These rules are for the #law and ##law channels on the Freenode and Libera IRC networks respectively. Violation of these rules may result in moderator intervention, at their discretion.

Principles

These guiding principles assist moderators and community members in determining appropriate behaviour. They are not specific as the rules, but are equally important and may be enforced by moderators.

Principle 1: Freedom of speech is important, but hosts cannot be expected to tolerate abuse from their guests, or permit guests to abuse other guests. Constructive discussion should be encouraged, while hostility should be discouraged.

Principle 2: People are invited to participate in the community provided they show respect towards each other and the rules. This principle applies equally to moderators.

Principle 3: The purpose of the channel is discussion about law and legal principles. It is not intended to be a community of lawyers (though they are welcome) or to provide legal advice, even though some of its members may have, or be in the process of acquiring, legal qualifications.

Principle 4: Individuals needing legal assistance should be directed towards appropriate referral services and Government-provided information.

Principle 5: The language of the channel is English and discussions should be in English unless another language is deemed necessary.

Principle 6: Subject to the rules and principles, individuals worldwide should be made to feel welcome and the community should be open to people regardless of their background.

Principle 7: Illegal behaviour should be discouraged.

Principle 8: Questions should be asked as directly as possible.

Rules

  1. Be polite and respectful towards others. A non-abusive degree of joshing, ribbing, or ragging is tolerated.
  2. Before asking a question, attempt to find an answer using a search engine.
  3. When asking a question, state the relevant jurisdiction as specifically as possible (country, region/state/province, city/county). Legal concepts often vary significantly between jurisdictions (including subnational jurisdictions), so it may be difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all answer.
  4. Do not provide or advertise legal services. Providing legal services is restricted to qualified, practising lawyers in most jurisdictions, and moderators cannot adequately verify qualifications.
  5. Do not ask for or solicit legal services. Anyone who violates this rule should be referred to a suitable referral service, and not suffer repercussions unless persistent.
  6. Do not post links to or request material that is illegal or suspect; discriminatory in nature; or sexually explicit. When in doubt, do not post links.
  7. Do not be deliberately offensive or deliberately provocative (no trolling).
  8. Avoid discriminatory or derogatory remarks unless they are part of a relevant quote.
  9. Avoid unnecessary and offensive remarks. Moderators should issue adequate warnings before taking drastic action.
  10. Use plain English as much as possible and:
    • avoid using excessive abbreviations or acronyms;
    • keep sentences as short, simple and direct as appropriate; and
    • use only one or two sentences per line.
  11. Subject to these rules, all topics related to law are welcome.
  12. Off-topic conversations are permitted but should give way to law-related topics where appropriate, and should be referred to a more appropriate channel if there is one.
  13. Avoid contentious economic, moral, political or social issues unless they can be clearly linked to an aspect of law. Such issues will usually ask what the law ought to be, rather than what the law is. These topics tend to descend into unnecessarily heated and emotive debates, and there are often more appropriate channels for these topics.
  14. Advocating or promoting organised pseudolegal commercial arguments identified in Meads v Meads [2012] ABQB 571 and related cases will result in warnings and lead to a ban.
  15. Complaints relating to actions of moderators should be raised privately with the moderator. Moderators are more likely to respond to and reverse their decision if the complaint is raised politely, and neither abusive nor threatening. Moderators are not judges and there is no formal appeal process.