Move IRC channels from Freenode

[Edu4rdSHL]

Hi,

Recently, an individual named Andrew Lee who is indirectly the founder of a company called "Freenode Limited" gained control over the Freenode domain names.

Importantly, this company has absolutely no operational involvement. It does not own any servers, it does not employ any of the staff. It does not sponsor any infrastructure. All the staff are unpaid volunteers, and all the servers are sponsored by third parties - on a rolling basis. No contracts exist between either Freenode Limited and the staff, or between Freenode Limited and the sponsors. Literally, the only piece of infrastructure that Freenode Limited (claims to) own, are the domain names. No money flows from Freenode Limited to the operational side of the network.

Now, it seems that Andrew Lee - despite zero involvement in the day-to-day operations of Freenode - has decided that ownership of the domains entitles him to ownership of Freenode as a network and community, and intended to give his own people administrative access to the network, without involving the staff team in this decision.

Finally, Freenode staff have stepped down. The network that runs at freenode.org/net/com should now be assumed to be under control of a malicious party. Andrew Lee will likely gain control over the NickServ database at some point.

The following statements are from official previous Freenode staff members who have worked voluntarily in the Freenode IRC network.

• kline: https://www.kline.sh/
• jess: https://gist.github.com/jesopo/45a3e9cdbe517dc55e6058eb43b00ed9
• Md: https://blog.bofh.it/debian/id_461
• niko: https://coevoet.fr/freenode.html
• edk: https://gist.github.com/edk0/478fb4351bc3ba458288d6878032669d
• emilsp: https://gist.github.com/pinkisemils/39d4ded8b1639b6f39dcab15618649f5
• mniip: https://mniip.com/freenode.txt
• Swant: https://swantzter.se/freenode-resignation/
• JonathanD: https://gist.github.com/JonathanD82/6518b93708e0aaf4b8f92c8e7200816d

If you want a detailed explanation -with future updates-, please read The Freenode resignation FAQ, or: "what the fuck is going on?"

Proposal

As a result of the above, my proposal is to move the IRC channels to a different network than Freenode. Here are some alternatives we could use:

• Libera Chat: https://libera.chat/ - In summary, libera.chat is the continuation of Freenode. The network is run by former Freenode staff members.
• OFTC: https://www.oftc.net/ - The Open and Free Technology Community is an IRC network that provides collaboration services to members of the free software community in any part of the world.

The first idea is to know your opinions about this change, then we can internally choose the IRC network that will be used if required. I am moving forward in the process of registering the project in Libera Chat, in case it is needed.

Please leave your opinions/reactions.

EDIT:

Final Decision

We have decided to run the IRC network on our own servers. The IRC address will be announced in the next few days.

Regards,
Eduard Tolosa