content/pages/groupreg.md

   1 ---
   2 Title: Group registration
   3 ---
   4
   5 This page describes group registration and the use of the freenode group
   6 contact. Group registration allows your project or organisation to maintain
   7 unambiguous contact with the freenode project volunteers and group registration
   8 represents an official relationship with freenode.
   9
  10 ### On-topic groups
  11
  12 Groups considered to be on-topic for Freenode are primarily free and open-source
  13 software projects, and other peer-directed projects, for instance Linux User
  14 Groups (LUGs), student societies, and other colloborative efforts, or projects/companies
  15 of general interest to our user base.
  16
  17 ### Group registration:
  18
  19 **Represents an official relationship between freenode and your project or
  20 organisation.**
  21
  22 > By registering your group, you are indicating that you are maintaining an
  23 > official presence on the network. If your group is a legal entity, we want to
  24 > make sure that management has approved your registration.
  25
  26 **Requires no special type or level of participation.**
  27
  28 > You may maintain as little or as much control over your channels as desired.
  29 > You may cloak your members, employees or participants, or not, as you decide.
  30 > You may apply to sponsor a server if that is something you wish to do.
  31
  32 **Is accomplished by discussing your registration with the community team.**
  33
  34 > If you think a group registration would benefit your project, let any member
  35 > of staff know over IRC; they'll assess whether your group appears to be
  36 > on-topic and advise you on what kind of information and authorisation you'll
  37 > need.
  38
  39
  40 ### Two types of group contacts exist for freenode:
  41
  42 #### The primary contact.
  43
  44 This contact registers to establish that your group intends to create a
  45 relationship with freenode. The primary contact should have the authority to
  46 make the determination that your group intends to register, with the specifics
  47 depending on the type of group:
  48
  49 1. Legal entities. A primary contact should belong to upper management or the
  50 organisation's board. This authority can be delegated further in the case of
  51 larger organisations, but it is not recommended; in cases where such delegation
  52 occurs, contact with the organisation is often lost and the group registration
  53 must subsequently be removed.
  54
  55 2. Informal, project-oriented groups. Informal groups vary considerably in
  56 their internal organisation. If the group is run by a single project leader or
  57 developer, that person should submit a group registration. If it is run by a
  58 larger core group or by voting across the project, the voting group should make
  59 a collective decision to register and should appoint one of their number as
  60 primary contact.
  61
  62 #### The secondary contact.
  63
  64 Secondary (or approved) contacts are appointed by the primary contact. A
  65 secondary contact may be assigned limited access and/or privileges. They need
  66 no special level of authority; delegate whatever level of authority seems
  67 appropriate. We will not expect them to make policy decisions, just to find out
  68 the answers to any questions that are raised.
  69
  70
  71 ### Group registration provides:
  72
  73 1. Additional channel management capabilities. Projects and organisations are
  74 entitled to own channels bearing their names. Your group contact can request
  75 changes in channel ownership in accordance with this policy and can directly
  76 request changes to access lists and configuration for any channels you own.
  77
  78 2. Group hostname cloaks. Cloaks allow your project or organisation to grant
  79 official recognition to project participants. Your group contact maintains this
  80 cloak list.
  81
  82 3. Problem solving. When there is a problem with one of your channels or if
  83 there is a complaint by a user or a question about policy, we will pass it on
  84 to your group contact.
  85
  86 We aim for a reasonable degree of flexibility where we deal with groups. If you
  87 mention any particular needs your project might have, we'll try to accomodate
  88 you.
  89
  90
  91 #### Your group contacts:
  92
  93 **Are designated by your project or organisation.** For example, a group
  94 contact might be your IT manager or someone involved with your project
  95 infrastructure.
  96
  97 **Can be one person or several.** You decide who acts as group contact. Each
  98 contact can be designated to handle issues pertaining to your entire group, or
  99 to a limited set of projects or users. You can designate primary and backup
 100 contacts if you wish.
 101
 102 **Acts as your "goto".** When you need someone to talk to us about a network
 103 issue, your group contact is the person. They are your formal point of contact
 104 with our network staff.
 105
 106 **Acts as our "goto".** We will ask your group contact whenever we have any
 107 question about your project or organisational policies as they pertain to
 108 participation in the network.
 109
 110
 111 ## freenode Group Advisory Board
 112
 113 In order for freenode to provide the best possible service to the communities
 114 we serve, it is important for us to receive feedback from the projects with
 115 which we have relationships.
 116
 117 We invite all current (and future) Group Contacts to join GAB, the freenode
 118 Group Advisory Board. While we hope to see many Group Contacts involved with
 119 GAB in an advisory capacity, GAB membership is of course optional.
 120
 121 freenode will consult the GAB on matters relating to services given to
 122 groups/projects, any addition to, or change of, group specific policy and other
 123 relevant issues.
 124
 125 If you are a current Group Contact and wish to get involved with GAB, please
 126 contact staff on IRC or email groups at freenode dot net for instructions on
 127 how to subscribe to the freenode-groups mailing list. If you're considering
 128 becoming one, just let us know your email address when registering.
 129
 130 We'd love to hear how you feel we could improve the service for your community.
 131 Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
 132
 133
 134 ## Group Management & Community Team
 135
 136 The Group Management & Community Team comprises **nhandler**, **e**, **tomaw**
 137 and **christel**; together they will act as your liaisons during the group
 138 registration process and throughout your tenure on the freenode network. If you
 139 wish to discuss the group registration process, find out if freenode could be a
 140 good fit for your project or register your project as a group, please feel free
 141 to drop any of the team members a line on IRC.
 142
 143 Once you have discussed your project with a staff member, you'll be asked to
 144 email <projects@freenode.net> with the details of your request, including any
 145 formal verification information that might be required. If you're a PGP user,
 146 feel free to encrypt to:
 147
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