The Friendly Papers	V1.0

Introduction:
	This document is meant to introduce new users and ops to
the #friendly channel. Up to Oct. 1995, this was not needed but
with the ever expanding size of the channel and Undernet in general
I felt that writing this document was necessary.

History:
	#Friendly was first started in February of 1994 by a group of 
Waterloo students and some of the regulars to Undernet. At the time
Undernet housed about 300 users and about 20 channels. #chatzone was
just starting and #chat was dead.
	The channel was popular until the summer happened and then a lot
of the regulars found themselves without netaccess. The channel remained
open but rarely used.
	The channel remained more or less unused until the winter of 95
when people started hanging out on the channel once again. The channel
was soon made part of the telnet clients and more and more users
came onto the channel. 
	Today there are over 200 entries on the oplist and the channel
is known as one of the friendliest on the net. Many ops have crossed
over from other networks and channels to hang out on #friendly.

Guidelines:
	#friendly was started because of the major political problems
of other channels on Undernet. #friendly should be a politic free
channel. Stating opinions is fine as long as it is objective and considerate
towards others. 
	Keep in mind that IRC is for fun. If you are on #friendly and not
having a good time either leave the channel or better yet, turn the computer
off. No one should get upset over IRC.
	One thing that has kept #friendly so popular for such a long time 
is the simple fact that the ops are reasonable people. Having ops is not a 
power, it is a responsibility. If ops started kicking people left and right,
then no one would come to the channel at all. People really appreciate the 
experience and knowledge that ops have, sharing is always nice.
	Another thing that makes #friendly popular is the fact that it is 
a non-hostile environment. People should not be persecuted for race, color,
sex in the real world, so why do it on #friendly. Keep in mind however
that people are entitled to an opinion but they are not allowed to 
persecute others. 
	#friendly has also been the home for many younger IRCers (as
young as 7 years old from what I have heard). Since #friendly is open
to all ages, it is expected that everyone conducts themselves accordingly.
Offensive language, sexual content, and "adult topics" are best left
on other channels. 
	People not respecting the guidelines for #friendly above will
find that they make a speedy exit of #friendly or will be warned for their
actions. 
	#friendly has never really had any concrete rules except for
the following:
	1) don't mess with the bots 
	2) don't be a dink

	The rules are simple and easy to follow as long as you follow
the guidelines outlined above.
	If things start to get out of control or if you are unsure of
what to do the best thing to do is get a hold of me. E-mail is the best
way if I am not on-line. 
					Super
					super@alias.undernet.org

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