Slashdot Mirror

Can you imagine the equivalent chat face to face, perhaps in a bar?

Troll: "Your mother is a slut!!"
Nerd: "I agree she is rather free with her morals, but what makes you think so?"
Troll: "more aggressively because I like ****ing her" & punches...
Nerd: "mphmph" (mouth blocked by fist)

In the real world, we pay big men in black clothing to help such "trolls" leave licensed premises.

Perhaps its just because I mostly associate with gamers, but really, +b http://www.quakenet.org/faq/faq.php?c=52&f=62#62 was invented for trolls.

Now, don't quote me on this as I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure IRC still exists.

Say it with me... "mIRC is not a network."

IRC = Internet Relay Chat

mIRC = A particular program used to access IRC servers. See also X-Chat, Lirc, and many others.

Everytime an article like this appears saying "IRC is bad, mmmkay" I find it funny how that largest network in the world is almost never mentioned, almost like it's not a *real* IRC network.

In my mind, DALnet is one of the networks that accually has one of the lowest noise ratios around. Quakenet, the current leader in usercount, raises questions with me. Their usercount rose very fast, and I wonder about their userbase. I personally know only -one- person who uses quakenet. You mention DALnet, Undernet or EFnet and people identify much more readily.

People seem to forget QuakeNet has always had a no warez, pr0n or other real IRC content policy years before DalNET or others did the same. It was started by a few Gamers who wanted someone stable to chat without netsplits caused by the latest kiddie attacks. Most small networks start this way.

QuakeNet has hardly grown "very fast" as the stats show: http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/details.php?net=Qu akeNet&point=years That looks more like a constant growth rate to me and thats real users, not large bot nets. They even analyse the user base client versions (http://www.quakenet.org/news.php?item=190) and bots make up a very very small percentage.

Sure DALnet, Undernet or EFnet get all the notarity but a simple policy of creating a safe, clean IRC network where people can actually chat actually seems to be more popular.

Go figure ....

The advantage of IRC, though, compared to the Web, is that it is more reliable

You obviously haven't spent much time on QuakeNet

Just to debunk a few things here before people get started...

1) Some trojans already use non-IRC protocol. Some trojans already use more than one protocol.

2) Almost all of the larger networks run some type of anti-drone and anti-proxy system to prevent the problem from getting out of control. Said programs are widely available in a variety of forms for most IRC daemons.

Newer worms target smaller networks because of this, since smaller networks generally don't run said software (besides the usual nickname/channel services). Many worms also use private IRC networks, since the botnets can't be tracked and/or shut down as easily on them.

3) Most IRC servers are not hosted by people who lease servers at small hosting companies. A majority of servers linked to larger networks are either hosted by ISPs or by large entities with large amounts of bandwidth to burn.

Smaller hosting providers purposely shun IRC servers because they know that they can be a bandwidth burden (not to mention a DDoS target). Larger hosts, which monitor their bandwidth 24/7, usually don't object to hosting servers - all they have to do is blackhole the server's IP when a DDoS attack comes their way and the disruption is minimalized.

EFnet may have lost some high-profile servers lately, but the majority of IRC networks are doing well server-wise. QuakeNet (the world's largest IRC network) is in the process of starting a campaign to link more North American servers... and not because the network needs more servers (they could easily handle 300000 users in their current state), but because they want to draw in more North American users.

Well, if there was no point, why would the (arguably) largest IRC network have a very strict anti-warez rules? That's Quakenet, by the way - and yes, it is my choice of IRC network.

Clearly there is a demand for a warez-free (OK, no specific file transfer channel) network. And yes, I've just continued the trend and said "Don't worry, the IRC network I use rocks, even if Dalnet sucks!" ;)

Well, if there was no point, why would the (arguably) largest IRC network have a very strict anti-warez rules? That's Quakenet, by the way - and yes, it is my choice of IRC network.

Clearly there is a demand for a warez-free (OK, no specific file transfer channel) network. And yes, I've just continued the trend and said "Don't worry, the IRC network I use rocks, even if Dalnet sucks!" ;)

It's due to our chanserv. There are a large number of channels which are empty except for the channel service bot for most of the time.

For details see our site

Actually QuakeNet is amazingly stable.
And that's being the fastest growing irc network in the world - they are currently the 2nd largest network.

All of these are ISPs, but specifically geared toward gaming -- that is, low ping, ample game servers, admins available to kick cheaters, etc. Most of them have a presence on QuakeNet, for those IRC-inclined.

Someday the States will have a gaming ISP as well.

http://netsplit.de/networks/
People not only use IRC -- millions of people use it every day. I was first introduced to it as a low-cost way to keep in contact with European and Australian offices. Some nets are growing at an astounding pace, as well -- QuakeNet (where no warez or porn are allowed) is little over three years old, and recently hit the 60,000 simultaneous user mark.