[57north-discuss] IRC moderation

[Iain R. Learmonth]

On Sun, Apr 05, 2015 at 01:24:04PM +0100, Robert McWilliam wrote:
> I think[0] he was objecting to a feature of the bot where it will give
> a randomly filled in result from cards against hackspace (a variation
> on cards against humanity that's a subset of the main pack plus some
> hackspace related cards) if there has been no activity in the channel
> for some randomly selected period of time between 10 minutes and 5
> hours.

This is the feature I was objecting to.

Some examples of hackerdeenbot's CAH output:

 * all of this blood doesn't work because Gandhi.
 * Doing beats the gays.
 * The NottingHack has locked webcam out of the incest.
 * Richard Stallman has disappeared with keys.

My objections are that some messages are offensive, and others are
potentially libellous. Richard Stallman has never visited the hackerspace
(although we can all dream that one day, there will be a photo of rms at
57North featured on rms.sexy). If someone joins the channel in a quiet
period, this will be their first impression of the channel.

Can I suggest removing the auto-talking feature and restricting it to only
output CAH when requested by command?

> Secondly, I thought inserting this when the channel was quiet might
> stimulate discussion. This has happened a couple of times but most of

For me this has had the opposite effect, as I often see activity in the
channel and assume it's hackerdeenbot and just ignore it if it's not a time
people are usually on.

> I added this feature after reading something from the government about
> them wanting to police speech on the internet. My bot occasionally
> saying things that could have been covered by the proposed limits was
> my small protest in favour of free speech including the right to say
> things that people might find offensive. It amused me to consider
> someone trying to arrest hackerdeenbot. But we don't need to worry
> about the government placing limits on free speech as Iain is way out
> ahead of them.[1]

Robots don't have rights. They should speak only when spoken to unless
there's a good reason.

> Setting aside any of the reasoning for why I think it is OK for the
> bot to have this feature it's clear from the fact that I coded it up
> that I think it's acceptable and even desirable for the bot to do
> this. Iain banning the bot from the channel makes it clear he
> disagrees. I am really pissed off that he thinks unilaterally banning
> the bot is an appropriate way to deal with this disagreement.

It should be noted that adventureloop, hibby, Nordin, noodlemonkeh and
ormiret himself all have access to the ban list for the channel and can
remove the ban at any time.

/msg ChanServ AKICK #57n DEL hackerdeenbot

If the ban is lifted by anyone, I won't reinstate it, but we did need to
have this discussion. It is also worth pointing out that we have had
children in the channel after workshops and may do even now. It's a public
facing presence of the hackerspace and should be treated as such.

Suggestions:

 * remove things that are not suitable for the whole family from the list
 * have CAH use notices instead of channel messages so that it doesn't cause
   highlights for activity

Of course, if everyone else thinks hackerdeenbot is great as it is, then
that's fine too.

Thanks,
Iain.

-- 
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