Before you start

When using ScoutLink it is important that you understand the rules of ScoutLink and understand that there are slight differences to the rules depending on where you are.

All of ScoutLink

People come onto ScoutLink to chat with other people. Might sound a little obvious but this is key to the rules on the network. So bearing this in mind:

No idling for more than 5 hours or you will be disconnected. Idling is where you don't talk or do anything for a period of time. As people want to talk with people on ScoutLink there is no point having people that are not doing anything using up server resources (especially during JOTI when our servers are under a high load).

No swearing. There are young people on the network and its not pleasant to have someone swearing in a conversation, so please do not swear.

No abusing behaviour. This includes flooding (sending lots of messages in a short period of time) and Cloaning (creating multiple copies of yourself on the network). Flooding makes it impossible to talk on the network. It also unnecessarily increases the load on the network. Cleaning again increases the load on the network. If too many cloans try to connect (multiple connections from one internet connection) then you will be automatically blocked from the network. If you are running a JOTI station then please see the section on cloans.

Respect the operators. All ScoutLink operators are volunteers that chat regularly on the network and have shown that they are responsible enough. Whilst they are an operator they have the difficult talk of reading a very fast moving channel with announcements to operators saying what is going on and discussions of any problems that operators are experiencing AS WELL as monitoring multiple channels and trying to keep a conversation going in the channels they are monitoring and deal with anyone that should break the rules. With operators having a lot to do its not surprising that they occasionally make mistakes. If you do feel that a mistake has been made then shouting at them and swearing at them will not get it fixed. It will resort, however, in a IRCop (person that can stop you talking on ScoutLink, disconnect you and prevent you from connecting to ScoutLink as well) on your case. If a operator does make a mistaken then please see "an operator has made a mistake " later on in this booklet.

No unauthorized bots/scripts should be used on the network. Bots can do many useful things on ScoutLink such as providing games to play and automatically enforcing the rules however they can be used for malicious purposes as well. If you would like to play a game then #youth has several bots proving games, so check out http://youth.scoutlink.net/joti.

Please do not advertise other IRC Networks here. This will result in a ban or g-line. You may post links to Scout Websites and other relevant material.

You are solely responsible for the actions of your client. This means - if your computer sends a message to ScoutLink then you have the responsibility for it.

In #youth channels

These rules apply to any channel that's name starts with #youth such as #youth or #youth-trefoil.

No idling for more than 30 minutes. Idling is not talking in channel. This rule is enforced automatically by our channel bot(s) that will give you a warning after being idle for 25 minutes and then kick at 30. The bots do not enforce the rule if there are less than 5 people in the channel as we don't think its fair to enforce this rule when there is hardly anyone to chat to. Operators may kick when there is less than 5 people in channel if they think you aren't their at all.

No swearing. The #youth channels are designed for young people and we do not think swearing with young people around is a good idea. Our channel bot(s) have a list of swearwords and will kick if they see them - regardless of whether or not it was swearing when you said. So be carful. If you do get kicked you are welcome to rejoin - however if your kicked too often then you will get banned.

Auto rejoin is not against the rules however when kicking ops may use a short term ban to defeat auto rejoin.

No flooding. Flooding is sending lots of things to the channel in a short type or typing gibberish in channel (for example safghkfhewifb nikefh). The #youth channels have a flood limit of 11 lines in 5 seconds. This means that if you send 11 or more lines of text in 5 seconds then the messages wont make it to the channel. This is too allow for BIG popups that can occasionally be used.
Please note: the flood limit in none #youth channels is much lower and some operators may kick for a lower flood limit. The #english flood limit is more than four lines and a line in this case is 45 characters long.

English only please. The youth channels are English only and talking in other languages can get you a kick. This rule is so that everyone knows what is being said.

Do not give out personal information in channel. This is important for your safety. Your real name, address, phone number, e-mail address etc should not be given out in channel. If you wish to give out an e-mail address to someone on ScoutLink then you should have your parents/leaders permission to do so. We recommend creating an e-mail address just for joti. You can do this by signing up to www.jotajoti.org and a This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it e-mail address will be created pointing to your real-email address.

Don't worry about making mistakes too much! Everyone makes mistakes when they are not used to something - hay I made loads of mistakes and I run ScoutLink Global Youth now! Listen to what the ops tell you and you should be fine.

Remember your Scout/Guide Promise and Law and you should be ok.

#english

The #english channels are not run by ScoutLink Global Youth. They are channels just for talking in English with people of any age range.

Sitting in the channel without talking is called idling, and is not allowed. This is a chatroom and we like people to chat, as there's nothing worse than sitting in a channel full of people who aren't really there. If you do not speak for 30 minutes, you may be kicked from the channel. When you return to the computer you will be able to rejoin the channel.

No swearing - this is a Scouting Network and we have young people in our channels, so this is quite strictly enforced. Please be aware that we have users from all over the world, and something which does not offend someone from the UK may be offensive to someone from another country, or be misunderstood. We ask that you have respect for other people.

PLEASE! Do not give out your phone number, address, or other personal details on open channel!

Please do not flood - flooding is defined as sending many lines of text to the channel at once, or copy and pasting a lot of information that isn't relevant. Try and keep to 4 lines or less at once, and you shouldn't have a problem.

#english is an English only channel. If you wish to speak another language, then join the appropriate language channel. You can see all channels by typing /list.

Please use normal English, not text talk or other shortened forms of English. Remember we have users whose first language is not English. This will make things easier for everyone to understand.

Colours and Sounds should be used to enhance the chat and inappropriate or excess use will lead to a ban.

Whilst Badge trading is a normal Scouting activity, we ask that you do not request trades in the main channels. Either send a private message to the person you wish to trade with, or use the #collectors channel. Be aware that many people do not like to give out their personal details online. If you are found to be pushing people to give out their information, you may be banned from the server. Do not encourage young people to give out their personal details, badge trading should be done by adults.

Ops will generally warn at least twice before kicking. In the event that the behaviour is very bad then an op will kick immediately.

Listen to what the ops tell you - everyone is allowed to make mistakes at first, and the ops will explain if you do something wrong, and tell you how to put it right!