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Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

linux.chat

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Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#112
post #45
post #29

Freenode: Current global users 49980 Libera: Current global users 32769 Freenode's decline in users over the past month: http://www.hinner.com/ircstat/Socip_F_2.gif Comparison showing Freenode decline and Libera rise: https://netsplit.de/networks/top10.php Probably won't be long before Freenode is effectively dead. Edit: Also see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27502059 for a projection and more stats.

That low? IRC is truly dead But then again everyone is on Discord now so no surprise

IRC is not dead but I was also surprised by those numbers. Random Discord servers for niched things have more users than those combined and the big ones have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of users.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#113
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-bee... Abbreviated: A LLC has enough papers to prove that they own Freenode, and they have more money than the Freenode past volunteers to spend in court fighting over this. Hence the Freenode volunteers decided to abandon Freenode. Lesson: Even though you are a fully volunteer organization, always maintain an explicit paper trail that holds in court who owns a…

Interesting. So how much did Lee pay for Freenode? Did that all go to Christel Dahlskjaer?

As I understand it, Lee paid for the domain name and generously donated hosting -- and had done for years. Thus, he had keys to the house, and when he decided that he owned it, nobody could stop him short of a court injunction. But apparently there was no clear legal agreement, so nothing can be done.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's sort of my question. What's the end goal for Freenode? They're burning the network to the ground. Is there some positive outcome for them here that I'm missing?

Once they've burnt it to the ground, they'll have a blank slate. It looks like they're trying to make a job board for channers…? It might work; I'm confused enough to think I'm missing something. If others feel that same confusion, Lee's Freenode might be able to get some venture capital.

IRC is not exactly booming. Those who have fled during this exodus will probably not return. And trying to get people who don't already use IRC on board will be even more difficult.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it really any different than say.. Discord? or a subreddit? it always stuck me as amazing in how much autonomy IRC channels tend to have on various servers, especially as the internet has changed in the past 20 years. Between mobs wanting "accountability" for speech they don't like, the increases in liability, the MSM targeting any platform that has any free speech or autonomy to it (be it Substack, podcasts, E2EE…

I was removed as the founding moderator of a subreddit. Fun times.

Mind if I ask: was it for grammar, a label-hunting lynch mob, interpersonal politics, or not agreeing to immediately apologize for having "majority privileges?"

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#116
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does IRC work on mobile these days? Last time I used IRC seriously, I had to get off the train because I was chatting more on mobile than not and the mobile clients were basically un-serviceable (IIRC, protocol is too chatty and stateful for reliable connection on a device continuously changing its physical network connection).

Mosh+screen+irssi is way more usable in terrible network conditions than any of the more contemporary options

This has value. But I never go anywhere with terrible network conditions, so it has no value to me.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does IRC work on mobile these days? Last time I used IRC seriously, I had to get off the train because I was chatting more on mobile than not and the mobile clients were basically un-serviceable (IIRC, protocol is too chatty and stateful for reliable connection on a device continuously changing its physical network connection).

irccloud is a third party thing that makes this as seamless as other persistent chats but its not free

Ish. Their mobile experience is notably jankier than discord, but still best in class for IRC.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#118
post #6

Why doesn't the new Freenode staff just shut down the IRC servers? That would be a lot less work than killing off each channel individually.

That's sort of my question. What's the end goal for Freenode? They're burning the network to the ground. Is there some positive outcome for them here that I'm missing?

It seems like Schadenfreude or sour grapes.

Chat is a slightly more dynamic market than email for user acquisition, but it's still damn hard to get new users. Who but a bunch of rubes would use a previously nonprofit service that was publicly obliterated?

Or is the end goal a new, commercial brand strategy? No one in tech with any sense will use them.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#119
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he spends his time drinking and doing drugs, indulging in prostitutes, and splashing money around

For those downvoting, this is accurate according to his current lawsuit(s) against him. Certainly not exaggerated.

> For those downvoting, this is accurate according to his current lawsuit(s) against him

While the claims in the lawsuit may eventually be proven, the fact that something has been alleged in a lawsuit is not even remotely similar to substantive evidence that it is true.

Re: Last remaining 1000+ user community channel seized by Freenode staff

#120

If you remove the editorialization of events, it seems like the primary motivation here is to merge the ##linux and #linux channels, which actually makes sense from a new user perspective. It was always odd to me that some channel names had a double hash, while others had a single hash (and the two can co-exist iirc).

The double hash ones were meant to indicate that the channel wasn't "run" by anyone officially affiliated with the free software with that name. This isn't always consistent since there's no mechanism to determine who is officially affiliated with most free software. Additionally the status can change over time making some channels with double octothorpes official without renaming them.
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