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Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

blog.mibbit.com

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Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#62

Post by axod »

This is a sad thing in terms of Freenode, and users trying to access it from Mibbit, but will not affect Mibbit as such.

I remember using Freenode early on when I discovered open source. It was a fantastic vibrant place with hackers all over the place. openprojects, lilo, great...

Unfortunately, maybe it's got too big. The atmosphere has changed for the worse IMHO. In my opinion, the staff no longer represent the community.

Today, they put their own ideals ahead of their users. Their objections to Mibbit have been

  * It's not open source
  * It makes money
The 'abuse' reason I believe is a red herring. Abuse is easy enough to deal with, and them operating their own web client won't change how often people abuse using a web client. In fact their own web client is less secure than mibbit in terms of preventing abuse.

So, IMHO, a sad day for Freenode and all that they used to represent, but an opportunity to create a new haven for hackers.

Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#63

Post by ankhmoop »

abstractbill wrote: post #59
froo wrote: post #20

I know the "official" reason, but I'm curious if there's any correlation between the blocking of mibbit and axod's post about how much revenue mibbit was making here ( http://axod.blogspot.com/2009/06/revenue-browser.html ) - the timing is awfully suspicious. I mean, a day after the post they "magically" have their own web client up that they would rather you use. I had a look at the qwebirc client they implemented,…

assistance with ban evasion in exchange for money That is absurd.

Moving past the heated conjecture, the more accurate statement from a freenode staffer:

  njan: Xenos, for what it delivered, mibbit i) 
  disrupted a large number of our network users, and ii)
  used a disproportionate amount of staff time.

  njan: Xenos, we chose a solution that fixed those two
  problems - using staff time and disrupting our 50k users
  - whilst giving the mibbit users an alternative.

Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#66

Post by fishking »

jodrellblank wrote: post #45
sho wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that client is great ! A lovely, clean design, written in Python, GPL2. Damn, so many nice things written in Python .. guess it's time to learn it : /

great! "Disconnected from server: Connection to IRC server lost: Buffer overflow" Mibbit has never done that to me...

seems to be a setting: https://bitbucket.org/slug/qwebirc/src/tip/config.py.example...

Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#67

Post by jjs »

natch wrote: post #60
jjs wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You called him a "homophobe", and I provided a link that shows evidence to the contrary. A link to an article with a comment by you, so I know you've had the chance to read the comments. I stand by my accusation of FUD, and add one of trolling, as well.

I disagree with his position, but think I was getting this discussion too far away from technology. So yeah, trolling - not intentionally, but in effect yes. So I deleted my earlier comments.

Upvoted because I'm pleasantly surprised by your reply.

Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#69

Post by swombat »

ankhmoop wrote: post #63
abstractbill wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

assistance with ban evasion in exchange for money That is absurd.

Moving past the heated conjecture, the more accurate statement from a freenode staffer: njan: Xenos, for what it delivered, mibbit i) disrupted a large number of our network users, and ii) used a disproportionate amount of staff time. njan: Xenos, we chose a solution that fixed those two problems - using staff time and disrupting our 50k users - whilst giving the mibbit users an alternative.

My nose hurts from time to time. Maybe I should cut it off.

Re: Freenode has blocked the Mibbit client permanently.

#70

Post by ankhmoop »

axod wrote: post #62

This is a sad thing in terms of Freenode, and users trying to access it from Mibbit, but will not affect Mibbit as such. I remember using Freenode early on when I discovered open source. It was a fantastic vibrant place with hackers all over the place. openprojects, lilo, great... Unfortunately, maybe it's got too big. The atmosphere has changed for the worse IMHO. In my opinion, the staff no longer represent the com…

Today, they put their own ideals ahead of their users. Their objections to Mibbit have been: It's not open source, It makes money

Working with Mibbit clearly costs freenode time and resources that they would rather not spend. Since Mibbit makes money, perhaps you should consider entering into a contractual relationship to provide them with financial incentive and other guarantees, in exchange for their investment in supporting your service?

The 'abuse' reason I believe is a red herring. Abuse is easy enough to deal with, and them operating their own web client won't change how often people abuse using a web client.

The abuse from Mibbit has been the only reason (in months) that I've had to set myself as an operator and ban users. As a user, I don't feel this is a 'red herring'.

So, IMHO, a sad day for Freenode and all that they used to represent, but an opportunity to create a new haven for hackers.

I'm perfectly happy on Freenode, and our IRC channels are quite vibrant. I hope you can reach a resolution with the Freenode staff.

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