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 its 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 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 rooms 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.

Check out our tripsitting guide.

Redirecting Users

There's no telling when a serious case will come in that could seriously alter the mood of other people in the room. It can also become quite chaotic and difficult for people under the influence when there are multiple conversations going on in the room at once. For these reasons we attempt to keep the assistance channels relatively clear for users who are in need of help. We do so by assessing the situation of the person, and then suggest they join another room on the network if necessary. Also, sometimes a user enters the channel looking for general chat. In both of these situations, you can direct them to an appropriate channel.

Some good channels to keep in mind for different circumstances are:

• #drugs - For when the person has high-energy and wants a super-active chat. Avoid suggesting this channel if the person is easily confused or in a fragile mental state.

• #lounge - Generally a lot more quiet than #drugs, this room can be used as a back-up room if #sanctuary is too crowded, or for smaller chats with people who want to socialize, but not in #drugs

• #sanctuary - 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. This room has enforced positivity knowing that people who are currently on substances will be here. Avoid sending more rambunctious or loud users here.

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 unless there is another situation happening in the channel - though these cases should eventually be moved to #sanctuary. You can take your time to make sure they're okay before moving them.

General drug questions may be answered in the assistance channels, there is no need to redirect these cases unless the rooms are busy.

Managing Tripsitters

The #tripsitters channel is our control room for discussing and managing tripsitting encounters. As a tripsitter staff member you will be expected to lead other people who are helping in providing an organised and quality tripsitting experience to our users.

This involves pulling people who are helping out in the assistance channels into #tripsitters, and using it to give tips and help to people who are helping. You can also monitor this channel to see a summary of activity in the assistance channels, and receive alerts for when somebody needs help or may not be receiving help (are talking to themselves in the channel).

Emergency Situations

Rarely, a user who joins an assistance channel 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, with a note of what the user needs to do. For example, in the past we have quieted users with the reason of "Call EMS immediately".

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 the assistance channel, refer the situation to a moderator.

Crowding

If a user is already being helped, 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.

Keep the Peace

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. If a user is trolling, becoming overly aggressive, or otherwise causing a problem, staff may ~quiet (syntax below) them in #tripsit and #sanctuary, and ~report them in other channels. Non-staff are welcome to ~report them, and a staff member will come by to take care of it.

Populate other channels

Move conversations to appropriate channels, for example: #psychonaut' for spiritual talk, #lounge for general chat, #psychopharm for chemistry discussion, #sanctuary for positive trip environment' 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', #tripsit1, #tripsit2, #tripsit3': Our flagship channels 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!)

• #tripsitters: Our "control room" for discussing and managing experiences in #tripsit. Use this channel to discuss tripsitting cases, and to help other tripsitters.

• #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.

Other

TripCloud

TripCloud is our document handling platform, hosted here. We have a large amount of documents here on different subjects.

• Only staff members have access to the cloud by default. Message an admin if you lack access.

Emails

Staff members are entitled to an @tripsit.me email address. This email should be used for staff communication only.

/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! If you're a heavy reddit user, you can ask Teknos to be made a moderator on the subreddit. Once this happens, you will be asked to comment and flair posts.

Wiki

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

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

Notifications are a main source of communication on our network. As a tripsitter, you will receive general notifications and updates via tripbot notifications in PM. Tripbot also automatically generates reports for tripsitting encounters, which you can monitor in the #tripsitters channel.

You're not required to do notifications for tripsitting encounters, however if you would like to go above and beyond, you can certainly make a new notify with extra details not contained in the first notify, called an update notification. The details of how to send an update notify are so:

Syntax: /msg tripbot ~notify <#room> <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 who was 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 new information is. Maybe someone's experience quickly spiraled downhill, or perhaps they improved!

• <@assistant> are other people in the channel who helped you out with the <user>. 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> This signifies that the notify you're sending is not for a new person, but updating the status of someone who has already been helped.

Examples:

• ~notify #tripsit Tripsitme_8192 came back in to let us know that they got a friend to watch over them.

• ~notify #tripsit Tripsitme_8192 @toasterlizard also helped #update.

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.

#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 <#room> <user> <message>

As a Tripsitter, this command will primarily be used to get the attention of more staff to a problem user in channels besides the #tripsit channels or #sanctuary. This will send a notice to everyone voiced in the room reported to. In dealing with a report, you will have the ability to ~quiet users (explained below), and we ask that you 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 things are not right.

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

Note

"Syntax: /msg tripbot ~addnote <user> <message>

This command is for adding notes to users. The user won't get notified about it. The intention is to put information in here that you find relevant. Some examples would be if you quieted a user and forgot to put in a reason. You've given a user a verbal warning or if a user is asking about dangerous combos / refusing HR advice.

Quiet

Syntax: /msg tripbot ~quiet [time(<integer><units>)] <user> <reason>

[time] is optional if you intend to manually remove the quiet when the situation has passed, where <integer> is a number and <units> is either h or m, for hours or minutes respectively.

Example: (in either #tripsit, its overflow channels or #sanctuary) ~quiet 5m Teknos Being a jerk.

This command can be given to users to give them a 'time out' in a room. This will prevent the user from talking, but only in this room. You can set the time limit to your discretion, but generally small issues don't need more than a 5-10 minute quiet to get the point across. There is a

Timeout

Syntax: /msg tripbot ~timeout [channel] <user> <reason>

In other channels, such as #drugs, we prefer that tripsitters use the ~timeout command, which will quiet a user for a ten minute period. If a user is given three timeouts within an hour, then they will be permanently quieted until a moderator can review the situation.

The channel argument may be omitted if you run the command in the channel, rather than in PM to tripbot.

Applications and New Staff

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