RULES FOR GUESTS:
NICKNAMES

• Nicknames which are offensive, abusive, disruptive, or irreverent in any way are not acceptable in channel. These may be banned if necessary.

  Nicknames that try to ridicule and/or humiliate others in any nasty way are just as inappropriate.

• Once you have come into channel, we suggest that you stick to the nickname with which you joined. We are just one of many channels that does not like frequent nickname changes. Choose your nick wisely, and then stick to it unless you are asked to change it.

  If you are a newcomer, and another channel guest says they regard your nickname as inappropriate, please don't enter into an argument; just change it to something more suitable, without trying to be smart over another choice..

  You may find that the person who asks you to change it will kick you or ban you if you don't do as requested. You may not understand why the nickname is inappropriate in the eyes of that person. If this happens to you, don't get into a rage, but ask them calmly (in private message), why, and be prepared to accept the rule as being good sense in the eyes of management.

• Any nickname which suggests you are somebody who can be confided in, like the title of a minister, should be avoided for several reasons. The decision to impose this rule was not taken lightly, and it is not up for discussion; the decision was made for the safety and comfort of channel guests because the bona fides of ANY USER can never be verified.

  Because of potential risk to any guests who assume all those with such nicks are always genuine ministers, and their sharing of confidential information, we have taken this step as a safeguard for our guests.

  The nicks we have identified so far are:

  Father
  Rev
  Pastor
  Elder

  Because channel management is unable to know if all of those with such nicks do follow the same beliefs as outlined in the channel policies, we need to ensure that individual ministry in the channel is properly conducted.

  Those who are credentialled ministers are always welcome to be involved under the supervision or oversight of the channel. This is no discredit to them.

  Please remember this is our channel, and we set rules because of past breaches of appropriate behaviour by a small number of guests in the past. In most cases, rules have to be a "one size fits all" nature.

  The channel is a minitry, and the Lord's House is a house of order.

• Any nickname which impersonates a bot or an op is not allowed in channel due to potential security risks. No correspondence will be entered into in such a case. The network will ban any bogus channel service nicks with what is called a g-line

• Persistently using the nickname (or a close imitation) of someone else known to be an op will result in long-term banning if requests to change them are ignored.

• Likewise, if a guest impersonates a regular in channel, they may also be asked to change their nick.

   

• The names of the channel operators may be found on the channel's photo album.

  While nicks are not able to be registered, the use of a nick regularly used by another person may well suggest to those in channel that a guest is trying to impersonate that regular.

   

• The decision of the channel operator or channel operators on duty at the time is final. Don't argue.

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