[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu UK IRC channel off-topicness

[Alan Pope]

Hi,

Further to the mails from Laura and Dave earlier, I was tasked with
sending this mail at the last meeting..

The LoCo IRC channel #ubuntu-uk on freenode has recently (over many
months) been seeing an increase in users, and a marked increase in
massively off-topic rambling discussions. The Ops (and regular users
alike) have noticed that the off-topic rambling can dominate the
channel and make it difficult to give support to new users. It also
can leave a negative impression for new users arriving in the channel.
I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone, because many people (myself
included) have been responsible for triggering and perpetuating
lengthy off-topic conversations.

At the recent meeting we decided against having an official
#ubuntu-uk-offtopic channel just for the non-Ubuntu chatter. Some
off-topic chat in #ubuntu-uk is normal, social discussion which helps
build relationships within the team, pushing all off-topic chat to
another channel would leave the main channel a bit stale/sterile.
Having a separate off-topic channel could also split the team up in a
detrimental way.

So the general consensus was that rather than push all off-topic
discussion from the channel, we should just try and stick to the
guidelines that are already in place. Here's the general guidelines
for use of the Ubuntu IRC channels:-

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/Guidelines

You can find a list of Ubuntu IRC channels here:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InternetRelayChat#Channels

The guidelines request that people keep a pleasant atmosphere within
the channel, cooperate with and respect each other. If a discussion
becomes off topic and disrupts somebody asking for support or
assistance with Ubuntu, please move the discussion to another channel,
or pause it until the channel is quiet.

Many thanks,
Al.