content/news/2016-02-19-the-new-policies.md

   1 ---
   2 author: spb
   3 date: 2016-02-19 13:11:52+00:00
   4 slug: the-new-policies
   5 title: The New Policies
   6 ---
   7 One of the several problems that's become obvious in recent times is that we  have too many policies, they're often not consistent with each other, and we've spent too much time and effort wondering whether something, which is obviously the right thing to do, fits with our published policy. With that in mind, the following stripped-back set of policies will apply in future, with the intention that we can set out a simple set of baselines and apply common sense on top of them.
   8
   9 **Nickname ownership**
  10
  11 Nicknames are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, to the first person
  12 who registers the name with NickServ. However, we expect users to act in good
  13 faith and reserve the right to remove a nickname registration where we believe
  14 that this has not been the case.
  15 **Nickname and account registrations expire ten weeks after they are last used.
  16 For nicknames, 'used' means that you were using the nickname while logged in to
  17 the account which owns it. For accounts, 'used' means that you logged in to the
  18 account, regardless of the nickname you used to do so. Nicknames which are the
  19 primary account name only expire when the entire account is expired.**
  20 In some cases, such as for very old accounts, we may, at our discretion, extend
  21 the expiry time of a nickname or account. We will not normally do this beyond 15
  22 weeks past the last use.
  23
  24 Some nicknames and accounts, including but not limited to some of those owned by
  25 current or former network staff, do not expire at all. These accounts can be
  26 identified by the 'Hold' flag in their NickServ info output.
  27
  28 Nicknames and accounts which are expired will not automatically be dropped.
  29 Please contact network staff if you would like to take over an expired nickname.
  30
  31 **Channel ownership**
  32
  33 Channels on freenode fall into one of two categories. Primary channels, which
  34 begin with a single # character, are reserved for on-topic projects. If you'd
  35 like to take over one of these channels, then you'll need to be associated in
  36 some way with the project in question. Topical, or 'about' channels, begin with
  37 two # characters, and these are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to
  38 the first person who registers it with ChanServ. As with nicknames, however, we
  39 reserve the right to remove or alter registrations where we believe they have
  40 not been made in good faith.
  41
  42 Primary channels do not expire with inactivity, though they can be claimed at
  43 any time by a representative of an on-topic project with the appropriate name.
  44 Topical channels expire after 60 days in which no user on the access list for
  45 the channel has joined it.
  46
  47 **On-topic Use**
  48
  49 freenode's primary goal is to encourage and foster the development and use of
  50 free and open source software projects and other peer-directed communities
  51 producing broadly licensed creative output. Any project falling under this broad
  52 description is likely to be considered on-topic for the purposes of primary
  53 channel naming and other project services which we may provide, but individual
  54 decisions may be made at the discretion of staff.
  55
  56 **Off-topic Use**
  57
  58 We expect all users of the network, whether affiliated with a project or not, to
  59 act in good faith and in accordance with both their local laws and those
  60 applicable where freenode operates. Use of freenode and its facilities is a
  61 privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn where we believe that this has not
  62 been the case.