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