Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-22 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys via fpc-other
On 4/20/23 15:03, HSN via fpc-other wrote:
> Irc is one of the few platforms left on the Internet where there is no phone 
> number or email required to talk.

Yet, I had to enter a valid email address to register for the #fpc IRC
channel, and confirm its valid. So there goes that theory of yours. :-)

My preference is still good old NNTP (newsgroups).
* Doesn't require registration
* Doesn't require a valid email address
* Users are free to use any News Client they prefer, with the feature
  they want/need.
* History of conversations can be stored forever - no loss of
  information (the internet is fragile enough already)
* Past messages are searchable (an ever growing knowledge base)


Hence I've been hosting newsgroups for some open source projects for
well over a decade now.

Regards,
   Graeme



___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-21 Thread Johannes Truschnigg via fpc-other
Dear fpc-other list members,

I've only just now subscribed to this list and had to reconstruct a number of
headers from pipermail-provided HTML - nevertheless, I hope this message will
slot into the proper thread concerning IRC channel woes.

Even though similar complaints on the official Lazarus forums have not led to
a noticeable outcome for the IRC channels concerned there, I would like to
direct your attention to my personal attempt at raising this issue there
earlier this year:

https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,62584.0.html

Lazarus forum moderators have banned all discussion involving IRC on their
platform as the (somewhat understandable) consequence of a number of users
independently raising this issue during recent months.

If you take the time to review and reflect on the actions taken by Joanna on
channels under her control on libera.chat, I believe you will arrive at the
conclusion that her interpretation of the role as a channel's steward and
all-powerful operator can only be perceived as detrimental to any positive and
inclusive form of community one could hope to foster in such a setting.

Thank you for your time, attention and consideration.

-- 
with best regards:
- Johannes Truschnigg


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-21 Thread geneb via fpc-other

On Thu, 20 Apr 2023, HSN via fpc-other wrote:

If nobody knows the backstory about freenode, it was taken over and 
destroyed on purpose to get people off of irc and onto platforms that 
spy on users and monetize their data.


This is utter nonsense.

g.

--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.

ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-20 Thread Steve Litt via fpc-other
HSN via fpc-other said on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 23:03:51 +

>Hi everyone
>I have helped nikolay moderate the #fpc channels for years since it
>had become unusable due to trolls back on freenode .
>
>First I want to clarify regarding the #fpc channel rules
>1. Lurkers - pascal programmers can lurk all they like. Strangers with
>unknown intentions cannot. 

By definition, lurkers are not damaging, regardless of their intentions.

2. Purpose - the channel is for people who
>use and want to talk about creating projects with fpc and Lazarus
>Delphi programmers are also welcome 

That's reasonable.

3.Pascal: people in channel are
>expected to have at least beginner level proficiency in pascal
>language so that they can understand what is happening and
>participate. People who don’t know pascal can visit #pascal and
>utilize the resources in topic. 

Here we have to define beginner level proficiency. Somebody in their
second week of a Pascal class? Somebody who is pretty good with
procedural Pascal but iffy about Pascal OOP and all these millions of
new flags and types?

Also, there are only 17 people on #pascal, which makes getting
questions answered in a reasonable time much less probable.

4. Bots: bots are allowed only with
>permission from channel owners. This includes chatbots. 

Completely understandable, but somebody should be assumed carbon based
until proven bot. And heck, if the bot is ontopic and helpful, what's
the difference?

5.offtopic
>chat:When no technical discussions are happening, sensible pleasant
>off topic chat is both allowed and enjoyed. 

Sounds good to me.

6.Sincerity: channel
>members are expected to demonstrate sincerity and post questions that
>channel members were unable answer in forums or mailing lists if asked
>to. 

Thanks for letting us know. I often wait 2 days and then repost if no
answer. I'll try to remember not to do that if I'm ever allowed back on
#fpc.

7.Joining:the #fpc requires users to be logged into account to
>enter, 

Do you mean logged into libera.chat? If so, of course.

> however I can add your IP address to the invite list so that
>you can join without an account if you prefer. 


8.Introduction: please
>tell me who are and how you found channel when you join. It makes my
>life a lot easier. 

Unfortunately, I found the channel via the thread on the moderation of
#fpc. I love IRC, and if this mess ever gets fixed I'd love to post
short, simple FPC questions on IRC, saving the more complicated ones
for email. On most IRC channels, I also help people when I know answers
or next steps.

>I don’t want to accidentally ban you because of
>some misunderstanding. 

> 9. Culture: Friendly and helpful. Rude People
>who engage in harassment will be shown the door.

Here we have to define rude. On the mailing list I admin, we don't
allow personal insults, insults to groups of people, insults to Linux
(after all, it's a Linux group mailing list), and long and frequent
occurrences of posts obviously intended to start arguments. So far,
since 2004, I've banned three people, issued less than 10 warnings, and
once I threw the whole list under moderation to stop a rapidly
escalating flame war.

I think as a moderator you also have a responsibility to behave in a
way that doesn't make people feel like they're walking on eggshells and
worry that a question or an answer might get them reprimanded or banned.

>
>I cordially invite all pascal programmers who are able to abide by
>these rules to join us

That's me, and in my opinion all the people in this thread who have
been banned from #fpc. Why don't you unban us all and we can all start
over?

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-20 Thread Steve Litt via fpc-other
HSN via fpc-other said on Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:03:45 +

>I bet there could be people in these mailing lists that don’t even use
>pascal. It’s is understandable why someone who doesn’t use pascal
>could be offended about being asked to talk about what they are doing
>in pascal... People I know who like pascal don’t seem to have These
>hang ups.

Maybe people lurk because they want to *learn* FPC. Or maybe their
Pascal skills are so low they need to ask questions and cannot prove
their Pascal expertness.

>
>If nobody knows the backstory about freenode, it was taken over and
>destroyed on purpose to get people off of irc and onto platforms that
>spy on users and monetize their data. Irc is one of the few platforms
>left on the Internet where there is no phone number or email required
>to talk.

Which is EXACTLY why I use IRC. Your actions (assuming HSN=='Joanna')
push people away from IRC (and Pascal) just as much as trolls,
insulters, political junkies and biggots do. So why don't you unban us
all, and if **on #fpc** any of us starts insulting people or groups of
people, or insulting FPC or Pascal, or going on and on about their
wonderful vacation to the South of France or their ski trip in
Colorado, you can warn them and if they persist kick or even ban them.
But not for not answering your questions, or for not posting. Name me
one other IRC channel that does that. Joanna, you have the power to end
this whole mess right now just by revoking all the bans and using more
reasonable moderation techniques in the future.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-20 Thread Steve Litt via fpc-other
geneb via fpc-other said on Thu, 20 Apr 2023 06:15:14 -0700 (PDT)

Hi geneb,

Please pass this on to HSN, whom I assume is Joanna...

>On Wed, 19 Apr 2023, HSN via fpc-other wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone
>> I have helped nikolay moderate the #fpc channels for years since it
>> had become unusable due to trolls back on freenode .

Trolls don't lurk, so why the antipathy for lurkers Joanna?

>>
>> First I want to clarify regarding the #fpc channel rules
>> 1. Lurkers - pascal programmers can lurk all they like. Strangers
>> with unknown intentions cannot.  
>Why not?  If they're just lurking, they're not impacting anyone.

Also, I made tens of thousands of dollars with both Whitesmith Pascal
and Turbo Pascal last century, but this century I just do Pascal every
few months. So am I a Pascal programmer? If there's a Pascal aptitude
test to qualify for #fpc, please point me to it so I can cram and pass
the test.

>
>> 8.Introduction: please tell me who are and how you found channel
>> when you join. It makes my life a lot easier. I don’t want to
>> accidentally ban you because of some misunderstanding.  
>This is literally none of your business.  You banned me as "rude" when
>I said as much.

Furthermore, if not answering your questions is a bannable offense, you
should say so in the /topic. Not in a web page pointed to /topic, but
in the /topic text itself. As a matter of fact, that topic should list
all the bannable and kickable offenses, so we know you're not making up
rules as you go or engaging in selective enforcement.

Also, as I remember (I can no longer access #fpc), there were many,
many channel operators. Why should I pay attention to *one particular*
chanop who interrogates me? If there's a bannable rule that I must
answer a chanops questions, this should have been stated in /topic.

One more thing Joanna. Your reputation precedes you. I felt less likely
to run afoul of the channel rules if I didn't respond to you, and more
likely to run afoul of the channel rules if I engaged with you. But
that's a moot point, because I was away from my desk, so I *couldn't*
have responded to either your public or private questioning.


>
>> 9. Culture: Friendly and helpful. Rude People who engage in
>> harassment will be shown the door. 
>...or don't kowtow to the demands of the empress.

I was not unfriendly. I harassed nobody. I already said why I didn't
engage with you.

As far as friendly and helpful, how friendly were you, Joanna, by
saying publicly that you couldn't coinhabit a channel with somebody who
had written what I did on a *mailing list*? Joanna, you should unban
everyone you've banned in the past 2 years, and then permanently step
down from your chanop status. Your chanop activities are hurting the FPC
project and the Pascal language itself by making it difficult to
comfortably access IRC help for FPC. I'm "lurking" on the #C channel
right now, nobody's interrogating or hassling me, and to tell the
truth, C isn't that bad except you need to free all your allocations,
take steps not to overrun any buffers, and initialize all your
variables and pointers. Valgrind is a great help in this. Your chanop
actions make the FPC alternatives start to look pretty good.

It could be said that my words in this post aren't friendly or helpful.
Friendly, no. My words are a little harsh, which I think is
called for by the situation, because they're the truth. Your
words on #IRC and here are probably less friendly than mine. Helpful? If
you unban everyone, step down as a chanop, and just enjoy the language
you love, it will help everyone.

>
>Check out the Unofficial Free Pascal Discord server here: 
>https://discord.me/unofficialfreepascal
>
>(Much Pascal, no interrogation.)
>
>g.

geneb, years ago I made a policy decision not to work with discord,
but I'm now re-thinking that policy, in light of the fact that I can't
currently get help on the IRC channel assumed by most to be the
official FPC channel. I'd like everyone to know that there's now
#fpc-alt for ontopic and ##fpc-alt for offtopic.

writeln('Give everyone a break and step down, Joanna.');

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-20 Thread geneb via fpc-other

On Wed, 19 Apr 2023, HSN via fpc-other wrote:


Hi everyone
I have helped nikolay moderate the #fpc channels for years since it had become 
unusable due to trolls back on freenode .

First I want to clarify regarding the #fpc channel rules
1. Lurkers - pascal programmers can lurk all they like. Strangers with unknown 
intentions cannot.

Why not?  If they're just lurking, they're not impacting anyone.


8.Introduction: please tell me who are and how you found channel when you join. 
It makes my life a lot easier. I don’t want to accidentally ban you because of 
some misunderstanding.
This is literally none of your business.  You banned me as "rude" when I 
said as much.



9. Culture: Friendly and helpful. Rude People who engage in harassment will be 
shown the door.


...or don't kowtow to the demands of the empress.

Check out the Unofficial Free Pascal Discord server here: 
https://discord.me/unofficialfreepascal


(Much Pascal, no interrogation.)

g.

--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.

ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-19 Thread Tomas Hajny via fpc-other

On 2023-04-20 01:20, Steve Litt via fpc-other wrote:

Tomas Hajny via fpc-other said on Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:33:41 +0200


I can mention
##fpc-alt as well if necessary - what's the associated irc:// URN of
this channel?


I don't know anything about irc:// urns. What would I use to find out?


Sorry, I don't know. You can find examples of these urns e.g. on the 
Wiki (https://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_IRC_channel).


Tomas
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-19 Thread Steve Litt via fpc-other
Tomas Hajny via fpc-other said on Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:33:41 +0200

>I can mention
>##fpc-alt as well if necessary - what's the associated irc:// URN of
>this channel?

I don't know anything about irc:// urns. What would I use to find out?

Thanks,

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-19 Thread Tomas Hajny via fpc-other

On 2023-04-19 23:33, Steve Litt via fpc-other wrote:

Tomas Hajny via fpc-other said on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 23:15:41 +0200


Hello everybody,

As promised, I raised the topic of the #fpc irc channel in the FPC
core team. The conclusion is that since the FPC core team has no
control over this channel and we don't want to be associated with the
moderation style there, we will change the information about this IRC
channel on our WWW pages and in the Wiki. In particular, we'll mention
that there are at least two IRC channels used by some people for
discussing topics related to FPC, but that neither of these channels
should be considered as an official one and that the FPC teams has no
control over them.


Thanks!

Can you please not only say all the alternate channels exist, but say
what they are, so people can flock to them? I know of #fpc-alt and
##fpc-alt, but I imagine there are others besides. My guess would be
that as time goes by the bunch of us would decide on one semi-official
and one offtopic channel to use.


Indeed, that's what I meant. I intended to mention #fpc-alt and #fpc as 
the two IRC channels specifically. It seems that there's also #fpc-dev, 
but I have no clue on whether it's used, etc. I can mention ##fpc-alt as 
well if necessary - what's the associated irc:// URN of this channel?


Tomas
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-19 Thread Steve Litt via fpc-other
Tomas Hajny via fpc-other said on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 23:15:41 +0200

>Hello everybody,
>
>As promised, I raised the topic of the #fpc irc channel in the FPC
>core team. The conclusion is that since the FPC core team has no
>control over this channel and we don't want to be associated with the
>moderation style there, we will change the information about this IRC
>channel on our WWW pages and in the Wiki. In particular, we'll mention
>that there are at least two IRC channels used by some people for
>discussing topics related to FPC, but that neither of these channels
>should be considered as an official one and that the FPC teams has no
>control over them.
>
>Tomas

Thanks!

Can you please not only say all the alternate channels exist, but say
what they are, so people can flock to them? I know of #fpc-alt and
##fpc-alt, but I imagine there are others besides. My guess would be
that as time goes by the bunch of us would decide on one semi-official
and one offtopic channel to use.

Thanks,

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-19 Thread Tomas Hajny via fpc-other

Hello everybody,

As promised, I raised the topic of the #fpc irc channel in the FPC core 
team. The conclusion is that since the FPC core team has no control over 
this channel and we don't want to be associated with the moderation 
style there, we will change the information about this IRC channel on 
our WWW pages and in the Wiki. In particular, we'll mention that there 
are at least two IRC channels used by some people for discussing topics 
related to FPC, but that neither of these channels should be considered 
as an official one and that the FPC teams has no control over them.


Tomas
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-18 Thread Tomas Hajny via fpc-other
On 18 April 2023 18:12:49 +0200, James Richters via fpc-other 
 wrote:
>I can understand keeping bots off the channel, but it seems like there should 
>be some easy way to test if you are a bot without annoying real humans. 
>Why doesn’t she just send them an email or a text message if their 
>conversation is not convincing or
>If they are someone who is on the FPC mailing list, then it’s super easy to 
>confirm that just ask them what their email used on one of the FPC lists.   If 
>I do a google search for:   james richters fpc-pascal 
>I get all kinds of posts that I have made over the years from the archives.

Indeed - moderation should be driven by actions, not by suspicions.


>The comment was made that lurkers are not allowed on the channel.. that is 
>just dumb,  if there are not lurkers, then the chances of someone being on who 
>knows how to help with any give issue is much less.  So the only people on the 
>channel will be people with questions, and no one with answers.  Also a LOT 
>can be learned from other people’s questions.  I learn SO much from the 
>FPC-Pascal List.. things that I would never even think about.

That's exactly one of arguments I raised to Joanna, but she didn't seem to 
either understand or care (neither is good).


>I don’t know,  I like the mailing lists, I didn’t even know there was an IRC 
>channel…. Look… I learned about something I didn’t know about from what would 
>be considered lurking if I was on IRC.

Yep. I'll post an update regarding the FPC team decision and associated action 
tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Tomas

___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other


Re: [fpc-other] #fpc irc channel

2023-04-18 Thread James Richters via fpc-other
I can understand keeping bots off the channel, but it seems like there should 
be some easy way to test if you are a bot without annoying real humans. 
Why doesn’t she just send them an email or a text message if their conversation 
is not convincing or
If they are someone who is on the FPC mailing list, then it’s super easy to 
confirm that just ask them what their email used on one of the FPC lists.   If 
I do a google search for:   james richters fpc-pascal 
I get all kinds of posts that I have made over the years from the archives.
 
The comment was made that lurkers are not allowed on the channel.. that is just 
dumb,  if there are not lurkers, then the chances of someone being on who knows 
how to help with any give issue is much less.  So the only people on the 
channel will be people with questions, and no one with answers.  Also a LOT can 
be learned from other people’s questions.  I learn SO much from the FPC-Pascal 
List.. things that I would never even think about.
 
I don’t know,  I like the mailing lists, I didn’t even know there was an IRC 
channel…. Look… I learned about something I didn’t know about from what would 
be considered lurking if I was on IRC.
___
fpc-other maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-other