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posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the deleting-your-most-valuable-asset dept.

Yesterday I got this global notice on Freenode IRC network:

We are moving past legacy freenode to a new fork. The new freenode is launched. You will slowly be disconnected and when you reconnect, you will be on the new freenode. We patiently await to welcome you in freedom's holdout - the freenode.

If you're looking to connect now, you can already /server chat.freenode.net 6697 (ssl) or 6667 (plaintext). It's a new genesis for a new era. Thank you for using freenode, and Hello World, from the future. freenode is IRC. freenode is FOSS. freenode is freedom.

When you connect, register your nickname and your channel and get started. It's a new world. We're so happy to welcome you and the millions of others. We will be posting more information in the coming days on our website and twitter. Otherwise, see you on the other side!

I didn't notice it until I was disconnected and reconnected today and found myself cancelled on the network. Since there is no blog post mentioned in the system notice, I went looking and I found a summary of this week's drama from Hugo Landau.

Freenode commits suicide, is no longer a serious IRC network

The old services database (registered nicknames, channels, etc.) is apparently gone. All of your registered nicknames and channels are gone. Anyone who wishes to continue to use Freenode (though at this point I honestly can't imagine why anyone would want to) must re-register their nickname.

In short, it seems there was no effort whatsoever to migrate the services database when migrating from Atheme to Anope. Not only that, this transition happened suddenly with, as far as I am aware, zero warning. Freenode has simply dropped all nickname and channel registrations without warning.

Even my channel ##hntop which was previously seized personally by Andrew Lee is no longer registered. It's literally open season for anyone who wants to impersonate someone else, steal their nickname, or take over someone else's channel.

What a strange move, to delete all users and channels and make no effort to move them to a new system, and not explain themselves publicly in a blog post!

Earlier Soylent coverage: Freenode Hijacked (Part 2)


Original Submission

Related Stories

Freenode Hijacked (Part 2) 45 comments

Freenode hijacked

Free Software Projects Defenestrate The Freenode IRC Network
Freenode IRC staff resign en masse, unhappy about new management
Developers flee Freenode after 'takeover' by Korean crown prince
Freenode Debacle Prompts Staff Exodus, New Network
IRC Will Never Die
On freenode and its commitment to FOSS (Andrew Lee's May 19th response)
https://libera.chat/ (new network)

https://kline.sh/

Freenode IRC operators now engaging in routine abuses of power

https://www.devever.net/~hl/freenode_abuse

There have been several allegations of this since the handover of the Freenode infrastructure to its new custodians, but I can now provide a first-hand account of one incident — because I am the victim of it.

A channel which I registered, ##hntop, has been taken over by Andrew Lee (rasengan) without my knowledge or consent.

...

Conclusions. In other words, it appears that a Freenode services admin, presumably rasengan,

  • forcibly dropped the channel and reregistered it so as to put themselves in control of it, and render me no longer in control of it;
  • clearly did this with the express purpose of frustrating an attempt by that channel's founder (me) to relocate it to another IRC network; and
  • cover up the fact that I had sought to do so.

Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:17PM (15 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:17PM (#1146001) Journal
    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:48PM (14 children)

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:48PM (#1146017)
      I'm having trouble following the drama, here. Is the debate about a technical approach or are we having a feelz-blowup?
      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
      • (Score: 5, Interesting) by progo on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:55PM (12 children)

        by progo (6356) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:55PM (#1146021) Homepage

        As far as I can tell, this started over a year ago when someone with a vision used legal maneuvering to take over Freenode's DNS, and never incorporated his "company" and his vision with actual Freenode staff. The staff gave up on Freenode and started Libera.chat in May 2021.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:12PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:12PM (#1146040)

          Don't forget the corrupt Christel "selling" freenode to Lee... I quote that because it wasn't her's to sell and just because she wanted to resign as a staffer does not give her the authority to initiate this.

          This corrupt individual should not be permitted near anything FOSS again

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:19PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:19PM (#1146186)

            We should create a registry of offenders, maybe round them up?

            jk, but I do get a kick out of the "valid" versions of cancel cultue when in reality it is just freedom of association and people need to take their lumps and move on, human nature isn't gonna change anytime soon

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:35PM (9 children)

          by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:35PM (#1146080) Journal

          Techrights has been one of the many projects which has been inconvenienced by the disruption of Freenode and therefore written a lot about it:

          (Partial list)

          The Freenode fiasco is not as simple as it seems but the gist is that while the new owners are not going out of their way to be harmful, they don't really appear to know what they are doing and are extra clumsy, so the net effect looks really bad and is about the same anyway. One of the few good things which may possibly come of the fiasco is that more people and projects will host their own IRC networks rather than voluntarily putting on the shackles offered by the SJWs at Libera.chat and elsewhere.

          --
          Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:08PM (4 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:08PM (#1146087)

            What SJW nonsense is happening at Libera? Enforced pronouns? Banned topics?

            • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:43PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:43PM (#1146106)

              Apparatchiks from the ADL in every channel, all channel background graphics set to the fag-flag, looking to report dissenting viewpoints as "White Supremacy Domestic Terrorists" or some shit. Then all the pudgy burger-farting FBI agents* will kneel for their black bulls and raise their fists before summary executions.

              * What happened to them anyway, besides the woke bullshit? Didn't the FBI have like fitness standards or something?

              • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:23PM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:23PM (#1146189)

                Masks off eh? Would it shock you to know that the US was founded on woke values? Wasn't perfect, and in fact had lots of problems we're still deaing with today, but the urge for freedom and justice was there.

                Do you have a problem with supporting freedoms for all? Or should some people only count as 3/5 of others?

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:48PM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:48PM (#1146202)

                  Come now, let's compromise. 4/5.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:56PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:56PM (#1146206)

                    And Pi == 3, because math is hard.

          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @10:08PM (1 child)

            by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @10:08PM (#1146148)

            >while the new owners are not going out of their way to be harmful, they don't really appear to know what they are doing and are extra clumsy, so the net effect looks really bad and is about the same anyway.

            A pattern which happens often enough to have a name:
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws#Grey [wikipedia.org]

            I take no position on the Freenode situation.

            • (Score: 2) by canopic jug on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:56AM

              by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:56AM (#1147427) Journal

              l0de had an interview with Lee [youtu.be], or someone posing as Lee, and there were some choice quotes [linux.org.ru]resulting from that showing that Lee has gone around the bend:

              (00:23:48) rasengan: In the next week or two we're going to continue, you know, finding toxic channels and closing them down.
              [...]

              (01:05:02) rasengan: I think that President Trump was an amazing president, greatly misunderstood by many, one of the best presidents of all time, one of the best presidents we will probably ever have. Um, you know, it's unfortunate that the election was stolen.
              [...]

              (01:07:09) rasengan: … you can look on-line, you can check all that, to anyone who knows how to use the Internet, knows how things work, it's clear that it was impossible for President Donald Trump to have lost that previous [2020] election, like, that's just impossible.
              [...]

              That first one seems to prove malice. However, I'll point out that malice and incompetence are not mutually exclusive. It's just that in the case of Lee's actions against Freenode, the latter were much more visible first.

              --
              Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
          • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @04:46PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @04:46PM (#1146581)

            Every single comment I see defending Lee always ends up telling on itself by not being able to resist saying bizzare shit about Trans people or SJWs. It's insane. The techright's posts have all been insanely biased as well. The massive list of projects that jumped ship from freenode didn't happen because they're all run by SJWs or overreacting. ffs.

            I had a 19 year old account on freenode and am sad to see it hijacked by some whackadoodle with too much money. Kind of hilarious how he couldn't resist proving all his detractors correct with his manic and destructive behavior.

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @08:35PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @08:35PM (#1146683)

            hahaha! i copied the gemini link from here (in firefox) and pasted into athena.
            then i was thinking why doesn't it work?
            in reality it loaded so fast, my brain was anticipating a staggered load with asset collection from multiple domains. lol

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:09PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:09PM (#1146037) Journal

        If you think of it as a hostile corporate takeover, you won't be far wrong. The people taking over are hostile to former management, users, customers, onlookers, observers, and they even kick puppies. I certainly can't see how they hope to profit, which is where the hostile corporate analogy falls apart. They're basically burning freenode to the ground.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:38PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:38PM (#1146009)

    It's got the 'Social Gestapo' written all over it.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:42PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:42PM (#1146014)
      "We can't word-smith our way around how badly we've behaved so we'll try making the other side sound worse."
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:36PM (#1146197)

        Just a little insurrection bro, why you gotta be such a sensitive snowflake? Hardly anyone died!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:34AM (#1146329)

        A reoccurring trope. The other side is worse than us, so our actions are justified.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:39PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:39PM (#1146012)

    Only one way for them to claim +o on ALL channels is to delete them all and force you to recreate them, I guess?

    The debacle that happened with freenode will be taught in the future of how NOT to go about things.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by dwilson on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:16AM (2 children)

      by dwilson (2599) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:16AM (#1146315) Journal

      The debacle that happened with freenode will be taught in the future of how NOT to go about things.

      No, it'll be largely forgotten in short order and no one will remember it in the future.

      Outside of (a small subset of) the technicalish sort of people that are found on sites like this, IRC is either entirely unknown or vaguely recognized a relic of the early internet. Either way, it is already largely forgotten.

      --
      - D
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @06:46PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @06:46PM (#1146622)

        And the people who do discover IRC today and start using it for the first time, mainly discover it through really old web pages that haven't been updated in a decade or more. All of those are still going to exist, so presumably some new users will go to Freenode using instructions from 20 years ago that they found googling something, and never know that the drama happened because it's such a niche topic.

        • (Score: 2) by DeVilla on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:39AM

          by DeVilla (5354) on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:39AM (#1147423)

          Given the hostile takeover of freenode, I think what happened may be the best case scenario. Now instead of finding a bunch of channels that had been hostilely deleted and recreated by the new owners, there's a good chance they users will find a non-existent or vacant channel.

          I'm actually happier with this. I was going to delete my ID since I heard the new owners were flaunting the number of users they had. But I was afraid that if I did, someone could recreate it and impersonate me and it might be reasonable to assume it's still me. Now it's not reasonable to assume anyone from before the calamity is the same user afterwards. The landscape of freenode has been razed and I can cast off freenode without concern.

          There will still be be historical references to freenode on the internet, but if someone does web search on why some ancient support channel on freenode is dead, I'm sure people with find references to this drama and that now they should go to OFTC or Libera.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by FuzzyTheBear on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:48PM

    by FuzzyTheBear (974) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @05:48PM (#1146016)

    The real suicide happened a month ago. They can just go to hell and into oblivion now.
    Trying to take over something public like freenode and impose a new law , your way of the highway is perfect to
    have a server like this one shutdown. Adios and like Rene used to say " good riddance "

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:04PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:04PM (#1146032) Journal

    As you might expect, my registered account is no longer registered.

    Those channels that I log into show a battle going on for ops. I see no reason to stick around, other than the lulz. This is what I was greeted with when I connected to the server:

    [06/14/21 19:20:30] -keitwo- [Global Notice 1/3] We are moving past legacy freenode to a new fork. The new freenode is launched. You will slowly be disconnected and when you reconnect, you will be on the new freenode. We patiently await to welcome you in freedom's holdout - the freenode.
    [06/14/21 19:20:41] -keitwo- [Global Notice 2/3] If you're looking to connect now, you can already /server chat.freenode.net 6697 (ssl) or 6667 (plaintext). It's a new genesis for a new era. Thank you for using freenode, and Hello World, from the future. freenode is IRC. freenode is FOSS. freenode is freedom.
    [06/14/21 19:20:47] -keitwo- [Global Notice 3/3] When you connect, register your nickname and your channel and get started. It's a new world. We're so happy to welcome you and the millions of others. We will be posting more information in the coming days on our website and twitter. Otherwise, see you on the other side!
    [06/15/21 15:21:58] * Disconnected (Remote host closed socket).

    After about four of those messages, my client finally connected, but as an unregistered user.

    I did, after a couple days, re-register my nick, just to prevent it being used maliciously by some other person. I'm certainly not high profile on freenode, but others have noted that channels and user accounts are being hijacked wholesale.

    The /list command shows 77696 users on 3953 channels, but I have little idea which of those channels have been usurped, and which have been reclaimed by their proper owners.

    /me joins the mass exodus from freenode

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:56PM

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @08:56PM (#1146116) Journal

      Lot of "new" in those messages. Where else have we heard that kind of "new" before? Brave New World. New Economy.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:06PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:06PM (#1146033)

    i got no beef in this game.
    however i got "auto-encrypted" when using irrsi and /connect chat.freenode.net (new server).
    going to irc.libera.chat or wats-it-called got me this:
    "Cannot join channel (+r) - you need to be identified with services"

    pleeaaase(!) don't require registration/identification to chat!

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:17PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:17PM (#1146047) Journal

      Registration has been a near-requirement on many IRC channels, for as long as I can remember. The server will accept your connection, but channel operators set their own privileges. It's no problem to mute or even ban unregistered users from a channel.

      Maybe libera requires all users to register before they can "speak" anywhere, but it's more likely the individual channel operators who have done so. You can join #otter-browser and talk without registering - I've been connected there since June 09.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:36PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:36PM (#1146054)

      I'm not sure if your specific example is due to a VPN or something, but IRCs besides libera.chat have been doing that for years. Some even had channel naming ettique indicating +r only channels. I personally find it annoying but given the spammers and griefers regularly showing up in registration-free channels/networks I can see why some have chosen curated responses to the problem.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:40PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 16 2021, @11:40PM (#1146200)

        "but given the spammers and griefers regularly showing up in registration-free channels/networks I can see why some have chosen curated responses to the problem"

        SN tried that out too, now look where we are! Human social groups require some amount of accountability and ground rules, anarchy has yet to produce any real value.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:58AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @03:58AM (#1146333)

          If hierarchy is the only way you can imagine forming groups with acceptable norms of behavior, you are the problem.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @08:53PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 17 2021, @08:53PM (#1146697)

            they should really tatoo all these required social norms into babies code in the future. social, just and normed genetic code for the win!!!

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by higuita on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:30PM

    by higuita (2465) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @06:30PM (#1146052)

    this weekend i entered it to check if any of my commonly used channels where all migrated to libera... all of then already had migrated!
    then i request the channel list and while there was still many channels there, 90% of then had only 1 guy and the biggest one was #linux (or something like) with 12 people there. Some of those one use in channels where simply a forgotten bot. This was huge change from 3 month ago!

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:14PM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday June 16 2021, @07:14PM (#1146071)

    You gotta give the guy credit for trying [youtu.be].

  • (Score: 2) by wirelessduck on Thursday June 17 2021, @01:24AM

    by wirelessduck (3407) on Thursday June 17 2021, @01:24AM (#1146253)
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