Staff:Override Guide

Revision as of 09:13, 9 September 2008

Any time you are helping in #support, or as a Network Helper with "god-mode" enabled, you possess the ability to override channel security in certain channels. This access is not granted for you to become all-powerful and start circumventing channel security. All overrides must be related to official Support business, and must follow certain guidelines, as detailed below.

Acceptable Overrides

Any staff commands (on official Support duty) which require override to be enabled.

PEEK

This may be used to monitor channels on your watch list.

SET

This may be used to view channel settings when helping the channel's owner. Do not use this override to change settings.
The only setting that you may change via override is ENFTOPIC. This is done only in the case of channels registered to *DareNET where the owner (499) requests assistance in setting the topicmask. Do not set the topicmask for them, only adjust the enftopic level to allow them to set the topicmask as they wish.

GIVEOWNERSHIP

This command may be used when all users with higher access than the requesting user are gone 4 weeks or more, and the owner is not on vacation.
Alternatively, if a user can prove that they are the leader of the organization the channel is for (not just sharing the same name - it must be the SAME organization) you may transfer ownership to the user. If they do not have access in the channel, make sure to make that known in staff note.
Note that if the user is not on the userlist, you may NOT override to add the user to the userlist prior to a !giveownership command. You should use the form: !giveownership <#channel> <user> FORCE, which will automatically add the user to the userlist.

SUSPEND

Where there is a suspected channel takeover, you may !suspend the offending user(s) (NOT the channel) and immediately seek a support operator to sort things out. This is very rare. Think twice before doing it.

Unacceptable Overrides

The following overrides are unacceptable at any time, and will be thoroughly investigated. Override access is constantly monitored, so please always use extreme caution any time you have god-mode enabled, and always think twice about what you are about to do, before you do it. If you accidentally perform an override that you know will cause suspicion, you should contact the Abuse Team and reverse the change (or find someone of higher rank to do so for you) immediately.

Topic changes

Seek a support operator, even if the topic violates the AUP, TOS, or Registration Guidelines. Note, this includes using !topic <#channel> to view the current topic! Using !topic <#channel> will force the topic to revert to its DefaultTopic setting, in the event that the current topic is not the default, which WILL be considered an unacceptable override. To view the channel's topic, you should use peek instead (see above).

Userlist changes

You are NOT to add, remove, or change access for any user in any channel in which you do not have the appropriate access to do so. The only exception to this, is in the case where a channel is registered to *DareNET, and you must add the requesting user at level 499. You may NOT add a user to the userlist (at any level) before a !giveownership command if the user is not already on the userlist (see above for an explanation of how to handle this situation).
If a situation similar to one described below in the Banlist changes section arises, which involves a user who is currently on the channel's userlist, follow the guidelines described below and/or (as appropriate) those described in the !suspend section above. Under no circumstances will you be justified in deleting the user from the userlist.

Banlist changes

Do not addban (including timed bans) any user from a channel in which you do not have appropriate access. Likewise, do not remove any bans from the channel's ban list if you do not have access to do so. You should always attempt to contact a Support Operator for cases that you feel might require a staff member to intervene and remove a user from a channel (such as, if no channel ops are available). If (and only if) you have made a reasonable attempt to contact an oper and none has responded, and if the issue at hand is a matter of channel security or an AUP violation, a network helper (+H) may use the KICKBAN command to temporarily remove the user from the channel, so long as the ban does not get added to the channel's ban list (that is, ADDBAN or ADDTIMEDBAN/!tb). A reasonable attempt should be made to contact the channel owner and explain the reason for the override. This kind of situation should not occur often, and as such, all cases will be thoroughly investigated, so please, please, do not do it if you don't have to!

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 '''GIVEOWNERSHIP'''
-*This command may be used when all users with higher access than the requesting user are gone 2 weeks or more, and the owner is not on vacation.
+*This command may be used when all users with higher access than the requesting user are gone 4 weeks or more, and the owner is not on vacation.
 *Alternatively, if a user can prove that they are the leader of the organization the channel is for (not just sharing the same name - it must be the SAME organization) you may transfer ownership to the user. If they do not have access in the channel, make sure to make that known in staff note.
 *Note that if the user is not on the userlist, you may NOT override to add the user to the userlist prior to a !giveownership command. You should use the form: !giveownership <#channel> <user> FORCE, which will automatically add the user to the userlist.