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[edit] I'm a shell provider admin, or want to become one. What should I know about ShellsNet.org?

• In short, ShellsNet.org (henceforth, 'SN') is a community of shells provider admins who co-operate in order to :
  • help individual admins to expand their knowledge and skills, and continually improve the quality of their providers' services.
  • help admins by co-operating to defend against common threats (e.g. crackers) and relay important information (e.g. information about new vulnerabilities in software, shell abusers, etc).
  • help admins and users by providing an independent award scheme to recognise the contributions of shell system admins to the education of users and the good of the Internet.
  • provide a friendly community of shell admins and users in which both admins and users can relax and socialise when they're not busy working.
• We also have various principles. Some of them which are relavant to admins are :
  • admins should co-operate where it is their advantage to do so.
  • admins and users should both behave maturely, and with respect towards themselves and other people.
  • admins are encouraged to help other admins and users where they can, except where the other person demands help without having first read the manual.
  • admins should uphold high standards, and encourage others to do the same.
  • admins should never let their pride get in the way of fixing a problem.

[edit] How do I join SN? What's an "Affiliate"?

SN is structured around the idea of 'Affiliation'. Roughly:

• If an admin/provider is affiliated with SN, then they both contribute to SN and are entitled to use SN resources.
• The affiliation system is designed to encourage admins to learn new skills, continually improve their providers, and to help others.
• So, the better an admin/provider is, and the more they help others, the greater the level of affiliation they get.
• Thus, everyone is rewarded proportional to the effort they put in, and self improvement is always encouraged.

[edit] What are the different kinds of affiliation?

There are 3 kinds :

• Bronze is for honoured guests, admins in training, and established admins who are new to ShellsNet.
• Silver is for admins who have already established good providers.
• Gold is for admins with outstanding providers who've contributed a lot to SN/internet community.

[edit] Which admins and providers are already affiliated with SN?

You can see a list of which providers are SN affiliates at SN SNAPS.

[edit] Why should I get affiliate with SN?

In short, you should get involved because we are a community which can help you out, and because by helping each other we can all improve. Affilation :

• gives you access to ShellsNet.org resources such as mailing lists, channels, help from other admins, and so on, all of which are very helpful. For example, we can provide a stable home for your IRC channel without you having to worry about crackers, abusers, netsplits, I:lines and lots of other common headaches.
• helps you improve your service by setting specific, achievable goals which help admins learn new skills and improve the quality of their services. For example, as admins often help each other, asking for help or suggestions from other admins when faced with a difficult problem is likely to result in helpful advice.
• is a marketing asset, as being affiliated with ShellsNet.org is an earned award, it makes you more attractive to paid users (who see you as a quality provider), and less attractive to crackers (who realise that if they mess with you, the other SN admins will intervene to help you).
• helps you enjoy your time as an admin - participating in ShellsNet.org socially is a great way to enjoy yourself as an admin by spending time with people who share your interests.

[edit] What are the requirements for the different types of affiliation?

[edit] Bronze Affiliation Requirements

• Admin's nickname must have been registered on irc.shellsnet.org for at least 7 days.
• Admin must either have or be in the process of setting up a shells provider.
• Admin must interact with other SN admins on a regular basis.
• Admin must be sufficiently mature.

[edit] Silver Affiliation Requirements

• Admin requirements:
  • Admin must have effective methods of blocking signups by abusive users, and removing any users who become abusive.
  • Admin must have either a neutral, or preferably a good, reputation amongst other admins.
  • Admin must maintain their service by checking up on it regularly, such as using logsentry/logcheck to monitor their system.
• Server requirements:
  • identd : must run an identd which always returns true usernames
  • mail : root, abuse, and postmaster @provider-domain to an email address regularly read by the server admin. [check email addresses]
  • website : if the server runs a httpd that has if php is enabled:
    • if php is enabled for user webdirs: php's allow_url_fopen must be 'Off' in php.ini
    • if php is enabled for user webdirs: at least one of the following must be used : safe_mode, chroot, suphp
    • if perl/cgi-bin is enabled for user webdirs: at least one of the following must be used : chroot, suexec
    • if users can send mail via the webserver, it must be tracable to their accounts in some way. (see SN Admin TracingNobody)
• Service requirements :
  • If the admin's provider has an official, primary, or support IRC channel, it must be on irc.ShellsNet.org
  • The provider must have a website giving sufficient information about their service, and this website must link prominently to ShellsNet.org
  • The provider must not be a known sender of spam email.

[edit] Gold Affiliation Requirements

• Admin must have been a Silver Affiliate for at least 1 month.
• Admin must do things which provide great help to help shell admins, such as:
  • running a provider so outstanding that other admins regularly look to them for advice, which they give, and which strongly helps the recipient admin.
  • running a major and widely-used public service project, for example:
    • writing useful and well-used FOSS software, such as a utility very useful for system admins
    • running or having a large part in running a project like a public dnsbl, user abuse db or ShellsNet itself, which is of excellent quality and is used by many admins.
    • contributing greatly to the relations between shell admins and other groups as an ambassador, for example by:
      • being exceptionally helpful to shell users either as customer service or as a teacher
      • working with several major IRC networks to establish channels by which abusive shell users are reported quickly to their admins for account termination rather then simply banned from that network.

Note that the requirements above may change over time.

[edit] Some misconceptions about affiliation are debunked

• Do not expect the SN admins to "hold your hand" or give you a "walkthrough" to running a shell provider. No such thing exists, and, at times, the hardest lesson to learn is that you must take responsibility for yourself and really learn to use the manual. We will help you if you ask the right people when you really need it, but we usually require you to show that you've made an effort to solve the problem yourself first.
• You should be an active participant in several SN channels other than yours. This is fun, helps you learn and strengthens community bonds. Affiliation is not the end of the road, rather, it is a journey, and the more actively you throw yourself into it the better the result will be.
• You should take the initiative yourself in starting things. Don't wait to be asked your opinion or to be invited to join a project. Observe how the various providers on SN work and if you see something that could be improved, suggest it. It is up to you to get involved, it is not up to us to invite you to participate in everything that is available.
• You should spend time talking to and getting to know the admins and some of the users who use SN.
• Admins are not entitled to be rude or obnoxious to users, even stupid ones. Admins should be polite and mature at all times. Users and admins should respect each other.

[edit] How to become affiliated, or increase your affiliation level

Make sure that you meet the above requirements, then contact <censored> with the following information.

• Your IRC nick
• Your website URL
• Your email address
• Your reasons for joining SN
• What you can offer SN
• What affiliation type you are applying for
• Evidence that you meet the conditions for that type of affiliation
• Any questions you have