State of #ubuntu-offtopic

[Lorenzo J. Lucchini]

I believe that the current state of #ubuntu-offtopic isn't the best.

Discussions about "!offtopic4offtopic" subject take place and almost 
invariably end up in heated arguments, and the operators often do very little 
until the situation is out of hands.

Myself, I am very wary of taking actions in #ubuntu-offtopic, because I am 
almost scared by the user reactions that the too often provoke. We have had 
an example just a few hours ago.

In a general sense, I believe that it is good for #ubuntu-offtopic to be less 
strictly "guarded" than other channels, and I am all for "closing an eye" on 
little things. However, right now I strongly feel we need to create a turning 
point.

Thus I propose that, for a period of time, we enforce guidelines and policies 
in a much stricter fashion than we are currently doing on average.
* It is something very hard to follow discussions in #ubuntu-offtopic and to 
correctly identify the people who are misbehaving, so I propose that, after 
a "Discussion ends here, now!" warning (see the "!stop" factoid), people 
insisting should be banned or muted immediately.
* Discussions that fall into the realm of "!offtopic4offtopic" should be 
stopped as soon as possible, *before* they even start to become heated.
* Even though the CoC and guidelines and "!offtopic4offtopic" already apply, 
we cannot realistically expect people to undergo a drastic change in operator 
behavior with no notice, so I believe we should make it clear in the channel 
topic that the policies will be applied more strictly that it was usual.
* Bans, mutes and other actions do not need to be particularly long, but they 
need to be issued firmly and timely.

I strongly believe that it is very important for all concerned operators to 
come to an agreement about this topic, and to act "in sync". Wide 
inconsistency of operator behavior is very likely, in my opinion, to have a 
very negative effect on the channel.

For this reason, I ask that all concerned operators state their opinion on 
this matter, possibly with a "yes" or "no" vote (of course, such a 
black-and-white vote without discussion may be a bit overboard, but I propose 
this since some discussion has already taken place on #ubuntu-ops).

Only in a climate of agreement on the issue and mutual support among operators 
I believe what I have exposed can have a positive effect.


by LjL
ljlbox at tiscali.it
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