may provide, but individual decisions may be made at the discretion of staff.

Off-topic Use

We expect all users of the network, whether affiliated with a project or not, to act in good faith and in accordance with both their local laws and those applicable where freenode operates. Use of freenode and its facilities is a privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn where we believe that this has not been the case.