/Welcome to #bujinkan ! ! !

Welcome to the Bujinkan (I)nternet (R)elay (C)hat channel, #bujinkan, on the Undernet network. The channel was initially set up on the heian.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp (University of Tokyo) server on Wednesday, September 11, 1996. It found a permanent place on the Undernet in early November, 1996.

We hope you enjoy this channel and find it a great way to meet other Bujinkan students, keep up on current events, discuss techniques, swap files and ideas, etc.

It is my hope that this channel will serve as a positive contribution to the international Bujinkan community, providing a forum for unity.

/Purpose of #bujinkan

The purpose of #bujinkan is to make use of the IRC medium as a positive internet contribution to Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi's international Bujinkan organization (What can I say? My homepage sucks, and I had to do SOMETHING =). We are now well into the "Information Age", and it is in conformity with the warrior's ethic to make use of what is at hand in the most productive way possible. I believe this holds true in everything from Taijutsu to the internet and am sure that if Japan's ancient warriors had access to the computer, they would have used it to further their aims to the greatest degree.

The Bujinkan is now an international organization, and the internet has proven to be a fast and economical way of getting information around the world. #bujinkan has the POTENTIAL to be put to use as a positive tool for Bujinkan members and non-members in quest of information about it. If the channel becomes a negative, unproductive tool for the Bujinkan, it will be discarded like all things unuseful in favor of a better way. We can all do our best to keep things flowing productively.

It is NOT the intended purpose of #bujinkan to be used as a training substitute. Please do not stay home from class to IRC. If you are addicted, quit IRC now and get yourself some help at alt.irc.recovery. We are not trying to turn users into armchair martial artists. Bujinkan training is physically experiential by nature, and there is absolutely no substitute for actually hitting and getting hit by your instructor.

/Channel Rules

I can't think of anyone who actually enjoys rules. Rules can be seen as a necessary inconvenience, but people only seem to mind or notice them when they interfere with their lives. The rules of this channel may seem inconvenient to people who may feel it necessary to disrupt the normal operation of the channel for some reason. To everyone else, they should come as common sense and not get in the way of everyday channel use.

Channel operators will enforce rules on #bujinkan for the benefit of everyone. You may find yourself *kicked* from the channel for:

1) flooding the channel (flooding is generally regarded as entering more than 5 lines into the channel in quick succession so as to infringe on other users' conversations),

2) swearing or using racial slurs (what constitutes swearing will be at the discretion of the operators online at the time),

3) harassing users of the channel with repeated unwanted messages, file transfer attempts, flooding, scripts, etc. after being warned not to do so,

4) maintaining clones on the channel,

5) instigating or contributing discussion which does not reflect positively on the Bujinkan, such as getting involved in childish Bujinkan vs. Genbukan arguments, "My instructor is better than yours" type arguments, etc. Polite discussion is good. Classless arguing is stupid.

You may find yourself *banned* from the channel for:

6) violating the above rules repeatedly,

7) attempting to gain unauthorized acces through illegitimate means such as hacking, or lying in order to receive operator status.

The above rules should be unrestrictive to those wishing to use #bujinkan for its intended purposes. If you have questions about any of these rules or anything else about #bujinkan, feel free to ask an op online, or email any of us directly.

/Operator Status

#bujinkan has now grown to the point that there are quite a few people from different countries representing the Bujinkan as channel operators (ops). Ops are those people who have both IRC experience and experience in the Bujinkan. Both of these areas are important for the one who has responsibilities on the channel. IRC experience is necessary to maintain control of the channel in the face of netsplits, flooders, hackers, etc. Bujinkan training experience is necessary in order to help newcomers answer questions and to provide more accurate information than someone who has only been training a few months may be able to give.

If you would like to be a channel op, you should direct your questions to someone who has an access level of 400 or greater on the channel. To find out what access level someone has, type "/msg w access #bujinkan ". An online op application form is now available on the homepage. If you have a question, the best thing to do is 1) ask, 2) be patient, 3) don't beg.

#bujinkan ops are expected to act as responsible representatives of the Bujinkan and the channel. Kicking / banning users for trivial reasons or abusing ops priveledges in other ways may result in removal of ops status and/or access level. With knowledgeable and resonsible people looking after the channel, it will continue to grow into a place for friendly discussion and learning.

/Homepage

Many IRC channels have accompanying homepages on the WWW where people may learn more about the channel, its main focus, and its operators and users. #bujinkan now has a basic homepage at

http://bujinkan.graycastle.com/irc/

for people who are interested. Channel ops and users are more than welcome to offer input on its design and to submit pics, etc. for its continual development. This is not my project only, and it would be good if the page reflected the variety/creativity of the channel users themselves.

/PRP (The Public Relations Push)

To help increase use of this great channel, we would like to encourage all users to advertise the channel as much as possible via word-of-mouth, email, postings to related newsgroups, other IRC channels, etc. With everyone's help we can boost user population to respectable levels. Please help out with this as much as you can. A word here and there can do wonders.

/Credits

Many people have given helpful advice in different areas regarding #bujinkan. I would like to thank the following for their advice and encouragement:

Of course, this whole channel is a mere shadow of what Hatsumi Sensei is doing and has given to all Bujinkan students. His teaching and presence is an inspiration to all on the warrior path, and it is my hope that this channel will bring only positive reflections to what he has worked so hard to bring about in his organization and in his students.

/That's all folks!!

Thank you for reading the #bujinkan information file. Be sure to stop by often!!