Title: The Policies
---
+Purpose
+==================
+The freenode project exists to help peer-directed project communities flourish.
+Peer-directed projects combine open, informal participation with broad licensing
+and wide dissemination of output.
+
+freenode provides facilities to peer-directed project communities, including those
+of free and open source software (FOSS). The IRC component of freenode is a
+self-referential medium, existing mainly to service IRC users — but the network
+was created to serve groups that exist outside of IRC. freenode is designed to encourage
+community members to improve their skills in the areas of cooperative effort, interpersonal
+communication and project coordination, and to create a real-time bridge to the outside world
+for our target communities.
+
Nickname ownership
==================
Primary channels do not expire with inactivity, though they can be claimed at
any time by a representative of an on-topic project with the appropriate name.
Topical channels expire after 60 days in which no user on the access list for
-the channel has joined it.
+the channel has joined it. Further information, policies and guidelines relating
+to channel ownership can be found under [group registration](http://freenode.net/groupreg).
On-topic Use
============
producing broadly licensed creative output. Any project falling under this broad
description is likely to be considered on-topic for the purposes of primary
channel naming and other project services which we may provide, but individual
-decisions may be made at the discretion of staff.
+decisions may be made at the discretion of staff.
+
+We strongly urge you to adhere to the [channel guidelines](http://freenode.net/changuide) and [catalyst guidelines](http://freenode.net/catalysts).
+
+
Off-topic Use
=============
privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn where we believe that this has not
been the case.
+Unlawful activities and related support activities are considered off-topic, as are
+inappropriate advertissing, heavy media file trading, proprietary game software modding,
+warez, porn and various forms of antisocial behaviour, including (but not limited to)
+political, racial, ethnic, religious or gender-related invective.
+
+In accordance with UK law freenode has no tolerance for any activity that could be construed
+as:
+
+* incitement to racial hatred
+* incitement to religious hatred
+
+or any other behaviour meant to deliberately put upon a person harassment, alarm or distress.
+We do NOT endorse or encourage discrimination on the grounds of race, religion gender or sexual preference and
+operate with a zero-tolerance policy for libel and defamation.
+
+While we believe in the concept of freedom of thought and freedom of expression, freenode does not
+operate on the basis of absolute freedom of speech, and we impose limitations, e.g. on "hate speech".
+
+We expect all members of the community to be respectful of one another and of the privacy of others,
+and we reserve the right to terminate anyone's access to our services at our discretion.
+
+
+Unlawful Activity
+=============
+freenode cannot condone or support behaviour which is clearly unlawful. While we do not have the resources
+to closely monitor the thousands of channels on the network, volunteers are required by policy to pass on credible
+information, provided by you as a user of the freenode prokect, about anay unlawful activities. This is true whether you
+are talking about your own activities or those of someone else. Please be aware that we have this responsibility.
+
freenode and financial transactions
=============
projects / irc / freenode / web-7.0.git / blobdiff