Turmoil at the freenode IRC network
Turmoil at the freenode IRC network
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a longstanding protocol—or series of protocols—for creating online, text-based chat rooms. While many of the "channels" (as chat rooms are usually called) are highly useful to a wide variety of projects and organizations, including much of the free-software world, IRC seems to have a community that suffers from more than its fair share of disagreements, hostile forks, vitriol, and other types of divisiveness. It is perhaps no huge surprise, then, that the IRC world is currently undergoing another of its periodic upheavals. The largest IRC network, freenode, is embroiled in a messy dispute that has led to the mass resignation of many of its volunteer staff, the founding of a competitor network (run by the former staff), and its abandonment by multiple high-profile projects.