WebOS-Internals IRC Channel Policy

This page documents the charter of the #webos-internals IRC channel on Freenode, and outlines specific policies, rules and guidelines that the channel operators will enforce.

Charter
The #webos-internals IRC channel exists as a gathering place for people who are interested in legitimate discussion about webOS and the Linux operating system upon which it runs.

The founder and operators of the channel define 'legitimate' as being discussion that does not violate commonly accepted legal, ethical or moral frameworks.

The intention is to create a discussion area that does not cause Palm or its cellular carrier partners to need to react negatively to what is being discussed.

It is accepted that some areas of interest for some participants will fall outside of these boundaries, and we expect participants to carry on discussion of those areas through other avenues.

We hold the relationship between the third-party development community and Palm to be of high importance, and will err on the side of retaining that relationship.

The channel has full public logging to ensure that all discussion is archived for future use. Public logging is also intended to encourage self-policing of legitimate discussion, since participants should be aware that Palm employees are assumed to be reading the channel logs.

On-Topic and Off-Topic
Discussion about the normal usage of the webOS SDK, APIs and Javascript functions is off-topic - please use #webos for that. If you can find the answer in the official Palm SDK documentation or a Javascript language reference manual, then the question is off-topic for #webos-internals. Questions about how to use the Palm emulator are off-topic. Questions about how to install optware in the Palm emulator, or about applying other #webos-internals discoveries in the emulator, are on-topic.

Discussion about modification of modem firmware is strictly off-topic - we believe another group which is not associated with #webos-internals has set up #webos-unlocking for that, so please use that channel. When the GSM version of the Pre is released, such discussion would swamp the original charter of the #webos-internals channel, so we ask that it happen elsewhere. Discussion of how to move a Pre from one carrier to another carrier other than using a method publicly approved by the original carrier is off-topic in #webos-internals - we suggest you visit #webos-unlocking.

Once the Pre is available on more than one carrier and in more than one region of the world, discussion comparing one carrier against another carrier will be off-topic. Please use #webos or some other channel for such discussion.

During the Sprint exclusivity period, discussion about how to tether the Sprint Pre to a laptop in "Phone As Modem" mode is off-topic. Once an unlocked-out-of-the-box GSM Pre is available, discussion of tethering such a Pre to a laptop will be on-topic.

Many people in different timezones read the logs of the #webos-internals channel to keep up with the technical discussion. Please respect these people and use the #webos-watercooler channel for off-topic "water-cooler" style conversation.

Membership
Anyone who is prepared to abide by the charter and rules of the channel is welcome to join and participate.

There are a group of people with voice and/or operator priviledges in the channel. Entry into this group is based on merit, and is at the complete discretion of the existing set of operators and the channel founder.

The group of operators are individually empowered to mute, remove and/or ban individuals who are not prepared to abide by the charter and rules of the channel as documented on this page.

The group of operators and the channel founder take no responsibility for the actions of any participant in the channel. Moderation of the channel is a 'best effort' activity, and no legal liability is assumed.

Rules
We require all participants to honor all software license agreements (including EULAs and click-through agreements, but only if you actually click through them), carrier agreements and code copyrights.

We expect all participants to treat each other with respect, irrespective of skills or status.

We expect all participants to comply with the Freenode channel guidlines.

We expect all participants to stay on-topic, and to refrain from off-topic discussion.

The final determination of what is and is not acceptable discussion in the channel is at the sole discretion of the channel operators and the channel founder.

Escalation
We expect participants to politely remind each other when areas of discussion are straying too far from the charter and rules of the channel.

Participants who are not prepared to abide by the charter and rules of the channel will be asked politely to either curtail those discussions, or leave the channel.

Participants who continue to disregard the charter and rules of the channel will be removed from the channel, but will be welcome to rejoin the channel if they decide to abide by the charter and rules.

In extreme cases, participants who repeatedly disregard the charter and rules will be banned from the channel, and Freenode staff may be notified if necessary.

The channel operators reserve the right to mute the channel at any time to prevent discussion which does not abide by the charter and rules of the channel.

If you have a concern about anything related to the channel, its operation or its participants, please raise the issue with one of the channel operators.

If you have a concern about a channel operator that cannot be resolved by polite discussion, please raise the issue with the channel founder.

If you have a concern about the channel founder that cannot be resolved by polite discussion, please raise the issue with Freenode staff.