Staff:Guidelines

Revision as of 05:11, 18 January 2011

The purpose of this document is establish consistent guidelines and rules for DareNET staff to follow while carrying out their duties on the network. They MUST be adhered to at all times, regardless of one's position on the network. If a guidelines states specific access is needed to carry out the desired effect, then it must be done by someone with equal or higher access. Simply "getting permission" from such an individual is not sufficient.

This document IS the final and ultimate rule book for staff conduct and activity. Any rule you have heard of that is not written within these guidelines simply does not exist. Continuing to follow such "unwritten" rules after a warning could have consequences up to and including your dismissal from staff.

These guidelines and rules are here because we want to present a consistent and united focus to our user base.

Staff Requirements

Being a staff member on DareNET is a privilege, and like most others, it comes with responsibility. There are a few requirements and "duties" for all staff members, which are detailed in this section.

Keep in mind that IRC is meant to be fun. If you don't feel like doing something at a particular time, don't do it (but be polite about it, especially if a user is requesting help from you). However, if you find that you're rarely in the mood for doing "staff stuff", then perhaps being a staff member is not for you.

While there is no minimum hours one most devote to helping out per week/month, we do expect ALL staff to be active on the network and mailing lists on a continuing basis. Staff found to be "inactive" will be asked to resign. Inactive shall be defined as staff who continually are not present or take part in the network's day-to-day operations.

You are expected to:

Help maintain the network.
Help users.
Enforce DareNET's AUP.
Follow the guidelines and instructions given in this guide.
Behave in a fitting manner for a DareNET staff member.
Keep up to date on DareNET matters, rules and policies.
Participate in mailing list discussions.
Not share confidential information with non-staff.

Conduct

As a staff member, your conduct on the network reflects upon yourself, your peers, network leadership and DareNET's image. You should act in a professional manner, especially when carrying out network duties. A good question to ask yourself is, "is what I'm about to do going to reflect badly on DareNET in any way, shape or form?" Repeatedly protraying DareNET in a "bad light" will probably cause you to be dismissed from staff.

Staff misconduct

The procedure for registering a complaint about a DareNET staff member is:

Try to resolve the problem by talking to other person directly.
If there is still a problem, report it to the person's superior. If the issue is related to some team, report it to the team's manager. If the person is an IRC operator and it's a generic complaint, report it to that person's admin. If you do not know the oper's "home" server, report it to the admin of the server they were on at the time.
If the problem remains unresolved after the superior investigated and made a decision, a report can be sent to the Operations with supporting documentation (including all logs from all the meetings with the person and with the superior).
Any case unresolved by the Operations team may be reviewed by the Executive Board, who will make the final decision.

Possible consequences of misbehavior are decided by the superior of that staff member (e.g., the oper's admin or the team manager, as appropriate) alone or in conjunction with the Operations team and/or Executive Board. The specific action taken will depend on the serverity of the misconduct, which may include:

Demotion for a probationary period.
Personal and/or public apology.
Replacing or reconstructing any damaged records.
Removal of channel access; temporarily or permanently for repeated offenses.
Removal of O-line or staff position.
Removal of services access.
Mailing list moderation or removal.
Refusal of future staff opportunities.
Banned from network.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= Purpose =
+The purpose of this document is establish consistent guidelines and rules for DareNET staff to follow while carrying out their duties on the network. They MUST be adhered to at all times, regardless of one's position on the network. If a guidelines states specific access is needed to carry out the desired effect, then it must be done by someone with equal or higher access. Simply "getting permission" from such an individual is not sufficient.
-The purpose of this document is to briefly provide an overview on how DareNET operates, and to establish consistent guidelines and rules for DareNET staff to follow while carrying out their duties on the network. They MUST be adhered to at all times, regardless of one's position on the network. If a guideline states specific access is needed to carry out the desired effect, then it must be done by someone with equal or higher access. Simply "getting permission" from such an individual is not sufficient.
+This document IS the final and ultimate rule book for staff conduct and activity. Any rule you have heard of that is not written within these guidelines simply does not exist. Continuing to follow such "unwritten" rules after a warning could have consequences up to and including your dismissal from staff.
-This document IS the final and ultimate rule book for staff conduct and activity. Any rule you have heard of that is not written within these guidelines or contained in one of the policy documents simply does not exist. If you continue to follow such "unwritten" rules after warning could have consequences up to and including your dismissal from staff.
 These guidelines and rules are here because we want to present a consistent and united focus to our user base.
-= Network Organization =
+{{TOC left}}
-Various teams form the administrative foundations of DareNET. They can be divided roughly into two groups: administrative and broad policy/decision making teams, and those which center on providing a particular service or cover specific aspects of the network's operations. Regardless, each team is given the authority to autonomously carry out their responsibilities. Each team has a manager. All teams work under the oversight of the Operations team, which consists of the actual administrators of the physical servers that make up the network.
-Each staff member is required to actively participate on at least one team.
-Finally, everyone of DareNET's staff is also a member of the "DareNET Team" -- everyone is dedicated to making DareNET a better IRC network.
-== Team Managers ==
-Team managers are directly responsible for ensuring their teams are adequately staffed, provided they follow any network staffing policies that may be in place. Managers supervise and manage the overall performance of staff on their team. They are also responsible for ensuring the team achieves team and network goals, visions and objectives.
-Team managers are appointed through a method determined by the Operations team.
-== Teams ==
-The following teams currently exist:
-=== Executive Board ===
-DareNET's main governing body, retaining ultimate authority in all network matters. Most, if not all, areas of the network's operations have been delegated to various teams (outlined below) leaving the Executive Board to function in an oversight capacity. As such. the board's remit is only as caretakers for all network matters.
-As caretakers, the Executive Board exists to hold, in trust, ownership of some essential resources, like dedicated servers (e.g., master dns, mail servers, etc.), the darenet.org domain, etc. The board also acts as an arbitrator in the mediation of disputes regarding network matters that cannot be resolved through other means (i.e., disputes referred to it by the Operations team).
-Contact address: eb@darenet.org
-=== Operations Team ===
-The Operations team is comprised of the administrators of the physical servers that make up DareNET, who jointly oversee the activities of the network and its various teams. They have the authority to make decisions on broad network and policy issues.
-Membership is limited to server administrators who have been "linked" to DareNET (in a permlink status) for at least three months. Non-IRC server administrators / sponsors of other DareNET servers may hold a non-voting seat on the team.
-Contact address: ops@darenet.org
-=== Development Team ===
-The Development team is responsible for maintaining and developing much of the software the network is built upon, which includes, but is not limited to: ircd-darenet, webchat-darenet, website-darenet and services-darenet. The team may take on other projects, as decided by the development manager.
-The team is also responsible for providing a means where staff can easily report bugs, submit feature requests and provide feedback in regards to the team's core projects.
-Membership is decided by the development manager.
-Contact address: dev@darenet.org
-=== Infrastructure Team ===
-The Infrastructure team is responsible for maintaining a stable, geographically diverse and well structured infrastructure for not only the DareNET IRC network, but the organization as a whole. The team is directly responsible for maintaining the servers linked to the network, web servers, database servers, and name servers, in conjunction with their respective administrators. The team also maintains the IRC pool, reviews link applications and administers the test link process.
-Membership is decided by the infrastructure manager.
-Contact address: infrastructure@darenet.org
+== Staff Requirements ==
-=== Support Team ===
+Being a staff member on DareNET is a privilege, and like most others, it comes with responsibility. There are a few requirements and "duties" for all staff members, which are detailed in this section.
-The Support team is responsible for the customer service end of DareNET's day-to-day operations. As such, its members listen to requests and questions from our users and respond based on the network rules and current policies of DareNET.
+Keep in mind that IRC is meant to be fun. If you don't feel like doing something at a particular time, don't do it (but be polite about it, especially if a user is requesting help from you). However, if you find that you're rarely in the mood for doing "staff stuff", then perhaps being a staff member is not for you.
-Membership is decided by the support manager.
+While there is no minimum hours one most devote to helping out per week/month, we do expect ALL staff to be active on the network and mailing lists on a continuing basis. Staff found to be "inactive" will be asked to resign. Inactive shall be defined as staff who continually are not present or take part in the network's day-to-day operations.
-Contact address: support@darenet.org
+You are expected to:
-== How DareNET Works ==
+* Help maintain the network.
+* Help users.
+* Enforce DareNET's [[Policy:Acceptable Use Policy|AUP]].
+* Follow the guidelines and instructions given in this guide.
+* Behave in a fitting manner for a DareNET staff member.
+* Keep up to date on DareNET matters, rules and policies.
+* Participate in mailing list discussions.
+* Not share confidential information with non-staff.
-The above list of teams and their brief descriptions do not go much towards explaining how DareNET's administration actually functions. To explain this, we first need to look at the key elements of DareNET's existence:
+== Conduct ==
-* DareNET would be nothing without the users (thus, users make the network).
+As a staff member, your conduct on the network reflects upon yourself, your peers, network leadership and DareNET's image. You should act in a professional manner, especially when carrying out network duties. A good question to ask yourself is, "is what I'm about to do going to reflect badly on DareNET in any way, shape or form?" Repeatedly protraying DareNET in a "bad light" will probably cause you to be dismissed from staff.
-* DareNET servers are operated and/or sponsored by the admins, without which there would be no IRC network at all.
-* DareNET was founded by the Executive Board, who in essence own and control the domain and other vital resources.
-* The Operations team is the main decision making body on DareNET.
-* DareNET relies on its staff and teams for its operations.
-As you can see, each part is important. None are too overbearing, and they are all needed for DareNET to function. Cooperation is the only way things can work.
+== Staff misconduct ==
-The actual administration is based on the below control structure:
+The procedure for registering a complaint about a DareNET staff member is:
-* Server administrators are in charge of their servers, in conjunction with the Infrastructure team.
+# Try to resolve the problem by talking to other person directly.
-* Teams handle various issues, specific to their function.
+# If there is still a problem, report it to the person's superior. If the issue is related to some team, report it to the team's manager. If the person is an IRC operator and it's a generic complaint, report it to that person's admin. If you do not know the oper's "home" server, report it to the admin of the server they were on at the time.
-* The Infrastructure manager oversees the technical aspects of DareNET.
+# If the problem remains unresolved after the superior investigated and made a decision, a report can be sent to the Operations with supporting documentation (including all logs from all the meetings with the person and with the superior).
-* The Operations team oversees non-technical operations on DareNET.
+# Any case unresolved by the Operations team may be reviewed by the Executive Board, who will make the final decision.
-* The EB and Operations team have the highest authority for network decisions.
-And responsibility is laid out as follows:
+Possible consequences of misbehavior are decided by the superior of that staff member (e.g., the oper's admin or the team manager, as appropriate) alone or in conjunction with the Operations team and/or Executive Board. The specific action taken will depend on the serverity of the misconduct, which may include:
-* Operators are answerable to their admin.
+* Demotion for a probationary period.
-* Individual admins are answerable to the EB.
+* Personal and/or public apology.
-* Team members are answerable to the team manager.
+* Replacing or reconstructing any damaged records.
-* Teams are answerable to the Operations team.
+* Removal of channel access; temporarily or permanently for repeated offenses.
-* The Operations team is answerable to the EB.
+* Removal of O-line or staff position.
-* The EB is answerable to the staff, as a whole.
+* Removal of services access.
+* Mailing list moderation or removal.
+* Refusal of future staff opportunities.
+* Banned from network.