[AC-Admins] ANTHROCHAT.NET: Reporting User "Polybun" for abuse

[Scott Garron]

On 08/29/2013 07:32 PM, Toph wrote:
> The title says it heh, the user "Polybun" (no " " in the actual
> username) has been off and on spamming a channel I moderate for a
> long period now

      "spamming" isn't usually his M.O., but people tend to define
"spamming" with a very wide brush stroke.  "Spamming", in an IRC context
and as I define it, is "Automated, systematic advertisements for things
that are not located on AnthroChat".  In other words, creating an
automated (bot) process that goes from channel to channel and posts a
link to something hosted elsewhere.

      I define "flooding", in an IRC context, as "automated processes
that create so much message traffic - usually by repetition, ad
infinitum - that it becomes nearly impossible for a human to read the
normal message flow.  This does not include actual, real people, sitting
at a normal IRC client, manually hitting up-arrow + enter a bunch of
times.  I just call that "being obnoxious".

      Given that AnthroChat was founded on the idea behind freedom of
speech and given that being obnoxious, while often found to be
undesirable, is still a form of speech and expression and our hands-off
approach still applies.

      That being said, there are plenty of mental and technological tools
that can be used in order to mitigate text from a user that you find to
be undesirable.

      Using your own mind's ability to just "not care" about it and
ignore it or tune it out is the ultimate effective way of dealing with
it.  Some don't like that answer, though, so other methods follow.

      In a channel context, a typically effective way to remove an
undesirable user is to set the channel +R (registered users only) and
add a ChanServ akick for the user's registered nickname.

      If the person is persistent enough to get back in by going through
the effort to connect via a different host and to register a whole new
nickname, the only effective way to keep them out is to set the channel
+i (invite-only) and instruct your channel's users to use ChanServ's
invite command to get invited.  The channel's levels might need to be
tweaked so that anyone on the channel's access list can use ChanServ's
invite command. Usage of the /knock command is also helpful information
to disseminate while the channel is +i.  Setting +i is typically a
temporary solution, used until the undesirable person gets bored, and
then unset at that time.  The same can be said for +m; though while it
won't keep the person out, it will keep them from sending undesirable
text to the channel.  Coupled with +N (disallows changing of nicknames),
+m can be fairly effective at mitigating undesirable input.

      Proper channel management involves occasionally having to do
things, like temporarily setting +i and then removing it later or
maintaining the ban and autokick list.  It occasionally involves
providing instruction to its users how to use the tools provided by the
network and their own client software as well.

      If you're encountering actual flooding (as I defined above),
BotServ's bots can help eliminate the problem by setting up flood
protections.  For more information about that, /msg botserv help kick

      In addition to BotServ's flood protections, UnrealIRCd also has
flood protection channel modes that can be set (+f ...).  They can get a
little complicated, but are described in UnrealIRCd's documentation.
The parts of the documentation pertaining to user and channel management
can be found here:

http://www.anthrochat.net/abbreviatedunreal32docs.html

... which includes the anti-flood channel mode.  I abbreviated that
document from the actual UnrealIRCd documentation page to trim out all
of the stuff having to do with installing and maintaining the actual
server software (things that the users don't normally need to deal with).

> He has been a problem, despite outright banning his IP a few times,
> with posting spam, trolling users with hate speech and inappropriate
> remarks

      None of the server maintainers for AnthroChat are permitted to
define what is appropriate or inappropriate text being transmitted
through our little slice of the Internet.  "Trolling", "Hate speech" and
"remarks" are only deemed "inappropriate" in the eyes of the recipient,
thus the tools, such as /ignore (client-side), and /silence
(server-side) are encouraged on a per user (recipient), discretionary
level.  In other words, "Viewer discretion is advised".

      Inevitably, you're going to run across people who say and do things
that you don't like.  It's up to you to put weight behind the words and
make them matter or not matter to you.  If you have no respect for the
person speaking the words, it should then be simple to ignore them or,
at the very least, not let them affect you personally.

> , and has even carried out a DNS attack on a user.

      Could you describe exactly what you mean by that?  In what,
specific manner did the "attack" affect the user in question?

-- 
Simba