What's happening?
As part of an effort to enable moderation on the IRC channel we'll be making #manjaro accessible only to users who have registered their nick (display name/username) with Freenode.
Why is this needed?
While the vast majority of users on IRC are perfectly nice, occasionally a user will raise very off-topic and even offensive topics. These users often use foul language, and object to requests to take their perspectives elsewhere. This makes the channel unpleasant for everyone, and can even dissuade nice users from staying or coming back.
Why can't you just ban those users?
Channel bans operate on usernames/nicks and IP addresses. However:
- A user is able to set whatever nick they want, so after a ban can easily rejoin with a slightly different nick;
- Web IRC gateways and other proxies allow these users to connect from a different IP address.
This means any ban is currently ineffectual.
What will the change be?
On Freenode it's possible to register your nick. This ties the nick to an email address, and allows identification of that user (so e.g. they can reclaim their nick if someone else is using it).
After this change only users who have registered their nick will be able to access #manjaro. All other users will be redirected to another channel (#manjaro-unregistered) that will provide instructions on how to register.
How will this help?
Usually, trolls operate on the principal of pure anonymity. That is, they cannot be identified and as such there are no possible consequences to their actions.
By requiring registration, that pure anonymity does not exist, and instead there is pseudonymity. It's still not your real name, but the way you interact changes because it's your own account.
It's also possible to ban a registered nick: the user can't rapidly change nick and IP and keep on with their trolling.
Is this perfect?
No.
- It raises the barrier for new users slightly. However, the registration process is a single command:
/msg nickserv register password123 name@example.com - Serious trolls can probably automate registration with temporary email accounts. However, drive-by trolls won't bother, and these are the main problem.
Where can I discuss this or make my views known?
For discussion please use the existing topic:
Please note that logging is not currently changing (as per the votes).
