I began writing this ethnography of the undernet IRC network on Monday, June 13, 2005, 10:12:34 PM and finished just over two hours later. This effort was made to complete an assignment that was due on June 14, 2005.
I was thinking about this the other day and decided to share.
The Undernet Internet Relay Chat is a network of servers on the Internet which exists to enable people from the world over to connect and chat with each other. These users organize themselves into semi-autonomous channels. A channel is analogous to the term “chat-room?. Anyone is free to form a channel, and for the most part, anyone is free to come and go into any channel they please. That being said, some channels are invite only. At the time of this writing, there were 29,827 channels formed. The members of the channels vary greatly in numbers. The rough distribution of the membership size of the channels follows
Table 1, Frequency Distribution of Channel Membership
It is interesting to note that while the stated purpose of the the Undernet is to connect with other people and chat nearly one-third of the channels formed have only one member.
Profile of the Undernet User
There is no single profile of the Undernet user. Users are not limited to any geographic area, although most users are from the North America and Western Europe. Participants in the system speak a wide variety of languages, but English and French are most common. There are however two main characteristics of Undernet users which show up more than others. The first is that nearly all of the Undernet users are able to use a computer with a higher degree of proficiency than most other computer users. The second characteristic is that users of Undernet tend to be less than 45 or so years old. Neither the age nor the computer proficiency characteristics are hard rules. There are people on the Undernet that are older than 45 and there are plenty of people there who are barely able to operate their computers.
Governmental and Organizational Structure of the Undernet
The Undernet IRC network is a highly structured and regulated environment. While each channel is a semi-autonomous entity, the entire Undernet operates according to a modified version of RFC 1459 the Internet Relay Chat Protocol. The modifications are managed by The Undernet Coder and Routing Committees. The RFC along with it’s modifications covers the methods by which clients and servers participating in the network must communicate. In addition to the constraints of the RFC, channels on Undernet must follow the guidelines set forth by the Undernet User Committee.
Once channels have the support of ten registered Undernet users, the leader of the channel is able to request the presence of the Undernet’s official agent, X, to be in the channel on a continuous basis. The presence of the agent contributes to the stability of the channel as X will automatically confer operator privileges to the proper individuals upon their arrival in the channel. Before the creation of the Undernet, it’s bureaucracy, X and it’s predecessors, Internet Relay Chat was a wild place that was under the constant strain of warfare. Channels were not safe from roving bands of “script kiddies? attempting to take over and claim channels as their own. The government structure of the Undernet has allowed everyone on the network to focus on more important matters such as differentiating themselves for each other.
There are also IRCops that roam Undernet that are granted certain powers by the Undernet User Committee. These individuals are able to kick users off of the network or ban them for certain prescribed periods of time for offenses which violate principles set forth by the user committee.
Social Stratification of the Undernet
On Undernet, there are generally five classes of individuals. These classes are strictly adhered to. It is possible for a user of the highest class in one channel to hold the lowliest position in another channel. That fact illustrates the openness of the class system in place on the Undernet. It is not unheard of for new users to eventually assume the highest position in a channel. New users have been mentioned. The other stratifications are regular users, voiced users, operators, and channel managers.
The lowest of the classes is the new or inexperienced user, often called a “newbie? or “n00b?. Those terms are used derisively and it is the goal of people wishing to gain acceptance into any channel to quickly distinguish themselves as not being a “n00b?. Most channels, especially those not explicitly designated as a chat channel, treat new users in a dreadful manner. New users are assumed to have an IQ which if you put a C symbol for Celsius behind, you can store a chicken for up to 3 weeks. While all are generally free to join a channel and then to join in the conversation, users unfamiliar to the channel’s regulars are often ignored, or just as likely new users are demeaned in terrible ways. A channel regular is free to make crass remarks about a new user’s sexuality, intelligence, the faithfulness of their spouse, appearance, or any number of things that would never be said in the real world. Most users never make it past the new user status. New users often come into a channel for a very short period of time, usually for just a few hours, and are never seen again. If a new user of the Undernet network chooses to come back for another round of chat, they are likely to return to those same channels to which they came the first time.
The next rung of the Undernet social ladder is the regular user. This user, while not having any special powers, is one who has demonstrated himself of herself to be of reasonable intelligence and has survived the initial hazing of the new user. Nothing special is required to make the leap from a “n00b? to a regular user, simply thick skin and the desire to frequent the same channel on a regular basis. There is no set time period after which the status of regular is attained. Some users achieve regular status within a matter of days or weeks. While each channel is formed with a particular topic, for example, computer programming, regulars, in contrast to “newbies? are granted the leeway to speak of whatever topics they choose. Regulars generally know each other and know many details of each other’s personal lives.
One step up from the regular status is the “voiced? status. The name of this stratification stems from the fat that it is possible to moderate a channel so that only those that are voiced may speak. Since most channels are not moderated, there is typically no functional difference between those in the regular class and those in the voiced class. Usually, those that are voiced in a channel have received the distinction merely as a way to recognize that they are elite even among the regulars. One who is voiced is one who may be particularly wise or knowledgeable about the topic of the channel. It is important to note that while all channels which get any traffic at all have new and regular users, some do not choose to make use of the voiced distinction.
Above the voiced users are the channel operators. Each channel has a group of operators that is granted certain powers by the channel manager. The operators have the ability to forcibly remove (called kicking) users from the channel, grant voice and temporary operator privileges, set the topic, and ban people either permanently or temporarily from the channel. Even within the operator class there are differing levels of power. Each operator is assigned an ordinal level, between one-hundred and four-hundred-ninety-nine, to which is attached certain privileges assigned by the channel manager.
The channel manager is the fifth level of stratification on the Undernet. The channel manager is the absolute authority in the channel, with an operator ordinal of 500. In most cases, he or she is the respected chief of the channel, whose will is never challenged. The channel manager can do whatever he or she pleases and all operators ultimately answer to the channel manager. Channel managers can even remove X, Undernet’s official representative. The only users which have power over the channel managers are the IRCops.
