TripSitter Orientation

Introduction

On this page is some vital information for new TripSitters or those wanting to become TripSitters. It will overview all of the common questions about how to perform staff functions. Please review all of the following points and return here or ask another staff member if you have any questions.

History

The TripSit network was founded by Techno_shaman (Teknos) in reddit.com/r/tripsit on September 26th, 2011. It progressed into an IRC channel on September 2, 2012 and continues to increase it's focus around harm reduction and providing a safe community for the world's Psychonaut community. It has since grown into a website, live web radio, and social network. So far, we have helped countless people in many different ways. We have been featured by MAPS and we've had several news articles written about us. We're currently expanding our social network and working on developing a real-life presence at festivals and concerts, and you're invited to be a part in the next step in growing our network.

Staff Duties and Guidelines

Staff members are positive, nice, respectful and professional in their dealings with members whether regular or staff; they represent the entire network! We want people who have leadership skills and can enforce rules while still promoting a positive environment. They guide conversation to an acceptable level of quality by being guiding and firm, while maintaining a positive and supportive attitude.

We want all of our staff members to be role models and regular contributors. All staff supervise and advance a part of the TripSit network. We expect them to be able to devote a reasonable amount of time to TripSit projects, including: Wiki, a TripSit affiliated IRC channel, the Official TinyChat, Twitter, and future TripSit projects. Contribute Contribute Contribute! We want you on the team! We want your input!

Tripsitting

Our primary goal as TripSit is to tripsit the universe.

Tripsitters are the backbone of our network. Without their selfless efforts we would not be here today. Each of us have stepped up in the #tripsit room to help people and it's a rite of passage to advance to other positions in the network. As such we have fairly high standards for our tripsitters and expect the best of them.

Never be afraid to defer a question to another member of the team by asking in #teamtripsit or even by using the '~tripsit user' command to call for help. Remember that no information is always preferable to incorrect information.

When the encounter is over you must send a notify to tripbot (syntax below) detailing how it went. See [Notifications #notifications].

Check out our tripsitting guide.

If a user is trolling, becoming overly aggressive, or otherwise causing a problem, you may ~quiet (syntax below) them in #tripsit, and ~report them in other channels.

Redirecting Users

In general, we attempt to keep TripSit relatively clear for users who are in need of help.

If a user enters the channel looking for general chat, you can direct them to whichever is most suitable of #drugs, #home or #sanctuary.

However, if a user is on a substance and being spoken to, though not in any particular 'trouble', there is no need to move them to another room as a matter of urgency - though these cases should eventually be moved to #sanctuary.

There's no telling when a serious case will come in that could potentially bum that person out, or wrap them into a situation they didnt want to be in. General drug questions may be answered in #tripsit, there is no need to redirect these cases unless the room is busy.

You are encouraged to use #sanctuary as a place to send users who are on drugs but would rather have lighter, more positive, conversation than #drugs. If a user is on drugs, and needs a quieter chat or perhaps some lighter tripsitting, or if TripSit is already busy, attempt to redirect them to #sanctuary.

Emergency Situations

Rarely, a user joins #tripsit who is in a state beyond help. This can arise from them simply being unresponsive or refusing to accept advice in the face of dangerous behaviour, or in the case that the user needs to seek medical attention. In such a case, it's acceptable to ~quiet the user in #tripsit.

Since these cases are rare and these measures should not be applied lightly, it's generally a good idea to discuss the user in #teamtripsit and get some confirmation that we cannot help. If the user continues to cause problems on the network after being quieted in #tripsit, refer the situation to a moderator.

Crowding

If a user is already being helped in #tripsit, use your common sense to decide whether you should get involved in the situation. If a person is already receiving adequate help then it is often better to just keep an eye on the situation to ensure this continues, or advise in #teamtripsit - overcrowding a user under the influence can often be confusing.

If you are entering an on-going tripsitting session, try to either read the scrollback or read any notifications made for this user to gain the wider context before joining the fray.

Enforce Rules

You will be expected to know the network policies and procedures as listed here. Regardless of their role, staff will enforce our rules, recognize misinformation, request citations when needed, and deal with trolls. Remember: No info > bad info.

Record Keeping

If there is a noteable instance with a user, you're asked to make a ~warning about it and put logs on a padd. It can be as simple as making a new pad, naming it User: <USER> and pasting the relevant logs. We ask that you use the pad system for record keeping of logs, rather than a third-party service.

Populate other channels

Move conversations to appropriate channels, for example: #psychonaut for spiritual talk, #home for general chat, #psychopharm for chemistry discussion, #sanctuary and #tripsitvip for regulars chat.

Be Involved

Try to get involved with the various other TripSit projects. Learn to DJ, contribute to the Wiki. Contribute Contribute Contribute! We want you on the team! We want your input! Speak to operators or admins to find out what you can work on.

Communication and Resources

Communication is extremely important and as such our team communicates in a number of different ways.

IRC

Required Staff Channels

All staff members should be on at least these channels:

• #tripsit: Our flagship channel for immediate assistance. Please idle here and if you see someone ping you with the !tripsit or ~tripsit command do your best to respond. Remember: KIP! (Keep it positive!)

• #drugs: This channel is not your main priority but you are welcome to help guide the conversation here. This channel is by far our network's busiest channel.

• #teamtripsit: This is our primary staff communication channel. Please put this on your autojoin to discuss events on the network with other staff. Don't be afraid to reach out and ask questions! This is a channel for all staff to discuss network issues. #tripsit issues take priority here and social chat will need to stop if a tripsitter needs assistance. You may be asked to move a social conversation to #tripsitvip if it is quiet.

Other Staff Rooms

• #tripsit.me: This is the meta-TripSit channel. We discuss things that impact the network outside of IRC or when a serious issue needs to be talked about in a quieter room. Tripsitters are welcome to join to discuss a particular issue but not to idle. Other non-staff may join this room to discuss an issue with the upper-admin team, but they are not allowed to idle after their issue is resolved.

• #nexus: Where we hold our weekly meeting.

Weekly Meetings

We have weekly meetings every Sunday at 21:00 UTC. The pad for the current month can be found on pad.tripsit.me

Other

TripPads

Etherpad our document handling platform, hosted here. We have a large amount of documents here on different subjects. The main document that we use is the monthly staff meeting pad. In this document you are encouraged to put your thoughts on the different happenings of the network. Please check the month and go to the corresponding pad.

• Only staff members have access to the pads by default.

• Only make a pad password protected if you have consulted with one of the admins about the contents of the pad. Admins have access to password protected pads.

Emails

Staff members are entitled to an @tripsit.me email address if they want one. Contact reality if you do.

/r/tripSit subreddit

Remember that a fair amount of tripsitting happens on the /r/tripsit subreddit, so try to check there frequently for anyone who needs help!

Wiki

This Wiki is a good source for information about the network, harm reduction information and staff information.

Admin One-on-One

Admins (Teknos, reality) generally try to have a short one-on-one with all staff members every week to discuss any issues. We're still in the process of setting this up.

Basic Tripbot Commands

This section will cover a few basic tripbot commands you'll need. You can find more information about there here or by asking another staff member.

Notifications

Your primary interaction with TripBot is going to be ~notify's. You are asked to do a notify to #tripsit for each and every interaction in #tripsit. You are also encouraged to use the function to notify #teamtripsit if you wish to send announcements to other staff. Use this as much as you'd like. Notifications sent to you while offline will be stored and you'll be notified of them when you next log into IRC.

Syntax: /msg tripbot ~notify <#room> <user> <message> <@assistant> <#drug> <#update>

• <#room> is the room that you want the command to be sent to. Everyone voiced in that room will receive the notification. You need to prefix this with #.

• <user> is the nickname of the user you assisted and should always be the first word in the notify. Tripbot automatically attaches the host of the first word to the notify.

• <message> is whatever the issue was. Maybe someone needed someone to talk to, or they were just checking out the channel. You are encouraged to ~notify all interactions, we have not yet had a problem with too many notifications.

• <@assistant> are other people in the channel who helped you out with the <user>. This eliminates multiple reports. You need to prefix each assistant with a @ before their username.

• <#drug> is the name of the drug which was involved, you can include one or more which were involved.

• • If a drug has many aliases, any are acceptable. For example, #alprazolam is just as good as #xanax.

• • If the encounter involved more general questions about a particular class of drug, you can use e.g. #psychedelics.

• <#update> If you forget someone, or new information comes in, you can always do a ~notify to update the channel on the situation. You need to prefix this with #.

Examples:

• ~notify #tripsit Tripsitme_4884 came in wanting to know the dosage of #DXM. @reality and I showed him the calculator.

• ~notify #tripsit Tripsitme_4884 @toasterlizard also helped #update.

When to Notify?

In general, all encounters in #tripsit which involve helping a user (for example through tripsitting, or answering questions) should be notified.

Often, people use #tripsit as a 'landing channel,' and we simply redirect these people to other channels on the network. People who come in just looking to chat can be directed to #drugs or otherwise without needing to do a notify.

When people are redirected to #sanctuary, we ask that you do a "~notify #sanctuary <user> is on <#drug> and is now chatting in #sanctuary". This will alert the TripSitters voiced in that channel and prompt them to engage in conversation.

In addition, there are sometimes cases in which people seeking help enter either #sanctuary or #home, it's okay to notify #tripsit normally for these encounters.

Missed Notifies

We try to make sure that all tripsit encounters are notified for, and this often means that a TripSitter is filling in notifies for another user.

In the case that a fellow staff member has missed a notification for an encounter they were involved in, try asking them directly to fill it in. If this can't be done in a timely manner, or the encounter in question did not involve any staff member then please make the notify yourself - but include the #missing' tag for statistical purposes.

Web Interface

TripBot as a web-interface located here. Your username is myuser@tripsit, and you can set a password by issuing the '~setwebpass mypassword' command. Please PM tripbot to keep your password confidential. Contact reality if you have any issues.

#tripsit Entry Alerts

Entry Alerts will alert you when a previously unrecognised user enters #tripsit who may potentially need help.

~gettripsitentries to receive them, ~notripsitentries to stop receiving them.

Report

Syntax: /msg tripbot ~report <user> <#room> <message>

As a Tripsitter, this command will primarily be used to get the attention of more staff to a problem user. This will send a notice to everyone voiced in the #room reported to. When responding to a report, send a ~notify to #teamtripsit to acknowledge that staff has followed through on the report and what the outcome was. Encourage regular users to employ use of this command, we rely on reports to know when thing's are not right.

Example: /msg tripbot ~report #drugs Teknos is being a jerk.

Default Nicknames

Sometimes a user will come in with a default nickname. We have a system for determining where they came from, which helps know why they're here. Further, knowing which channels they join on entry allows you to speak to them in the channel that they're are first focused on. Following the default nickname is a list of channels. The last channel in the list is the landing channel.

Immediate Attention

These nickname comes from one of our immediate assistance links. The TripsitMe nickname is used in various locations on the web, including the homepage of tripsit.me and /r/drugs.

Nickname	Channels	Source
TripsitMe	#tripsit	Various
Sapling	#tripsit	/r/saplings

Social Nicknames

The following greeted upon entry, this isn't always possible, considering the volume of people that join #tripsit. Do your best to be welcoming though!

Nickname	Channels	Source
Social	#drugs, #home	General chat @ tripsit.me
TripGuy	#drugs, #tripsit, #home	/r/drugs
Druggiter	#home, #tripsit, #drugs	/r/drugs
Tweaker	#drugs, #stims	/r/stims
Skiier	#drugs, #stims	/r/cocaine
Psychonaut	#psychonaut	/r/psychonaut

Applications and New Staff

If you or someone you know wants to join Team TripSit then direct them to this page.