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 collaborative 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 alternate) 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 accommodate
  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 ## Group Registration and Channel Ownership
 111
 112 Channels on freenode are owned and operated by the groups which register them.
 113 No minimum level of activity or moderation is expected or required of channel owners.
 114 The network exists to further on-topic use, as explained in our [policies](http://freenode.net/policies)
 115 and channels or groups may be removed from freenode for activity which is considered
 116 to be off-topic.
 117
 118 Groups using freenode are strongly encouraged to adopt the [channel guidelines](http://freenode.net/changuide).
 119
 120 Primary channels are reserved based on a formal or informal claim, external to IRC, to a specific project group, or
 121 trademarked name. Topical or reference channels are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis by groups wishing to
 122 discuss a project, group or topic.
 123
 124
 125 ### Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).
 126 Project coordination, support, discussion or contact channels associated with software projects which are licensed under terms consistent with the [Debian Free Software Guidelines](http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines), Free Software Foundation's [Free Software Definition](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) or the Open Source Initiative's [Open Source Definition](http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php) (preferably all three) are considered to be on-topic.
 127
 128
 129 ### Non-Software-Related Peer-Directed Project.
 130 Channels which serve projects combining open, informal participation and broadly-licensed, widely-disseminated creative output are considered to be on-topic.  If you believe your non-software project may meet the criteria for a non-software peer-directed project, please consult a staffer or email support at freenode dot net.
 131
 132 ### Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
 133 Coordination, support, discussion or contact channels run by educational institutions, registered not-for-profit entities and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and their related consortia are considered to be on-topic.  Be sure to register your group or organisation.
 134
 135 ### Governmental Entity.
 136 Coordination, support, discussion or contact channels run by local, national or international governmental entities are considered to be on-topic.  Don't forget to register your group.
 137
 138 ### News Media.
 139 Formal news organizations with an interest in our target communities are encouraged to create contact channels on freenode.
 140
 141 ### Corporate.
 142 Contact channels for registered corporate or business entities or consortia with an interest in our target communities are considered to be on-topic.
 143
 144 ### Standards.
 145 Discussion channels associated with official standards committees or with informal standards groups are considered to be on-topic.
 146
 147 ### Geographically-Based Interest Group.
 148 Channels associated with formal or informal geographically-based interest groups are considered to be on-topic.  These include local
 149 Linux and FreeBSD user groups (LUGs and FUGs) and community wireless groups.  If your group doesn't fall into one of those categories, but you think it might meet the criteria, please consult a staffer or email support at freenode dot net.
 150
 151 ### Other groups.
 152 Other groups not covered by the above examples may be suitable for the network. Please drop an e-mail to groups@freenode.net if you want to find out if your group/project is a good fit for freenode.
 153
 154
 155 ## freenode Group Advisory Board
 156
 157 In order for freenode to provide the best possible service to the communities
 158 we serve, it is important for us to receive feedback from the projects with
 159 which we have relationships.
 160
 161 We invite all current (and future) Group Contacts to join GAB, the freenode
 162 Group Advisory Board. While we hope to see many Group Contacts involved with
 163 GAB in an advisory capacity, GAB membership is of course optional.
 164
 165 freenode will consult the GAB on matters relating to services given to
 166 groups/projects, any addition to, or change of, group specific policy and other
 167 relevant issues.
 168
 169 If you are a current Group Contact and wish to get involved with GAB, please
 170 contact staff on IRC or email groups at freenode dot net for instructions on
 171 how to subscribe to the freenode-groups mailing list. If you're considering
 172 becoming one, just let us know your email address when registering.
 173
 174 We'd love to hear how you feel we could improve the service for your community.
 175 Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
 176
 177
 178 ## Group Management & Community Team
 179
 180 The Group Management & Community Team comprises, among others, **christel**, **e**,
 181 **Fuchs**, **glguy**, **Swant** and **tomaw**; together they will act as your
 182 liaisons during the group registration process and throughout your tenure on the
 183 freenode network. If you wish to discuss the group registration process, find out
 184 if freenode could be a good fit for your project or register your project as
 185 a group, please feel free to drop any of the team members a line on IRC.
 186 If none are online, feel free to reach out to staff in general and they will
 187 forward your request to the team, which will get back to you as soon as possible.
 188
 189 Once you have discussed your project with a staff member, you'll be asked to
 190 email <projects@freenode.net> with the details of your request, including any
 191 formal verification information that might be required. If you're a PGP user,
 192 feel free to encrypt to:
 193
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