mikaela.github.io/_posts/2015-06-11-trying-to-be-better-op.md

---
layout: post
comments: true
title: "Trying to be a better op"
category: [english]
tags: [english, irc]
---

*If ops are attacked, the channel is also hurt as much as if users were
 attacked. Thus I am also taking action if op is attacked.*

Usually when I am op, it's easy to take action when someone else or some
user is attacked. When op is attacked and they take action, they are
"unable to handle criticism" or "abusing ops" or *anything like that here.*

From now, I will try to unlearn from that and be a better op at least on
channels that have clear (written or not) rules as on channels that don't,
there possibly no way to know what the ops are even supposed to do other
than look so scary that no one does anything bad.

There are only two issues that I see immediately now that I am typing this:

* What is an attack?
* What if it's not an attack and op makes a mistake?

The second is easy to answer, if there are multiple ops, the user affected
by the mistake can discuss about it with other ops present and/or the
other ops can revert whatever was done.

But there is still the question *what is an attack*?

*Attack is a deliberate attempt to hurt someone* which again is unclear,
but so I am told and I must probably use my judgement on it which again
can results to mistakes, but those are reversible by other ops.

<s>Trying to analyze logs of the previous case this happened, it looks like
attack is at least:</s>

* <s>directly targeted to a person, not part of them, and not generally saying
  that some part of them makes or doesn't make them X and neither it's
  generally talking about that part and oneself own experiences of them.</s>
    * <s>the *not*-parts still feel like attacks reading this, but other ops
      say that it's assertiveness.</s>
* <s>talking about privilege for living in X where things are better and that
  means that the attacked one cannot have any kinds of issues with anything</s>
  <s>including mental health</s>
* <s>talking like the attacked one was attacking them</s>

* <s>*additions welcome*</s>

Attack seems to also be when the attacked one communicates being
uncomfortable (which should be done clearly, but do they always remember
that instead of getting defensive) or when third party tells the people to
calm down, but other party still continues. <s>I think the usual three
warnings policy can be implemented here.</s>

One way to express uncomfortability or feeling attacked would be for
example saying "I think that is disrespectful" or "I feel you are attacking
me".

Further reading would be the two policies from freenode and I currently
don't feel like commenting them further as my opinions are known.

* [Freenode's catalysts policy](https://freenode.net/catalysts.shtml)
* [Freenode's channel guidelines](https://freenode.net/channel_guidelines.shtml)

*Reviewed on 2015-06-12T08:51+0300 based on what others commented to me.*