1. Only Registered Nicknames. - As of a couple of years ago we started limiting the users in channel to ones who have a FurNet registered nickname. If you're not sure how to register your nick, try looking here or here.

   It only takes a minute at most to register a nickname and it's not very complex a task. Just remember to use a proper email address and that NickServ doesn't accept HotMail or Yahoo email addresses or similar, since it's too easy to hack them and gain someone's password.

   Please also be aware that registering a nickname is a three stage operation.

   1. Register using your IRC client while logged into FurNet with the nick you want registered.
   2. Check the email account you specified for a temporary password to finalize your registration.
   3. Use said temporary password to finish the registration, then change your password to something you will remember easily.

   The email will explain things better and don't forget to use /msg nickserv help register if you don't know how.

   Please also bear in mind access to the network require compliance with the FurNet Rules of Conduct.

2. No Channel Take-Overs. - We've all seen these, and know the heartache and grief they lead us too. Anyone attemting this will be politely asked to refrain from further attempts. Failure to comply will result in their being deopped, kicked and/or banned by the Channel Admins, for a length of time as thought appropriate. They will be given three chances - and after three attempts, the furry will be removed by the most expident method.

3. No PowerGaming. - Role Play is fine, taken in context, but power-gamers ruin the 'suspension of disbelief' we form by being online - and no-one likes a power-gamer. Expect harsh treatment if you insist on playing this way.

4. No Fighting. - Is this a concept some furries just can't comprehend? What we mean by this is no abusing of another character or their player, bickering, or any disruptive behaviour. Please note, that the Channel Admins judgement will be final in any discussion, but they're only human after all, and they may make mistakes. They will strive to make fair, impartial and unprejudiced judgements and the Channel Admins will seek to resolve this issue as swiftly as they can. It is at the discretion of the Channel Admins to decide what constitutes as fighting. Any Furs who violate this rule will be warned three times. The third time the fur will may be kicked and/or banned should the situation call for it. The length of which is up to the Admin currently in-channel or the first two Channel Admins who respond to the complaint.

5. No Harrasement of Other Furries or Their Players. - Such abuse by anyone, including the Channel Admins themselves, will be dealth with in a swift manner. Such is against FurNET policy, as stated within their Message Of The Day, and we strongly recommend that such is read when you connect. Such acts will be dealt with via a private warning to the harasser, and they will politely be asked to cease and desist immediately. Should harrassment continue, then the harasser shall be dealt with as compassionately as possible, but they may be kicked and/or banned for a length of time, as decided by the Channel Admins.

   Harassment includes: (snip)... continual requests to yiff when the fur has said no, using /msg when you have been asked to stop (with log files to back the claim up), usage of /CTCP to bypass /ignores and generally being annoying. (I know this gives the Channel Admins a lot of leeway here but I'm sure you can all understand why.)

   Basically, harassement would include, but not be limited to, anything based around gender identity, genus choice, sex or sexual orientation, race, age, political affiliation or religion.

6. No Yiffing or Sexual Activity in Channel, nor Graphic Content. - #Ozfurs is now no longer a PG rated channel, but don't think that gives everyone the right to wreak anarchy. Any 'yiffing' or graphic scening should be done by consentual furries, and taken to a private (PM) message or channel. Teasing and veiled play will be tolerated. Whilst we Channel Admins are a tolerant bunch, we must enforce rules. Please, be mindful that we have furries of all ages coming in to and out of our channel, so can we please project a friendly image - so they'll have good feelings about us, and our channel? Any furry who breaks these rules, will be politely asked to refrain. Further such outbursts will result in the Channel Admins possibly making a judgement call, and asking 'other' furries in channel, what should be done - and kicking or expulsion (banning) may result, depending on the severity of the issue at the time.

   By Graphic Content the Channel Admins mean extreme violence, vore, dismemberment, unbirthing, cannibalism and anything else the Channel Admins deem graphic enough to violate this rule. Any Toony or light violence is close to the borderline so please remember this before hitting your enter key.

   Posting URLs in channel is not discouraged but if the content is considered anything above PG rated either tag the url as NSFW (Not Safe For Work) or do not post it in the first place.

   Please also be aware that while it may be late at night your time and therefore seem to be a valid time to get around this rule, it's also early morning, afternoon and evening for others in channel who may be in other coutries around the world and therefore in different timezones.

7. No Warez/Pirating/Illegal stuff in Channel. - Ok, so we missed this one. The Channel Admins do not want to hear any talk about how to get pirated files, warez, illegally copied mp3s, etc in Channel. Talking about what you have is cool, just don't stroke your own ego about how you got it to show how cool you are(n't!). What you do or say out of channel is not our concern so keep it there.

   If it happens, and it most likely will since few read the rules, you will be warned. Continuing will see you kickbanned from the channel for a period no less than 24 hours.

   There will be no if's but's or maybe's, no leniancy. The topic is not open for conversation.

8. No Unwarranted Sarcasm. - This is a touchy and tricky one. Recently (as of 2002), we've had a bunch of new Australian furries start frequenting #Ozfurs. Some of these have commented on suicide in channel, either in a desparate need for attention or genuine depression, if not both. This rule is to stop those less empathic users from causing more harm than good by possibly very hurtful outbursts directed at said new furries.

   While being sympathetic to those seeking attention, we don't condone anyone even hinting at commiting suicide, whether or not they actually mean it. There are plenty of good organisations that can help people in this situation so we do ask that contact info for these groups be offered, rather than snide comments and that those seeking said attention do not continue with this course of attention-getting as it will eventually get you banned should you keep it up. If all else fails, try to ignore them rather than cause more conflict.

   The sarcastic furres themselves will be dealt with harshly should they continue as well, so do not think we're being unfeeling towards those who need help.

9. Be Respectful of Another Furries 'Privacy'. - By this rule, we mean do not 'assume' that another fur will welcome your 'affections' be they a cuddle, lick, kiss, or whatever. Treat all furries as equals, and if your affections are not welcomed, please don't force the issue. Again, failure to do so may end up in the same three results as with other rules, being kicked and/or banned, as the Admin at the time decides.

10. *NO MUDSLINGING* if you have an RL or VR greivance with another character, please, you have an /ignore option, use it at your own discretion. If you simply must vent to this person, do it via /msg and not in channel. Even if your greivance is a valid one, mudslinging or arguing in channel will only get both parties banned in the long run. If you have ops, you also have the option of kicking/banning the furry if they warrant such an extreme action. Failing that, bring it to the attention of an Admin and it will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

11. No Nick Stealing. - It has come to the attention of some Channel Admins, that other furries 'appropriate' anothers nicks and or RL names. This will not be tolerated, and will be dealt with swiftly and efficiently. No-one wants their OnLine persona or reputation to be trashed. No-one has the right, either expressed or implied, to ruin the OnLine or Real Life of another furry. If it comes to the attentions of the Channel Admins, and it will, as its not If you are caught, but when, expect to be dealt with quite harshly.

12. No Channel Protection/Autokick/Autokickban/Clone Detect Scripts or Addons. This includes Bots. - Whether it is a 'feature' of your respective client or a script you run elsewhere (Efnet, UnderNet, DALnet, etc) then please let the Channel Admins know and disable it while in channel, as failure to do such, may result in you being subject to removal from the channel, and possibly even being permanently banned.

    In certain circumstances, certain scripts may be permitted, an example being the auto-op scripts used by a number of us in channel. Please don't assume your script or a script that someone gave you elsewhere is ok without consulting the Channel Admins first.

    This rule also pertains to WinAMP (or similar) scripts that spam the channel with title info for tracks you're playing. No, we're not really interested in what you're listening to. Honestly!

    Bringing in a client that runs a Bot script for whatever reason without :

    1) Registering the 'bot as per FurNet rules.
    2) Obtaining permission for it to be there with the Channel Owner.

    ..will result in a ban for that 'bot. Further ignorance of this rule will end up in the user also being banned.

13. No Colours in Channel. - This is not EFnet or DALnet. Rainbow colours in your messages or join/parts is generally frowned upon. Please disable or remove any of these or try to abstain from using them if possible.

14. Absolutely No Misuse of Ops. - A number of furries have been given them by default. It appears that some consider it a right, rather than a privilege, to get opped in channel. Being opped gives you certain capabilities. Abuse them or cause nuisance while you have them and expect ops to be removed, either temporarily or, if you repeatedly offend, permanently. This goes for Channel Admins too.

    Unlike DALnet or EFnet or many other networks, we're a mostly quiet, friendly mob of furs. Ops have been a given for so long to level the playing field. We expect them to be used fairly.

    Having said that, if, for some reason, someone is not opped in channel, please do not op them. Ask an admin to do it. Do not attempt it yourself. There is most likely a good reason why they don't have +o. This also goes for +v, voicing. Do not take it upon yourself to give it out should you have the capability.

    Beeing banned becuase an OP or Channel Admin considers you anoying or misbehaving is not OP abuse.

15. No AutoVoicing of Furries. - As of about mid 2004 we've started using Chanserv's ability to auto-voice as well as to auto-op specific individuals. There is a large list of regular #OzFur users who will get auto-voiced by default when they join if they're a known user using their normal registered nick.

    Please do not take it upon yourself to auto-voice anyone, as with ops, above, those given voice have been for a reason. Once a user has been in channel and participated in conversation enough to be known as a regular they'll be added to the auto-voice list.

    For the curious, the Channel Admins started using auto-voice again for a number of reasons, not just to show known channel regulars, but to also allow quick, simple moderation of the channel since we got wind of a SomethingAwful invasion.

16. No Bypassing Bans. - If you've been banned for a specified period of time, please DO NOT try to get in by other means as it will only cause more bans to be put in place to stop you and the length of your ban to be extended even further.

    We have had furs in the past who have bypassed bans with open proxies (which is much harder to do these days since there is an Open Proxy Monitor in place) who were eventually permanently banned from channel, though they were also Trolling when they did return.

    Remember, there are IRCops who reside in channel, keep it up and you'll find that not only can you not get into channel anymore but you may end up finding you can't even connect to FurNet!

    You have been warned.

17. No Clones Allowed - FurNet Severs all have notices in their MOTD about excessive connections to FurNet. The IRCops frown upon them as they use up valuable resources on the server. Now, while some people do have more than one IRC connection from their home, these are exceptions to the rule. If you applied for and recieved permission to run a 'bot on the server then it's assumed you use two clients and the permission to run the 'bot means they assume you will connect twice. There are also times where multiple people live in the same house and use it's connection to link to FurNet. That is not considered cloning. There have been and will be times where people leave their home connection on while travelling to/from or at work and use a mobile device or work PC to access FurNet. That's a grey area since both are not at the same location.

    Put in simple terms, if one person is using two or more clients to connect to FurNet IRC from your home address, whether or not they're on the same ISP, for whatever reason, unless it's a properly registered 'bot, you will be removed from channel.

    There is no reason to connect twice to FurNet except to run a properly registered 'bot that will be recognised.

Problems with the behavour/implementation of this policy will be dealt with in a mostly democratic way - put before the furry whole when possible but the Channel Admins must act as the situation arises. Failure to act when problems occur because they require approval would take time, allowing the party or problem in question to continue. Having said that, the Channel Admins will listen and adjudicate a final decision based on all the evidence when able to.

Bear in mind access to #OzFurs is a priviledge not a right as you can be removed any time for any valid reason. NEVER assume you have the inalienable right to be in channel simply because you reside in Australia. This is not a democracy, it's the Internet.