View source for Talk:IRC/wikipedia/Guidelines/archive 1

===The channel===
The initial creation of #wikipedia back in the mists of time is beyond the memory of all but the best of us. However, it's safe to say that it is the mother of all Wikimedia channels, and as such has served us in many ways over the years. These have included:
* Discussion of "the PHP script" and its descendents. This was moved to #mediawiki in early 2004.
* Discussion of the server farm status. Moved to #mediawiki and then to #wikimedia-tech in 2005.
* Inter-project coordination and foundation business. Moved to #wikimedia in 2004.
* Editor coordination on en. Moved to #wikipedia-en in 2005.
* Admin coordination on en. Moved to invite-only #wikipedia-en-admins in 2006, causing conflicts on en for a time.
* Editor and admin coordination on Wikipaedie in other languages. Moved out gradually to other channels over the years.
* Editor and admin coordination on other Wikimedia projects. Ditto.
* Detailed discussion of gender issues and personal lives of the LGBT community. Moved to other channels around 2004/2005.
* Coordination of anti-vandal activities, violations of WP:BEANS, newby biting and general incitiment to siege mentality. Moved gradually to other channels over the years.
* Process-wonk bashing, RFA pile-ons, slander against editors, coordination of on-wiki attacks and causing all sorts of trouble on en. Shouted down and moved to other channels during 2005. 
* Trollbashing, warfare against critics and "enemies", coordination of counter-trolling on "enemy sites". Shouted down and moved to other channels during 2006.
* Juggling channel modes, micromanagement of the ban list, kickbanning people for a laugh, flaunting op powers. Actively discouraged, but recurrent in occasional waves, related to new crops of ops.
* Sulking, assuming worst about human nature, righteousness and general misanthropy. Somewhat reduced in 2006, but still persistent.
* Trolling and crapflood attacks. Killed with fire at least since 2005.
* Running jokes about autofellatio and furries. Died out on their own as jokes grew old over the years.
* Discussion of theoretical and practical approaches to the English Wikipedia, other Wikipeadiae and encyclopedias in general. 
* Discussion and analysis of articles in en and other Wikipediae, as well as other Wikimedia projects. 
* Learning and teaching of encyclopedic and people skills by new users, new admins and old hands. 
* Helping new users, new admins, as well as old hands, find their way down the ever changing corridors of Wikipediae and other projects.
* Handling requests for admin action on en and other projects.
* Being the lobby to wikipedia for people who are technically savvy enough to use IRC. Not that IRC beginners aren't given help when they show up.

In addition to all the on-topic talk, #wikipedia communicates in several off-topic registers:
* Discussion of encyclopedic subjects, which tends to take a relaxed, but largely academic tone. 
* Socializing and friendly banter.
* Monologues at quiet hours, which sometimes go ignored, sometimes spark of a new round of discussion, and sometimes just make somebody smile.
* Humour, which is often grotesque, dark, over-the-top. I'll come back to this later.

It is my informed belief that off-topic discussions play a crucual part in attracting the right kind of people to the channel and ensuring antendance, which enables the channel to perform its on-topic functions. They're often the most flamboyant, most memorable, and certainly longest, but to get some perspective, according to the [http://stats.fennecfoxen.org/freenode/wikipedia.html channel statistics], the most common real word in the channel is "article", not "penis".