This link initiates a download.
It's a PDF. Firefox just displays it in the browser with no download prompt.
I guess it varies by browser since on Chrome there's a download (and a "file:///" URL in the tab).
“Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
81–90 of 307 posts
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#82This raised my eyebrow a little:
>At this point, I reach out to prawnsalad, a known person in the IRC space who has relationships with many people.
What Lee neglects to say here is that prawnsalad's work has been sponsored by Lee (via PIA) as far back as 2017.[0]
I have no reason to suggest that prawnsalad has acted improperly,[1] but he's not necessarily a disinterested party here.
[0] https://kiwiirc.com/blog/Kiwi_IRC_gets_sponsored_by_PrivateI...
[1] In fact I've worked with him in the past, and have met him many times in a social context IRL. I was involved with KiwiIRC until shortly before PIA sponsored his work.
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#83As an outsider who hasn't used IRC or Freenode in over a decade, this situation is impenetrable. Neither the posts by the Freenode volunteers nor this post by Andrew paint a coherent narrative I can follow (maybe I'm just old). Best I can gather, the flashpoint that triggered this series of events is a dispute over the control of the freenode domain name and DNS servers?
Hi this is Andrew from the post and freenode. Long story short, former staff were upset about a logo but the logos were there since the start. I wanted to share that. Secondly, staff claim there was a hostile takeover. I have owned freenode for years and was a great custodian as far as I can tell (only compliments from former staff some of which even flew into defcon and came to my house on my dime, internationally)…
I think you left out a few important things in that paragraph.
There was at least one significant dispute. Something about a DNS change that would cause many people to leave. What exactly was that?
Also, that Christel person or whatever their name, the fact that they apparently were kind of desperate for money at some point and so supposedly sold you something seems like you were taking advantage of them and the situation rather than getting involved from the goodness of your heart.
How can you own something like Freenode which is a completely volunteer effort that doesn't make money?
And what would be the point of "buying" it if you were not trying to monetize it? And if you were then how would that be in the spirit of "Free"node?
How is it "just in time" if the majority of the projects already left?
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#84Ouch! I idiotically deleted my account thinking that there was a risk it was about to be swept up by a VPN company. I don’t use IRC much anymore so I logged in for the occasion. I’ll admit I don’t honestly understand what did and did not happen very well, but the narrative that drove Libera Chat’s adoption is now bothersome, as it created an imperative to immediately stop using and delete Freenode accounts, and now it seems like the timing of which information got out was itself dishonest in order to strike first. Even if the majority of people still side with Libera Chat, I will now have serious trust issues with them as a network.
This whole situation is bad and I hope it becomes clearer what happened and why.
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi this is Andrew from the post and freenode. Long story short, former staff were upset about a logo but the logos were there since the start. I wanted to share that. Secondly, staff claim there was a hostile takeover. I have owned freenode for years and was a great custodian as far as I can tell (only compliments from former staff some of which even flew into defcon and came to my house on my dime, internationally)…
Why do you think nearly the entire staff was against this? If it was a hostile takeover by a small 'non democratic' group, would you not expect that only that group would quit? Also, if you were the owner of freenode for so long, why does almost no-one in the chat logs which have been made public seem to be aware of you?
Did you read the PDF? It’s actually really clear there. Lots of defamatory and false comments were made by the former staff - which are proven to be false in the document.
In terms of the ownership, it was on the main blog and website for the past 4 years [1].
Also checkout http://techrights.org/2021/05/21/freenode-facts/
Thanks!
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi this is Andrew from the post and freenode. Long story short, former staff were upset about a logo but the logos were there since the start. I wanted to share that. Secondly, staff claim there was a hostile takeover. I have owned freenode for years and was a great custodian as far as I can tell (only compliments from former staff some of which even flew into defcon and came to my house on my dime, internationally)…
Thank you for taking the time, Andrew. I have noticed this pattern in many online communities which are controlled by one or small group of people, I think it's straight from the playbook.
I agree and you’re very welcome!
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi this is Andrew from the post and freenode. Long story short, former staff were upset about a logo but the logos were there since the start. I wanted to share that. Secondly, staff claim there was a hostile takeover. I have owned freenode for years and was a great custodian as far as I can tell (only compliments from former staff some of which even flew into defcon and came to my house on my dime, internationally)…
Why do you think nearly the entire staff was against this? If it was a hostile takeover by a small 'non democratic' group, would you not expect that only that group would quit? Also, if you were the owner of freenode for so long, why does almost no-one in the chat logs which have been made public seem to be aware of you?
Maybe that's exactly the problem: Lee was being a custodian in the background. Tomaw or whomever decides they want control, so starts spreading falsehoods about interactions with Lee / Lee's intentions. Because Lee is so hands off, these falsehoods gain a lot of traction before Lee is aware of them / can do anything about them and now we're here.
Not saying this is the reality, but it doesn't seem far-fetched given the IRC drama I've seen in the past. Certainly not any more far-fetched than the "Lee wants to takeover freenode" (the entity he already owned for years) angle.
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi this is Andrew from the post and freenode. Long story short, former staff were upset about a logo but the logos were there since the start. I wanted to share that. Secondly, staff claim there was a hostile takeover. I have owned freenode for years and was a great custodian as far as I can tell (only compliments from former staff some of which even flew into defcon and came to my house on my dime, internationally)…
I think you left out a few important things in that paragraph. There was at least one significant dispute. Something about a DNS change that would cause many people to leave. What exactly was that? Also, that Christel person or whatever their name, the fact that they apparently were kind of desperate for money at some point and so supposedly sold you something seems like you were taking advantage of them and the situ…
The DNS dispute is when I, who owned the domains, was cut off from the domains and simply asked for it back. As you can see I was approached by freenode to buy freenode please don’t twist it.
Did you read the PDF with the screenshots?
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oof. Confidentiality, NDA's, and other business tools like it are at complete odds with open source, free software, transparency, and honesty. It's comments like this that cement the idea of getting off of Freenode to Libera.chat is the best thing we could do.
To say business tools and confidentiality are at odds with open source is comical at best. Some of us work on FOSS as a career. We still have to sign NDAs with customers, we still upstream patches to core components. Throwing your toys out of the ring because business is business is why open source has a funding problem.
Why the heck would a IRC network, run by volunteer, with infra graciously provided by sponsors, have to sign NDAs with anyone? Everything about Freenode should have been transparent.
Re: “Setting the record straight on Freenode” [pdf]
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
so you're willing to disclose it? I'm sure the other side would also be open to it if both sides are happy there should be no problem whatsoever this would completely settle the debate
The other side might be christel, not the libera.chat ops.
I think it's just Christel needed money and this guy took advantage and no one or almost no one with admin/operational duties was informed. So I think the legality of this transaction was dubious.
But, I don't think it matters that much anymore. People just need to get the word out that the network has a new name.