[wp-docs] IRC users list

[Michael Renzmann]

Hi.

Ryan Duff wrote:
> Ask the users, have users add their names, that way its their choice.
> Delegate somebody who's in irc all the time to keep the page clean of
> users who aren't often helping in irc or other such mediums. Instead of
> editing a irc users page, how about creating a support page with a list
> of people who can be trusted.

One question, one proposal.

Question: Isn't it enough to have wpbot knowing about people? If one is
unsure, ask wpbot about the "definition" of the nickname in question. It
would be easy to extend the definition with realnames, if people wish so.


If not, we come to my proposal. Lorelle asked about "responsibilities",
you (Ryan) mentioned trustworthyness, both in context with such a "IRC
users list". So I'd like to suggest to make use of a mechanism provided
by Freenode: groups.

The Freenode IRC network knows so called "groups", which are officially
represented in Freenode with one or more channels. This could be a
company, a user group, a "software project", ...

One of the goodies provided to such groups is a "project cloak". A cloak
is a virtual hostname which appears instead of the real hostname in a
user's session. Such a cloak provides protection against attacks from
script kiddies (who would need to know the IP address of a user, which
can be retrieved by knowing the real hostname of this user), and it
allows to represent an affiliation between a user and a project.

Example: I'm usually online in Freenode and OFTC. If you run whois on my
nickname (otaku42) in OFTC, you'll see something like:
=== cut ===
--- [otaku42] (~otaku at dsl-084-058-132-217.arcor-ip.net) : Michael Renzmann
--- [otaku42] #kernelnewbies @#linuximq #lartc
--- [otaku42] xenon.oftc.net :Waltham, MA, USA
--- [otaku42] idle 00:37:38, signon: Mon Jun 27 07:46:49
--- [otaku42] End of WHOIS list.
=== cut ===

The first line contains my real hostname, which can easily be resolved
to the corresponding IP address. It's easy for someone to launch attacks
to this IP - which fortunately doesn't happen often, neither in OFTC nor
in Freenode.

In Freenode you'll see something else:
=== cut ===
--- [otaku42] (otaku at otaku42.developer.madwifi) : Michael Renzmann
--- [otaku42] #wordpress #madwifi-devel #madwifi #freenode #asterisk-dfn
--- [otaku42] sterling.freenode.net :Hoofddorp, NL, EU
--- [otaku42] is an identified user
--- [otaku42] idle 01:01:27, signon: Mon Jun 27 07:46:48
--- [otaku42] End of WHOIS list.
=== cut ===

Here the first line doesn't contain my real hostname, but shows a
project cloak. Trying to resolve that cloak to an IP will fail, since
the TLD madwifi does not exist. In addition a user can determine my
affiliation with the project "Madwifi": it seems I'm working as
developer there.

The "TLD" is fix ("madwifi" in the above example), everything else is
the choice of the project. For madwifi, we have:
* "xyz.user.madwifi" for people who use our software and are regular
visitors in #madwifi
* "xyz.support.madwifi" for people who offer their help in supporting
other users with their problems
* "xyz.developer.madwifi" for core developers

WordPress might could also have "xyz.docs.madwifi" for members of the
documentation team, or "xyz.wiki.wordpress" for the Wiki wizards, and so
on. Again, that's completely the choice of the project.

Another goodie is that Freenode reserves channel names for the project.
When the group registers with Freenode, it also specifies the name of
their channel. In case of WordPress this would surely be #wordpress.
This automatically reserves all #wordpress-* channels (#wordpress-docs
and #wordpress-meetup would be automatically protected), so they can't
be blocked by a third party.


Now you might ask what has to be done, and what obligations follow out
of registering as a group.

Group registration establishes an relationship between the group and
Freenode, by indicating that the group has an official presence on
Freenode. Groups have to name a contact (one or more persons), which
acts as connection to Freenode. For example, in case of problems with
one of the group's channels these person(s) will be contacted by
Freenode staff to clean the problems.

Apart from the above there are no obligations. No need to sponsor
anything, no need to pay fees, no need to maintain the relationship for
a given time.


Bottom line: registering as group with Freenode and maintaining the
"affiliation" by handing out project cloaks for people might be a good
way to let users know who is officially affiliated with WordPress. Given
that cloaks are not handed out to everyone who pops into the channel
once or twice, owners of a wordpress-cloak could be regarded as being
trustworthy. A list of currently online group members can easily be
retrieved (for example: "/who *.madwifi") - this would be a list as
desired, being maintained on and delivered by IRC instead by a non-IRC
media.


More information regarding "groups" can be found on the Freenode website:
http://freenode.net/group_registration.shtml
http://freenode.net/primary_groups.shtml
http://freenode.net/about_groups.shtml

I think "primary group" might be the right model for WordPress.

Comments?

Bye, Mike