What Qualities are you looking for?

Trixar_za · Posted: Apr 15, 2009 5:54pm Post subject: What Qualities are you looking for?

Here's a interesting question I've been wondering about the last few months, so would be nice to hear what you guys and gals think about it:

Which qualities do you look for when you have to pick new IRCops or IRC Admin, based on experience?

PingBad · Posted: Apr 15, 2009 5:59pm Post subject:

Based on experience?

I'd look for a staff member with the experience to have the responsibility to handle the task[s] they've been assigned, the experience to know that they are not the be-all and end-all of anything, and most importantly the experience to know that while the rest of the users are guests on the network that they are not toys/have a right to digital privacy (think Landlord/Landlady vs. Tenant)

Invisible · Idler Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 280

I normally look for a sophisticated sarcastic attitude. This will most likely insure they do know what they are doing, and they will also most likely make me laugh if they have to ban people...

Phantom-Lord · none Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Posts: 2

[SPAM SPAM SPAM -PB]

Trixar_za · Posted: Apr 16, 2009 6:24am Post subject:

I agree with you Invisible, a sense of humor is a must and ironically the best IRCops are normally the most sarcastic.

To add to PingBad's list, I'll say that the person should be able to make judgment calls and NOT be a rule-nazi. Sometimes there are times to deviate from the rules - for example when you have another network's IRCop coming over to talk diplomatically, then it's a BAD idea to kick them from your help channel for idling (and waiting to talk to somebody in charge) - that just creates tension between the networks. I also noticed that some rule-nazi's would bend the rules to suit themselves. So all in all, I prefer people that can think for themselves. Also I think the would-be IRCop should be good with the users and actually an active chatter themselves. Nobody wants a technical genius that never chats - lol

Telume · none Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 46

Personally, I've had bad experiences with people who've been on IRC for most of its life. It's not like I don't want it, but, I definitely would take someone who's newer than someone with 10+ years.

Why? Simply because they're not as arrogant. Don't get me wrong, I've opered with old timers who've been on IRC for a while and some of them are GREAT opers, but there are others who take things waaaaay too seriously.

In short: Experience is great, but, mellow out please.

ButtaKnife · Newbie Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 93

When we consider bringing someone on staff for *any* position, we're not really concerned with what they know (an obvious exception would be if they wanted to help with development) but rather how they act. Can they be mature, even with a user cussing them out? We expect our staff members to be thick-skinned when it comes to interacting with others, so maturity and conduct are the key factors. We can teach the IRC knowledge, so that's not even a consideration.

katsklaw · Posted: Apr 16, 2009 7:06pm Post subject:

Trixar_za · Posted: Apr 17, 2009 12:31am Post subject:

Ok, from what was posted I will summarize the underlying points:

1.) When it comes to picking an IRCop or Admin, the defining factor is their attitude and temperament - This being a responsible, free-thinking, think-skinned and social person with a willingness to learn.

2.) All else can be taught and is the most preferred way to do it, because it lessens the chance of the would-be oper learning 'bad' habits like dependency on 'control' functions like sajoin or oper-override.

3.) Lastly experience is good, but is not always a reliable constant especially with the variety of IRCd's and Services packages to choose from.

I'll add to the above point - The thing about IRC is that there is always more to learn, with IRC clients, Servers and Services. It's probably why I keep coming back to it, because no other chat protocol does this or comes in so many flavours. I Love learning and I Love IRC because of it Smile

Telume · none Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 46

[quote="Telume"]

katsklaw · Posted: Jun 06, 2009 6:59am Post subject:

you hint at the old adage that you can't teach old dogs new tricks, which I really have to disagree with. You *can* teach them, they just have to be willing to learn.

As one such old admin, I find that some of the newer toys can be convenient and would have been useful for me 12 years ago as a services admin. However, most of the newer toys are just that .. toys or very abusive.

It's not always about old versus new. Many times it's about what we are used to and how we accept the changes. Some old timers may adapt better than others. Personally I find myself in the middle of the road. I'll explain, I really don't like Unreal that much in it's default configuration and if I ever use it again, it'll be toned down a lot. On the other hand I like Nefarious especially with X3 services. Combined they have nearly all of Unreal's features and toys. So it's not a matter of what features, but how the features work. In Unreal they bundle access into oper levels, Nef uses access flags and there are only 2 levels and even then those levels are cosmetic, oper and admin. They are just vanity labels. Unreal oper overrides allow for accidental channel mode changes, Nef doesn't .. you have to have the correct flags *and* issue a special command .. not just /mode like everyone else. So while the 2 setups have most the same features, I favor Nef/X3 far more than Unreal because of how they handle the access. I've also found that Nef/X3 are far more modern than unreal/anope is for the simple reason of how innovative X3's command set is .. but that's another story.

So in short I'm not opposed to new toys, I'm usually opposed to how they are deployed in the software.

PS: Sorry for replying to a stale thread, but I've been meaning to reply for some time, just hadn't got to it.

dcraig · none Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 5 Location: AfterNET

I think people who are at least 20 years old and are apathetic about being opers tend to work out pretty well. Even better if they begrudgingly accept the job and would still enjoy hanging out on your network regardless of any oper status.

mentor · Posted: Feb 27, 2010 5:15am Post subject:

We've sort of taken the same approach described by ButtaKnife.

We're more concerned with how the person interacts with our users, not, to a degree, what they know about IRC or where they've held o-lines. If they are willing to learn, then we're willing to invest the time in teaching them. This is one of the reasons most of our new staff are already established users within our community.

Trixar_za · Posted: Feb 27, 2010 8:42am Post subject:

Willaim · Idler Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 323 Location: IRC

I hire within, that way I can train them how I see fit Wink