Staff:Guidelines

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.