Network Hierarchy and Administration
DefenseofNetworkAdministration(Notthatitneedstobedefended. "BecauseIsaidso..."worksforusmostofthetime.)
Due to some recent confusion, I wanted to clearmake some things upabit(clear in a light-hearted (and awesomeway))way. I want to take some time to outline the structure of administration as it currently stands. Toclarify,I'mnotatallsaying
DefenseofNetworkAdministration
(Notthat it willneedsto be inthisfashionforeverdefended. "Because I 'dbethefirstpersontosignthepagetoaddmoreadministratorsIFtheuserbase/numberofserversrequireditsaidso... AndI"worksforusmostofthetime.)
Let'mssupposewelive in thefrontofwhatevermethodsyouwanttotrytogetusthere.
In a world where there is only 1 server, and only a hand full of admin. HowdowechoosetoadministrateourIRCexperience? Becauseofthelackofmultipleserversandserveradmin, it makes sense for the operators to maintain total control of the server and services. Afterall, atgiving the discretionofIRCopsanO:Linein the serveradministratorsfirstplaceindicatesyoutrustthem. Why? Becauseanyservicesaction Anditonly affects theentireserverasawholeyou,sowhocares?
WhatIwanttolookatis... Whywhy is this different when there are 22+ servers?
Welllet
Let’s suppose YOUagainthatyou are the Server Administrator. You run server1Server-1, and, to avoid peoplethinkingtheserversarelistedinorderagivingafeelingofanysort of priorityor importance, we'llcalltheserver you are linked with serverAServer-A. Youspentsometimegettingyourchannelsregisteredandsomerulesfortheusageofnicksorhostssetup... How do you feel about the Server Administrator ofServer-A(theotherguy) making services changes totheconfigorrules affecting the registration of channels on your server ,(orsomeotherthingyoucaredenoughabouttosetapolicyfor) without your consent or concerninput? You Myguessis,you probably don't feel too good about that. Why
Butwhy? Theotherguymadethosechangesonhisserver. Icanhearyouscreaming,"Butitaffectedme! Just because that person has an IRC server does not mean they should be entitled to powers that affect the servers of other people in that way,unlessweestablishthatistheirrole. There" Lookingatitthisway,Ithinkthere's even an argument that could be made against serveradministratorsServerAdministrators having global (affective on all servers) power at all whenO:Linedonanetwork.
WellOK
Okay. So who controls the services? Well, Like I submittoyou:statedabove,"Unlessweestablishthatistheirrole." Theservicescontrollershouldbe the person we agreedwouldestablshedto run them... within the guidelines we set when they started running. You might be askingthinking"yousaidweestablished." YesIdid. Youmightwanttoask, "Who is this 'we' you speak of?" Thatanswerissimple. The people thatwerethereintheroom when theystartedrunningitwasestablished. Youdon'tthinkcongressgetscreditforwritingtheConstitution. Wetrusttheirjudgement,anditworksoutforus.
Fast forward a few servers.... Now there are 8. Who runs services? The person we agreed would run them.
Youmaynowbeasking
Somebodysaid, "why"Why can't I show up and link and instantly be a memberofthis governing 'we' member?" And the answer is simple.
Weare
TheZoneIRCNetworkis a network. You are a server. You can't expect to show up to EFnet and govern over their services. Okay Well,Isupposeanyonecaninawaysincetheydon'thaveservices, sowe'lluse DALnet instead, but only because EFnet doesn't have services. My point is... when there is an already existing group of Server Administrators inanetwork,theyhavereachedanaccordaboutthewaythenetworkistoberun. Theyhavesubmittedthereignsofglobalnetworkmatterstonetworkadministration,andtrytobuildtheirserversinanywaytheycan. Whenyoulink, asking them beingtobe okay with a new person able to GLineG:Line on their network isonething...bearsalotofquestions.asking Wouldn'tyoubeconcernedifyouwerealreadypresentandwelinkedsomeonenew? Asking them to be okay with a new services governor is a whole other thing.
Also.. ServicesAdministrationscangetpassoncertainservices,revealingpasswords. YoucanseparatethatfromServicesOperators,sure,butthepointremainsthesame--do you wantthemto have theissueofnon-servicesnetwork control overyourstuff... ordoyoujustwanttotrustNetworkAdministrationtodoit? That'sanobrainer.
As a Server Administrator with only one server, you are a network administrator (in a network of one -- kind of like when you're in the army, but went rogue)rogueandeveryoneelsethoughtyouwerestupid(whichyouare--doyouknowwehaveairplanesnow?)). With a link situation, there has to be someone to make sure the IRCd's are the same (or compatible) versions, make sure any network wide code modifications are made and in place, ensure connectivity is optimized and secured during essential times, as well as regulate network wide guidelines as a means of bringing unity together intoandensuringthat everyone's,usersandadminalike,haveafairandenjoyableIRC experience on thenetworkasawhole.
Thinkaboutitthiswaytoo. WhenyoulinktoTheZoneIRCNetwork--you,yourattitudesandbehavior,yourresolve,yourthoughts,thewayyoupresentyourself--all thatparticular,isarepresentativeofTheZoneIRCNetworkasawhole. IfyouG:Linesomeonefromthenetwork,anditwasthePresident(andpeoplecared),headlineseverywhereread'ThePresidentGLinedfromTheZoneIRCNetwork." ThisofcoursewouldcausemassconfusionasnoonewouldknowwhataGLineis...andthey'dgoogleTheZoneIRCNetwork,(whichisawesome,sotakeadvantageofthisopportunityofyoucan). Ifsomeonehatesyou,they'llhateus. Iftheyloveyou,theyloveus. Butthereverseisnotalwaystrue. Peoplecanenjoyyourchannelonour network,anddisliketherestofthenetworkforwhateverreasontheywant.
Current Network Administration, and TheZone History Lesson - 101
So, now you may ask... who holds this ever so heavy responsibility?! Theanswerissimple...it'sasclearasabell...weallhavereallivesandneedsomeonetotell....ooooh...crap. Right. Iwasbeingpoeticagain. Sorry.responsibility,thecovetedtitle"NetworkAdministrator"?! On TheZone IRC Network, there's a reason Syber holds the nickname "God." It was him, dos, and judge that started it up in the first place.
Well
Youmightbeasking"Well,Darc, how did I(Darc)YOU get herethere?"
A little while back, I was the "God" of a network called IdleWhores IRC Network(. AtthetimeofourTheZonemerge, we had 5 servers atlinktimewithTheZone)linked. When welinkedtogetherthemergehappened, my serveradminsServerAdministrators and I eventually dropped the network name IdleWhores ,(which relinquisheditsnetworkstatustothatpreserveditselfonlyintheform of a channel (#IdleWhores),-#IdleWhores), and there were 4 Network Administrators,myself,: Syber, dos, and pre,andmyself. This
(Amerge is whatwerefertheterminologyused to asdescribe a merge--linkingbetween two individual andtotally separate networks (acollectionofserverslinkedtogetherinunity) coming together to form one biggerlarger network. (Pleasenotethatwhenasingleserverisaddedtoournetwork,werefertothatasa Alink,sincetheServer is adifferentlevelthananetwork(acollectionofservers),asapposedtheterminologyused to describe a network linking withofoneserverto another network,whichIsupposewouldbeserveror a merge.largernetwork.)
Sowhereare dos and pre?
Well,they pre-tty (haha) much don't have a whole ton of interest in IRC at the moment, butsotheyspendtimewiththeirfamiliesandplayontheirXbox360s. But I'm sure if either of them wanted to be active NetworkAdministrators tomorrow, they could be..be.asthey They're good guyswho,knowalotaboutalot,and started this thing in the beginning..beginning.but But until such a time that they desire to be IRCool again, Syber and I are the guys...guysthatruntheshow.andreally
Inreality, I think Syber has the one up between him and myselfaswhen. When we merged, we used TheZone's services, we use TheZone's name, we use TheZone's website (registered to one Syber), and so on. #TheZone -- is Syber's channel. He owns it. (Well, and dos I think too, technically.) He ButSyber runs it. The Soin#TheZone,the buck stops there. Onthenetwork,wegenerallycollaborateforideasandadvice,anddowhatwefeelisbest. AndIdon'trememberthelasttimewedisagreed,ifever. Weseemtohavealotofthesamegoalsandvalueswhenitcomestothenetwork. Thathelpsuskeepthingsbalancedbetweenwhodoeswhat. We'rebothcapabledevelopers. Wecansay"I'lldothis,youdothat." Andbreaktogodoit,andgetthingsdonefaster.
Onasidenote,we'realsoincrediblylazy...sothatsucks. Butatthemomentwe'retotallyinIRCmode,sofortherecordifthere'ssomeideayouhave,letusknow,becausewe'llbemorelikelytodoitnowthanwhenwefeelwe're"done."
Will things stay the way they are? Hopefully not. We'd like nothing more than to be FORCED to add to the list of servers, IRC operators, and networkadministrators,NetworkAdministrators-- just so long that the drivingforcereason is anunmanageable-by-what-we-have-now(thattheuserbasehasgrownbeyondtheserverswealreadyhave, and growing)userbasethenumberofservershasgrowntobeunmanagablebyonlytwoNetworkAdministrators.
Instructions for Gaining Network Administration Status - (advanced)
Want to be a networkadministratorNetworkAdministrator? I'd give you this advice:
1) Learn how to administrateaAdministrate...a server as thoroughly as Syber and myself, including full shell / IRCd config/goodlinuxknowledge,installation and configuration(among other IRC things (eggdrop,suchaseggdrop, services, etc)...
2) Earn our trust(bybeingTrust-Be logical,friendly, rational, and calm(,notoverlyzealous,andmostimportantly--USEFUL. Causingdrama with us))usorotheradminautomaticallydocksyoupoints. Why? Becausewearen'tgoingtopromotesomeonewescrapwith. That'saskingforpunishment.
3) Get a Server.- You can't go from IRC op/operatorora regular user to Network Administrator. Well,Isupposeyoucouldifyouwantedto--somewhereelse. Only in a world where our userbase was flourishing and theservers/servicesbecame unmanageable for us alone would a RELIABLE and TRUSTWORTHY Server Administrator be considered foresclationtoNetworkAdministration -- IF needed.
4) BuildtheNetwork- Get enough users / servers on the network so that we need you. Otherwise.. Thisalsoshowsinterestinthenetworkasawholeasapposedtojustyourserver.forget Unlessyoushowusthelove(thatyoucare about itthenetworkandthepeopleonit),wearen'tgoingtomarryyou. Period,noexecptions. There are already two chiefs... we need some Indiansindians(andnottheClevelandIndians... becauseI'maPittsburghPiratesfan).
5) Realize that ifwhileabilityandtalenisking,AttitudeisQueen--andwearsthepantsinthemonarchy. If you're whining and begging about gaining this status, orbeingutterlyannoyingalways... you will more than likely be viewed as someone who wants a power trip andistooimmatureforit, and will likely never see the +N flag on your nick -- at least not on our network. So if you do just want a power trip -- hide it. Because we aren't here to stroke your already-too-large ego. We're herestrokingourownalready,andweonlyhavetwohands(one to stroke ouralready-too-largeegos.ego,theothertotypeIRCawesomecommands.) And if you'd like to join is in thatthe effort tostrokeouregos, that's more than OK. No, it won't get you net-admin brownie points. Butonceyou'rearoundawesomelongenough--itgetsonya! :D
Alternatively, grow a network of your own... a few servers and a decent amount of reliable/regular users/server administrators of your own, and perhaps we'd merge and you'd have it by default. Maybe. No promises though, and don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. Building an IRC network (already a mostly dying breed for smaller networks and networks that refuse public warez trading) is a lot of fun I hear.
Cap, recapRecap, and rebottleRebottle
Network Hierarchy, IRCd's:
Network Administrators
- Server Administrators
- IRC Operators
- Channel Owners
- Registered Users
- People We Couldn't Possibly Care Less About If Our Lives Depended On It (YOU ARE HERE)
Network Hierarchy, Services:
Services Root Administrators (Full Root Access, including to Services Shell)
- Services Administrators (Full in-IRC access)
- Services Operators (Partial in-IRC Access)
- Bender / Calculon / ProxyServ (not real access, I just liked the idea of making you feel like artificial intelligence eggdrop bots have more access than you.)
- Registered Users (Public in-IRC Access)
- People We Couldn't Possibly Care Less About If Our Lives Depended On It (YOU ARE HERE)
SyberandI
OnTheZoneIRCNetwork,NetworkAdministrators also serve as Services Administrators. SyberandIaloneholdthepositionofServices Root Administrators. Whatdoesthatmean? Basically,thatwehaveallpowerandauthoritytomodifyanything,includingthesourcecode(ifdesired)oftheservices. Is there more than one needed? No, but if one of us gets hit by a bus, there's someone to pick up the slack. Also, there's the concern that California will drop into the pacific at some pointintime, butastheservices/hubserver/webserver/DNSserverislocated in California,I'dsaywe'reS.O.L.ifthathappensanyway. Pluswhichtime Paul will be swimming for a whilewholelot, and would probably not care awholelotmuch about the networkatthetime. Unless ofcourse he felt he could recruit some sharks or something to join as
users. Then he'd make pitches between breaths and *** strokes. But
I also hear that water beings have a little trouble with keeping
computers not broke, so I don't think that'd really work out. :( We
aren't racist, I promise. But it'd be pretty cool to chat online with
a real shark, huh? IsupposeifCaliforniaweretodropoff,theservices/hubserver/webserver/DNSserverwouldgobyebyetooasitislocatedinCalifornia. Yeah...nevermind...we'dbeS.O.L. Oh well... it was worth the try.
In short.... As always, your suggestions, comments, and opinionopinions will be gladly accepted and reviewed.... and then we'll do what we want anyway, naturally claiming any and all great ideas you have as our own, and promptly procrastinating on anything not important ,andwhilesimultaneously putting off all important things until we can't live withhoweveritiswithoutdoingthem anymore. We are NetAdmin. This is our vow. Okay cool.
Disclaimer: The IdonI-don'tcaret-care attitude may or may not be the real, actual opinions or thoughts of the administration of TheZone IRC Network. Unless it changes more of your life than you on-the-line online chat habits.... WHO CARES?