Bitcoin IRC Channel Guidelines

The IRC Web #bitcoin channel on freenode serves as the de-facto "front door" for newcomers on bitcoin.

The purpose for this channel is general discussion of everything related to bitcoin. We try to discuss and help people with everything regarding the protocol, clients, custom implementations and the philosophy behind bitcoin.

Our purpose is to help anyone with relevant discussions.

• Please try to remain on topic, the channel is about everything related to bitcoin. This means that alt-coins based on bitcoin are not on topic and should be discussed in their proper channel

• Please refrain from any insults, flamewars or trolling.

• The channel is large: over 1000 users are on this channel at all times. Nobody is interested in any other discussion, if you have an issue with someone on the channel, or wish to discuss something that is not strictly on topic, take it private. Especially if you have any issues on how the channel is moderated or the rules about the channel, those discussions should not take place on the main channel.

• We strive to maintain a professional, friendly, and helpful atmosphere on the channel at all times. Any deviation to this might get you a warning, or booted off the channel. Feel free to discuss this with an operator in private, but do not discuss this in the main channel.

• It is strictly forbidden to discuss unlawful activity, pursuant to freenode's guidelines;

• Generally, anything that would make a newcomer feel unwelcome or would reflect badly on the bitcoin community is to be avoided.

• Begging, spamming referral sites or any other form of advertising is not of any interest to majority of the people in the channel. This is not allowed either.

• Do not trust any website link given on the channel. There are many people out there trying to trick you into visiting a malicious site, or to trick you into executing viruses that are designed to search for bitcoin wallets and send the coins to the attacker. Do not click on any link unless you fully know what you are doing.

• Any url might be a scam site. Therefore we do not allow url's in general. All url shortners are strictly forbidden as they are hiding the final url. Other sites might be allowed by the goodwill of the operators, but this is more an exception to the rule, and can be decided on case by case by the operators.

• We strive to provide high-quality information. Therefore we do not allow any advice on bad practices. For example: web wallets are insecure by design. We will not recommend them as they are not as secure, and we will not allow other people to recommend them to anyone else. If in doubt ask an operator.

• The channel is quite huge, and has therefore been splitted up in several side channels. Please do not use the channel for any trading of coins, use Bitcoin-otc as a channel to trade with other users. There is a IRC Web #bitcoin-mining channel for all mining-related discussions. To discuss price and trading of bitcoin, use IRC Web #bitcoin-pricetalk. News can be found in IRC Web #bitcoin-news. Real-time market updates are shown in IRC Web #bitcoin-market. Please use these channels.

• Operators always have the last say in any discussion. Should you disagree, take it private.

Private chat and alternative channels are always available, make good use of them.