Appendix B: Sample Policy Files

You may freely modify and use these on any MUCK

The @AUP command mentioned in the Acceptable Use Policy can be copied from here. This command sets the restricted property ~aup to "yes". You may wish to @lock important commands and exits (such as the exit leading out of the player_start room to this property, to ensure that players are apprised of the AUP's existence and are (more or less) forced to enter an explicit command indicating their agreement, or stop using the MUCK.

====================================
> @lock out = ~aup:yes
> @fail out = Before entering GenericMUCK, you must first read the Acceptable
  Use Policy (type 'info aup'), and indicate that you agree to abide by its
  terms (by typing '@aup').
====================================

                 GenericMUCK's Acceptable Use Policy

The staff of GenericMUCK respects your privacy and intellectual
property rights, and requires that you extend the same respect to others.
Please read this file completely, and enter the command @AUP to
acknowledge that you have read the file and agree to abide by its terms.

'Residents' refers to all players and staff. Where the distinction
between staff and players is important, this will be explicitly noted.

1.0  Access and Legal Responsibility

Access to GenericMUCK, and the computing resources required to operate
GenericMUCK, is granted on a revokable basis, and at no time is this
access guaranteed.

GenericMUCK services may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission
or solicitation for reception of material which violates US Federal or
Hawaii State Law, any Policy of the site where the MUCK operates, or
state or local law of the area in which you reside is prohibited. This
includes, but is not limited to, material that is threatening, libelous,
or violates trade-secret, patent, or copy-right protections.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless GenericMUCK, its staff, the
owners/operators of the computing resources, and all other parties
connected with the administration of GenericMUCK from all claims which
are a result of your usage, without limitation. You agree that any
traffic which originates from your character or connection is your legal
responsibility.

Notwithstanding the above, you agree that should GenericMUCK or its staff
be found liable in a court of law for any action or lack of action related
to your use of GenericMUCK, our liability is limited to $0.00.


2.0 Privacy

As a resident of GenericMUCK, you have a right to reasonable privacy.

2.1  Residents may not use programs, zombie objects, or other methods to
monitor your conversations or activities inappropriately.

   2.1.1  Residents may use zombies, broadcasting exits, programs, etc.,
   as detailed in `news programming'.

   2.1.2  Staff may monitor intrusively, by setting the Dark flag on
   themselves or referring to logs, if they have reason to believe that a
   player or group of players is actively conspiring to destroy or damage
   the MUCK's database, or is engaged in illegal activities.

   2.1.3  Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) NOTICE:  The staff
   of GenericMUCK reserves the right to monitor any and all communications
   through or with GenericMUCK computing facilities. You agree that
   GenericMUCK facilities are NOT to be considered a secure communications
   medium for the purposes of the ECPA.

2.2  Residents may not use programs or other methods to retrieve
information stored in properties on your character or belongings
inappropriately.

   2.2.1  Residents may create and use programs that retrieve information
   in ways that meet the the guidelines detailed in `news programming'.

   2.2.2  Staff may use the `examine' command and other methods of
   retrieving information remotely as needed.

2.3  Residents may not harrass you.

   2.3.1  If you indicate that you are not receptive to intimate or
   sexual contact with another resident, that resident is obligated to
   respect your wishes. If someone persists in making unwanted advances,
   repeat your demand that he or she stop, and page a staff member
   immediately.

   Residents guilty of sexual harrassment are liable to disciplinary
   action up to and including @toading and site-banning.

   2.3.2  Repeated attempts to talk to, page, or otherwise interact with
   a resident who has clearly requested to be left alone are a violation
   of Acceptable Use.

   2.3.3  Racial, ethnic, and religious slurs directed at a player are a
   violation of Acceptable Use.

2.4  Information about your life outside GenericMUCK is privileged. Your
RL name, gender, age, phone number, email address, and place of residence
are priviledged information. That is, unless you explicitly indicate that
this information may be dispersed, residents are obligated to treat the
information as confidential.

2.5  Privacy as regards alternate characters is left to residents'
discretion.

   2.5.1  You may have alternate characters, and you are not obliged to
   inform others of the relationships between your characters.

   2.5.2  If you do not wish others to know of the relationships between
   your characters, do not give out this information. If you do not mind
   other residents knowing about the relationships between your characters,
   it would be helpful if you indicated this, by conversation, pinfo, or
   other means.

3.0  Intellectual Property Rights

The staff of GenericMUCK honors intellectual property rights as they
pertain to the MUCK, and requires that residents do so as well. The staff
claims no particular expertise in the complex and evolving field of
international copyright law and the Internet. This does not, however,
invalidate or limit the AUP as it pertains to intellectual property
rights: GenericMUCK policies on intellectual property rights stand
as detailed below.

3.1  Residents may not create programs, rooms, or other objects
incorporating copyrighted material without verifiable permission from
the copyright holder.

3.2  The staff of GenericMUCK become joint holders of intellectual
property rights for public rooms or other creations which become an
integral part of GenericMUCK and are used by a substantial portion of
the residents. The owners of such creations may improve and add to them
as they see fit, but may not @recycle the object or remove the properties
or code that make it integral to the MUCK without permission from the staff.

In the event that a player inappropriately destroys or changes public
creations, the staff reserves the right to restore such creations from back
ups. Should such occassions arise, intellectual property rights for that
creation as the pertain to the MUCK will from that point lie solely with
the staff of GenericMUCK. That is, the creating player forfeits rights to
determine if and how the creation is used on the MUCK.

3.3  Programs which include notices that permission to port is requested
or required may not be ported to or from GenericMUCK without such
permission. If you wish to port such a program and are unable to contact
the author, notify a staff member. The staff will attempt to contact the
author, and if unable to do so, will determine ona case-by-case basis
whether the port meets AUP requirements.

3.4  The staff will not modify or remove any of your programs without
your permission, with the following exceptions: in the case of programs
which pose a threat to the integrity of the database or violate privacy
as detailed in `news programming' and the AUP, the staff will either
request that you modify or remove the program, or will do so themselves.


4.0  Violations of Acceptable Use.

Residents who violate the Acceptable Use Policy, or who commit acts not
explicitly covered by this policy but deemed a vilotation of the policy's
spirit by the staff, are liable to consequences including:

    - Suspension of access to the Muck and its computing resources for
      a time to be determined by the administrators.
    - Removal of your character and termination of access to the Muck
      and its computing resources without prior notice.
    - Notification of your site and/or system administrators
    - Notification of civil and/or law enforcement authorities.


 

                      GenericMUCK's Mucker Policy
                     -----------------------------

1.0 How can I be a Mucker?

We welcome both experienced and neophyte Muckers. We ask only that (a)
you help the general public, not just yourself, by writing useful programs
of some social benefit or aid to building, and (b) that you abide by the
spirit and letter of our Mucker policy.

If a program you would like to write or use falls into a "gray area" of
these guidelines, please ask us for clarification. We may be able to
suggest ways to accomodate your needs.


2.0 What does a Mucker do?

    2.1 Learning to Program

    Start by reading the MUF tutorial and the MUCK Manual, also the
    CHANGES files. Find them with the INFO command. If you need more help
    than this, we may be able to put you in touch with a Mucker willing
    to tutor you. If you write small programs to test something, or no
    longer need a program, please remember to clean up after yourself.
    A clean database is an effcient database, with less lag.

    2.3 Public Programming

    Whenever you write a program, and especially when a program is publicly
    accessible (Link_OK), please make sure it adheres to our guidelines:

        1. It should be useful in some way, social or building.
        2. It should not violate guidelines of privacy, respect, or
           honesty. (see section 3.0 of this policy)
        3. It should not be wasteful-- do not use more space or CPU time
           than is reasonable, or duplicate things that already exist.

    If one of your programs meets the guidelines above, you may ask to have
    it made publicly available. Such a program must be set link_ok in order
    for other people to use it. A program that would be useful as a command
    for everyone may be installed as a global. Type `globals' to see some
    commands available.

    Many programs are already publicly available; type `programs' for a
    list, then list these programs for more information, or go to the
    Programming Room off the Administrative Nexus and look through the
    files. If you are looking for a program that would be a modification
    of an existing one, you might find it more convenient to ask the
    programmer to change it appropiately.


3.0 Guidelines to Proper Programming Etiquette

    3.1 Privacy

    Players of GenericMUCK are entitled to privacy. If you couldn't
    find something out by normal means or without the permission of the
    users involved, you should not find it out with a program.

***** Normal means does NOT include abuse of the powerful MPI command
language. That means one does not use MPI to violate the Privacy of others,
or attempt to manipulate or look at things or rooms you do not own. Please
see NEWS MPI for more information. ****

    However, when you use certain programs, it is understood that the
    program may store, relay, or use *reasonable* information for
    *reasonable* purposes. If you aren't sure a program would fit this
    guideline, please ask.

    (A) Bugs relay information to another person, room, or stores it for
        later reading, without your implicit consent.

    Examples of legal programs:

    1. Public programs such as page and spoof, which only use information
       for administrative purposes, and are documented as to this use.

    2. Programs that broadcast messages for the purposes of "virtual
       reality" such as a program to let you be heard from a stage. However
       it is possible to disguise the use of such programs. This is
       unethical.

    3. Bulletin boards, mailing systems, and other programs meant to
       record and display messages for the public. By entering messages
       into such a program, the user gives implicit consent that they be
       stored and displayed.

    Examples of illegal programs:

    1. Programs that duplicate "page", "whisper", "say", or "pose" in order
       to record or relay information without the player's knowledge.

      (B) Scanners find information about other players, their properties,
          or belongings, that would not normally be available, and which
          the player does not wish revealed. This includes programs written
          in MPI.

    Examples of legal programs:

    1. A program that only shows you messages or properties which are set
       specifically for that program. E.G. a smell program might show you
       people's smell messages, but it would be unethical to write programs
       to read people's smell messages at a distance, without their consent.

    2. Programs that show you information which you could obtain another way,
       e.g. a program to tell you which of a selected group of people are on
       the WHO list, or a program to tell you what exits go from rooms that
       you own. Owners can always examine anything they own.

    3. In reasonable circumstances, programs may show you information
       such as which players are in another room if it is known to the
       people in this room that they may be observed. E.G. a transparent
       exit description for windows.

    Examples of illegal programs (in MUF or MPI):

    1. Programs that show you properties or messages on players, objects,
       and so forth that you do not own and could not normally find out.

    2. Programs that reveal private exits in rooms without the permission
       of the room's owner. (similarly, programs to locate players without
       their permission)

    3.2 Respect

    Certain programs may, while not invading a player's privacy, harass
    that player, or make it possible to do so in a way that is undetectable.
    Players are entitled to respect and dignity.

    (a) Spoofers that allow a player to simulate another player's actions.
        This would allow players to forge incriminating or insulting
        messages under that player's name. Messages that could potentially
        be spoofed should be made apparent in some plain manner or changed
        to remove this danger.

    (b) Markers are programs that change, add to, or remove player
        properties without their implicit permission.

    Examples of legal programs:

    1. Programs may set temporary properties, or properties that obviously
       belong to the program, and do not interfere with other programs or
       the user's convenience. E.G. the page program sets a number of
       properties for records keeping.

    2. Programs that explicitly give the user full knowledge of what changes
       are about to be made. E.G. role-playing systems and shape-shifting
       programs that modify your description.

    3. Programs for building assistance, which change your properties and/or
       objects in an approved way.

    Examples of illegal programs (in MUF or MPI):

    1. Programs to overwrite another player's descriptions, messages, etc.
       without their consent.

    2. Programs meant to harass them by insulting, annoying, or otherwise
       inconveniencing them, e.g. programs to send a spoof message directly
       to a player without the player's permission, or to whisper to all but
       one player.

    3.3 Other Prohibited Programs (MUF or MPI)

    GenericMUCK prohibits general teleporter programs that would allow
    players to invade private rooms or that are intended to violate
    virtual reality, e.g. encouraging people to teleport directly to a
    room, ignoring intervening areas. We also dislike programs that add
    pennies for no valid reason. Pennies are spent and used for things,
    and available at the GenericMUCK bank.

    Teleporters may be allowed in limited cases, but only for very
    specific reasons and purposes. They must follow these restrictions:

    1. Players must agree explicitly, or implicitly by entering a vehicle,
       following another player, being picked up by that player, etc. to
       be moved.

    2. Programs to move players can only move players from or to rooms
       for which they have permission, and under such circumstances as are
       appropiate, e.g. a taxi might have stops in different rooms with the
       permissions of these rooms' owners.

    3. Such programs must be appropiate to the circumstances, the "virtual
       reality" of the situation in question, etc.

    3.4 What Happens If I Make A Mistake?

    There are three steps, depending on seriousness of the offense.
    Accidents and oversights happen; on the other hand, a deliberate
    infraction may well lose you your Mucker bit immediately. You will be
    informed of the reasons for any actions we take as regards you or your
    programs. If you misuse MPI, your BUILDER bit will be removed.

    1. If you write a program considered abusive or forbidden, you will be
       talked to about why you need such a program.

        (a) If the reasons are acceptable, the program may be allowed as is,
            or we may suggest how it can be modified to make it fit the
            guidelines.

        (b) If the reasons are unacceptable or inadequate, you may be warned
            to remove the program, or else modify it so that it will be
            acceptable.

    2. If you don't comply with requests to modify or remove a program that
       is particularly abusive, then the program may be removed. Programs
       that may crash the server may also be confiscated or removed. You
       will be told how and why the program crashes the server

    3. If you repeatedly upload programs that were removed as abusive, or
       crash the server, or otherwise abuse your Mucker bit, then you may
       be deMuckered and offending programs will be removed. Violations with
       MPI will result in the loss of your BUILDER bit as well.

    Appeals will be allowed under extenuating circumstances.


4.0 Program Libraries and Macros

    4.1 Documentation

    Please document your programs where possible, so that those who are
    meant to use them can do so. If programs are Link_OK, therefore publicly
    usable, you should put comments at the top. Public programs should also
    follow the convention of including a #help function.

    We suggest that programs have comment headers describing the basic code
    (two or three lines to synopsize the program's purpose, how it should be
    used, and unusual things that users should know), naming the owner, and
    providing any copyrights you wish to include.

    Please don't complicate your code more than MUF normally reads;
    deliberately obfuscating your code beyond a capable Mucker's ability to
    read is considered impolite. Macros should be commented, or else obvious
    from name or definition as to what they are intended to do.

    4.2 Information Ownership

    Many programs are set Link_OK so that they can be readily used. This
    does not mean that you are free to copy them to other systems, or for
    your own uses. Please ask the permission of the creator before you copy
    programs!


5.0 The Final Word

If you have any questions about this policy, MUCKing, or other related
issues, please ask a knowledgeable player, Mucker, or Administrator.
They may be able to offer you answers, suggest where you can look
quickly and conveniently for information, or suggest how Mucker policy
applies to your question.

In all disputes related to Mucker policy and programming on GenericMUCK,
the judgement of the MUF Administrators is final, and supercedes the
guidelines of this policy.

6.0 Mucker bit levels and getting your mucker bit.

There are 3 Mucker levels.

        M1 - Starter, or Apprentice
        M2 - Standard, or Journeyman
        M3 - Special, or Master

When you ask for a Mucker bit on GenericMUCK, you will be set M1. This
is where all Muckers will start. This gives you access to the @program and
@edit commands and allows 75% of MUF functions. This is a safety feature
to allow you to learn MUF without fear of damaging anything.

To get to Level M2, you should have written, tested, and debugged some
useful programs and then ask the MUF Administrator or hir assistants
to look at them for programming style and usefulness. The Administrators
may then grant you the M2 level. This allows 95% of MUF features to work.

Level M3 is needed only in very special programs that must directly
manipulate sensitive data from the database. This level can only be granted
by the MUF Administrators.

TO GET A Mucker BIT: Page or page #mail a wizard. Any wizard can give you
an M1 bit. M2 and M3 bits are set by the MUF Administrator.