Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 21:45 UTC (Wed) by zblaxell (subscriber, #26385)
Parent article: Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

> It would seem that mentioning "Libera" in the topic of any channel on freenode is enough to have the channel taken over by the freenode staff

Can confirm the Freenode channel gets taken over by something that identifies itself as freenodecom, wipes the operator and ban lists, and flips some mode bits.

A few percent of users had joined matching channels on both IRC networks before that happened--now it's more like 40% across a highly unrepresentative set of random channels. Many of the regulars who had been lurking in both channels have now dropped the Freenode one. Not a single word has been spoken on the Freenode channel since then. while the Libera equivalent has normal activity. It seems users already know where they need to go, and Freenode's new /topic policy is only telling them they need to get there faster.

Some other channels that did not mention the "L" word in /topic (but did mention it in-channel) have apparently not been disrupted.

Some channels kicked all their users with "see you on Libera" before Freenode got the chance to mess with them.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 21:53 UTC (Wed) by zblaxell (subscriber, #26385) [Link] (9 responses)

> flips some mode bits.

OK, some of those mode bits are "moderated" and "invite-only", so maybe the lack of chatter and falling user count are not surprising.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 22:09 UTC (Wed) by randomguy3 (subscriber, #71063) [Link] (8 responses)

I guess that could be seen as archiving the channel, in some sense? It seems like a strangely aggressive thing to do, though, if you don't *want* a channel's community to move.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 23:28 UTC (Wed) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link] (1 responses)

It's in line with Lee's apparent attitude that he bought several thousand users like they're trading cards for him to use as he pleases, though.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 27, 2021 0:02 UTC (Thu) by bentley (subscriber, #93468) [Link]

I think this is pretty in line with silicon valley VC tactics though: spend money to obtain users, and then pivot to start monetizing the users. It seems that Lee maybe wanted to start using Freenode to advertise his companies? Whatever the plan was, it looks like it backfired spectacularly.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 23:33 UTC (Wed) by idra (guest, #36289) [Link] (3 responses)

It's the other way around, previous channel owners locked the channel before leaving for good, as a way to indicate their users that the community has moved.

The hijacking bot removes the restrictions and set things to pretend the channel is still alive and well...

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 26, 2021 23:59 UTC (Wed) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link] (2 responses)

No, e.g. https://www.gentoo.org/news/2021/05/26/gentoo-freenode-ch...

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 27, 2021 0:23 UTC (Thu) by idra (guest, #36289) [Link] (1 responses)

Yes, channels were hijacked, but the "invite" only part was intntional pre-hijacking, in many cases.

These instructions circulated: https://gist.github.com/nurupo/91b0ebc7f85059b57ea7108a25...

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 27, 2021 1:38 UTC (Thu) by zblaxell (subscriber, #26385) [Link]

freenodecom enters channel, changed topic, deops original ops, then mode +i +m set, then ban list cleared, in that order, in the same second.

Yes some channels got out before the bot came, but the ones cleared by the bot left the channel closed.

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 27, 2021 10:07 UTC (Thu) by immibis (subscriber, #105511) [Link] (1 responses)

The bot "locked" the channel, and then redirected it to a ## version of the same channel, which is an unofficial channel not run by the actual project team.

Freenode is saying: fine, your team can leave, but we are making this channel unofficial and keeping your users!

Turmoil at the freenode IRC network

Posted May 27, 2021 20:43 UTC (Thu) by JanC_ (guest, #34940) [Link]

They did the same with many channels that never left Freenode but just referred to an alternative sister channel, and even at least one project that weren’t actively planning to move their official channels but (to stop the many questions about a move) just had a link to a web page where they said they would decide whether to stay or move once the dust settled.

Freenode stealing & blocking these channels pretty much forced all these channels to move.