Hi,
Recently waddlesplash decided to make the #haiku IRC channel require
authentication with nickserv, apparently as an attempt to reduce "trolling" in
there.
The channel is known to largely derive into offtopic discussions. It is also
the main landing point for people looking for support, as we bundle Vision
preconfigured to join it in every Haiku install. It is an easy way to reach the
Haiku community and get in touch with the developers.
Requiring Nickserv authentication makes the default Vision setup not work
anymore (you can join the channel, but you can't talk). It also prevents
several well-known active people on the channel from contributing, and this
results in making the Haiku project look like a closed community which is not
welcoming to new people, and even trying to remove existing members from the
community.
But more importantly, these changes were made without a discussion here first.
It is an important change of policy and should have been discussed and
submitted to a vote if there was not a strong agreement in either direction. I
think it is not acceptable that people can bypass this decision process (there
could be exceptions for emergency measures, but this is not one). So, I suggest
waddlesplash's permissions for changing access modes on the IRC channels are
revoked.
--
Adrien.
