New IRC channels

How, exactly, is this discussion a "waste of time"? If it is worth having an IRC channel, it is worth taking the time to ensure that it functions smoothly.

It looked a little unclear to me as well, but the bit about there now existing a new channel without such rules implied that it's probably snark.

This is a problem I frequently experience on LW and almost never experience elsewhere. I'm never sure if it's because of the context or my perception of the typical LW user.

It sounds snarky... but perhaps not entirely unjustified. If I was inclined to spend time on IRC I find it highly unlikely that I'd be inclined to participate on those terms.

Replacing the former channel with a new one seems like the appropriate response - assuming there are people interested in that sort of thing who are not already part of the semi-private channel.

FTR I believe I am still the only person with the highest level of privileges on that channel. I have never heard of any of this.

You'd better go back there and /kick some folks. If you don't use your power people will wrest it from you! They've already established a new government - constitution and all!

(ironic)

Can you strip privileges from users? Somebody's anonymously operating the opped Peacebringer bot and IMO abusing their privileges by banning people without bothering to explain the reason and refusing to reconsider their decisions, even though most of the folks on the channel clearly disagree with it.

(active discussion between Logos01 and some channel participants)
10:50 -!- mode/#lesswrong [+b !@unaffiliated/logos01] by Peacebringer
10:50 <@Peacebringer> and that's enough Logos01 for this century
10:50 < katydee> Uh, what?
10:53 <@Peacebringer> ban is not directly related to above, and may be undone. don't feel like discussing it now, though. might be undone by someone tomorrow.
10:53 <@Peacebringer> or not
10:53 < katydee> This is sort of what people talk about when they complain about the moderation here. Again, no warning, was participating in a conversation that seemed fine, etc.
10:53 < rsaarelm> That's not good. What the hell?
10:54 < ErikMesoy> And no explanation. "Don't feel like discussing it now" from the equivalent of the government is horribly destructive to the equivalent of the rule of law.
10:55 < katydee> Yeah. Seriously.
10:55 -!- Logos01 [~irssi@unaffiliated/logos01] has left #lesswrong []
10:56 < katydee> Weren't we talking about trying to avoid drama and be less unilateral?
10:59 <@Peacebringer> okay, the reason is: this channel sucked a lot less before Logos01 started flooding it with thousands of lines a week
10:59 <@Peacebringer> this requires being around all the time to understand, since oct 2011
10:59 < rsaarelm> Did you tell them you think there's a problem and ask them if they could be more on-topic?
11:00 <@Peacebringer> yeah, he's always back in full force
11:00 < rsaarelm> Right.
11:01 < katydee> I haven't been around since then, so I don't know if this is a correct decision
11:01 < katydee> But regardless of that, the way this was handled seems very bad
11:01 < rsaarelm> I'd really prefer some kind of "try to stay on topic" or "let's move this to the -alt channel" suggestion before a quiet ban.
11:02 <@Peacebringer> didn't work
11:03 -!- efm [~efm@vpn.tummy.com] has joined #lesswrong
11:05 < rsaarelm> The way I'd prefer it is going from "please OT this" (I see you did do that earlier) to "you seem to be constantly going OT on the channel, if you don't stop you'll be banned" to ban.
11:06 -!- Atreides [~Xaver@d207-6-196-119.bchsia.telus.net] has quit [Quit: Leaving]
11:08 -!- p-given-naught [~ian@ip68-2-49-141.ph.ph.cox.net] has joined #lesswrong
11:10 < katydee> Agreed. The fact that nobody knows who Peacebringer is does not help.
11:10 < rsaarelm> Read the backlog. Not agreeing on the call to ban Logos01 based on that. Haven't followed the channel well enough to know further discovery.
11:11 < rsaarelm> Apparently several mods have access to it.
11:11 <@Peacebringer> grep Logos01 for the last 6 months
11:11 -!- tiki [~tikitikir@202.171.168.114] has quit [Ping timeout: 240 seconds]
11:12 < rsaarelm> Problem with the thing is that a lot of people were engaged with Logos01 in the above discussion, if he'd been just throwing around non-sequiturs nobody is interested in, it'd be a much clearer call to just hit ban.
11:12 < rsaarelm> But grepping.
11:13 <@Peacebringer> sorry the ban was not timed at Logos01's lowest points
11:20 < rsaarelm> So far not seeing any crazy shit, fighty shit, weird monologuing when skimming the log. And he seems to be getting plenty of seemingly positive engagement from channel regulars.

Your log doesn't show join or leave events. It's somewhat relevant that the starting point for the argument is when Anubhav_C and Burninate_ get kicked off the channel without comment by Peacebringer (and then both rejoin) just before the "Why the kicking?" line.