Resources
Find advocacy and informational resources outside of the NAP site itself on this page.
Community Venues
The nonaggression subreddit is available for sharing and discussing materials relevant to NAP theory, practical application of the NAP, and other matters of particular interest to nappers.
IRC
Anyone with an interest in the Non-Aggression Principle, whether in more fully understanding how people reason about it and apply it, in debating its consequences and proper application, or in simply enjoying the company of like-minded adherents to some form of the Non-Aggression Principle, are welcome to join us in the NAP IRC channel. Most IRC clients accept these commands to get you there:
/connect irc.freenode.net
/join #nap
The rules of conduct for the channel are simple.
Be Rational
If you wish to assert a point, be prepared to defend your position on rational grounds.
If you fail to effectively defend your position on rational grounds, be prepared to concede the point to someone who disputes it on rational grounds.
If you fail to effectively defend your position on rational grounds, and are not willing to overtly concede the point, be prepared to defer or drop the point in the spirit of "agreeing to disagree", in the interests of community harmony and a relatively high signal:noise ratio for discussion.
Do not dismiss arguments by the expedient of ignoring them.
While you may repeat an argument where necessary when it has been overlooked or ignored by others, you should not repeat arguments that have been rationally disputed if that disputation has not been effectively refuted.
Do Not Be Counterproductive
While you do not have to be 100% serious 100% of the time, silliness should be kept to a minimum.
Trolling is anathema.
Be Non-Aggressive
- Most importantly, do not aggress against others. This is obviously more difficult to do in online discussion than in face-to-face contexts, and is mostly likely to constitute some form of fraud (in the "deceptive manipulation" sense, rather than the common legal sense of the term "fraud").
Be A Good Neighbor
- Finally, abide by any additional rulings of a channel operator. If you take issue with the ruling of a channel operator, you should primarily address the disagreement in a rational manner to the operator in question. If you feel you cannot get a fair hearing from that channel operator, seek intervention by another channel operator. A channel operator who is found to willfully or negligently violate any of the rules of the channel may have channel operator powers stripped.
In short, you should not violate the NAP, you should not engage in fallacious argumentation or malevolent trolling (the latter of which is arguably a NAP violation), and you should generally behave with consideration for the time and values of others as channel residents -- which includes respecting the reason the channel exists. To violate these rules is punishable by corrective action by a channel operator, including ejection from the channel ("kickban").
The purpose of this channel is essentially to provide a welcoming, intellectually stimulating, and informative venue for discussion for NAP adherents. Sometimes, this involves challenges to the complacency of nappers from people who disagree with NAP-related ethical and political philosophy, but only when such challenges are earnest and thoughtful. Because the channel is primarily for the purpose of a NAP-friendly community, application of the rules will tend to be more lenient toward honest nappers than those who are not nappers. To some degree, the determination of who qualifies must depend upon the individual judgment of moderators. Rational, well-reasoned arguments may find traction with moderators; invective and accusation without rational, well-reasoned arguments will not, including the abuse of trigger words like "anarchy" and "aggression", or fallacious appeals to overly simplistic, trollish interpretations of terms like "freedom of speech".
The tendency toward leniency when dealing with honest nappers is not absolute. If you are a napper at heart but do severe damage to the signal:noise ratio to the point that other, more contributing community members may feel displaced, leniency evaporates quickly. While off-topic, "unproductive" discussion, or even unproductive debate, may be tolerated or even welcomed at times (especially among friendly nappers), when being unproductive slides into being counter-productive moderation will become more strict.
More Tips
We like it when new people in the channel introduce themselves, sharing information like their political and ethical philosophies, including the specific form of non-aggression principle they like and political labels with which they identify such as "anarcho-capitalist", "market mutualist", or "voluntaryist".
We especially like the sharing of web addresses for articles on discussion of inspiring subject matter (e.g. philosophical justifications for NAP compliant ethical systems), practical resources (e.g. guides to opting out of aggression oriented social systems), and NAP-relevant culture.
Inviting people who are not nappers and are not interested in the NAP is frowned upon. Because many people tend to regard public mentions of other IRC channels in the channels where they hang out as invitations, especially including trollish people, we also frown upon mentioning #nap publicly in other channels. We do not wish to have to exercise the kickban powers of channel operators to clear out a sudden influx of trollish NAP-haters.