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Oldest IRC Server Going Offline

Matty_ writes: "Looks like the oldest IRC server in continued operation on the Internet is going to be turned off for good. According to the server's MOTD, the server will be shut off no later than January 1. Aparently the University of Colorado can no longer support the software and hardware, as well as provide the network resources, specifically the extra bandwidth required for the various DoS (Denial of Service) attacks from which EFnet servers still suffer. They chose not to accept the liability and decided to retire the server."

256 comments

  1. Shucks by whmac33 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess we'll have to use the other IRC server now.

    1. Re:Shucks by 3th3rn3t · · Score: 1

      its sad indeed :( oh well, life does go on. i hope other EFnet servers live up and provide the same quality service as irc.colorado.edu did. just a big "thank you" to all the people involved for making it work for 12 years now. ;)

  2. American Efnet server list? by mlrtime · · Score: 0

    This brings to me a question, does anyone know of a reliable list of efnet servers in the US? I've been using irc.prison.net and constantly cannot connect.

    1. Re:American Efnet server list? by ilsa · · Score: 1

      A current list of efnet servers can be found at efnet.org. I realize that sometimes this site is somewhat less than reliable itself, but it is updated regularly to reflect reality.

      --
      -- I Am Not A Terrorist.
    2. Re:American Efnet server list? by vax · · Score: 2, Informative

      Efnet as well as Dalnet and a few other major IRC networks are bombarded by script kiddies on a daily basis, dalnet almost shut down like last year because of it. a bunch of morons with stolen cisco routers were flooding them with dos attacks. which made chatting on the network about as fun as sending one line e-mails at a time. the problem isnt the servers its the morons who are against them. IRC is a free service and if people dont start to respect it, its eather going to slowly leave or start charging. I dont know about you all but i use it regularly and i would personally like to give these 12 year old h4X0rs a peice of my mind. or perhaps a visit from the fbi might help change thier ways eh? well iam not wasting my time tracing a bunch of wanna-bes but something certainly needs to be done.. perhaps a new irc protocall wouldnt be a bad idea.. following the example of ssh perhaps, making it secure and allowing the servers hosting irc to reject all the DoS crap they get daily.
      just a thought
      VAX

      .

    3. Re:American Efnet server list? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Call the FBI?

      What we need is an elite force of Ninja Jedi warriors that could be called in to "neutralize" a problem. These specialized warriors would ofcourse carry special weapons, but mainly they'd just beat the shit out of the offending person and smash their computer.

      This could include the following people...
      1. Spammers. personally, I think they should be tied down naked over a fireant hill with one of those "thumpers" they have in dune stuck where the sun don't shine...
      2. Script Kiddies.
      3. Any web designer who creates a website that traps you with zero second redirects, javascripts that turn off all your buttons etc.

      I'm also thinking, instead of fighting .NET, why don't we just send in the Ninja Jedi's with some thermite charges and slag the servers (or we could just wait a few minutes, the last build of .NET did that pretty much by itself!)

      Thats my idea. If you'd like to sign up, just drop me a line :-)

    4. Re:American Efnet server list? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The american servers suck. Use irc.homelien.no, best one I have found (I also live in the US)

    5. Re:American Efnet server list? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hmm its not ninja jedi warriors, *shesh* some people dont get it, its phreak ninja timberjack jew bagel samuri, and they use secret ninja trick they dont need no stinkin thumpas.

  3. sad, sad by TheM0cktor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    this is sad - for the first time the 133t cyber d00dz have won. Freedom->abuse of freedom.

    1. Re:sad, sad by Lunastorm · · Score: 1

      It is a shame. I'd recommend somebody DoS'ing the DoS'ers, but when one thinks about it, it might be futile because it seems that the people who would DoS a server are against technology, which is why they use it in malicious ways in their effort to drive people away from it.
      Besides, a stoning might work better. :)

      --
      You die too easily.
    2. Re:sad, sad by Phork · · Score: 1

      i ran a smallish irc server for a while(250 users), and several times when people released flood bots in a large channel they were going to fast to be able to controll, so i would simply ping -f them, and it would slow them down alot, so i could then ban and kline.

      --
      -- free as in swatantryam - not soujanyam.
    3. Re:sad, sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoever modded this up should be shot. Abuse of freedom shouldn't be funny. All it does is makes the people in charge (don't kid yourself, they ARE in charge) want to take it all away.

      I'm gonna go out and blow apart some road signs with my 12 guage now, time to vent.

    4. Re:sad, sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always just release the anti-flooder flooder bots, works every time.

    5. Re:sad, sad by skullY · · Score: 1

      Well we have anti-anti-flooder flooder bots!

      --
      When I was able to do my own spam-armoring, you got a chance to email me. Now you can only hope I see your reply.
    6. Re:sad, sad by EvilAlien · · Score: 1

      For the first time? Hardly. The little bastards "win" all the time, the manage to disrupt various services to give themselves the confidence boost needed from living a pitiful little life in their parents basement using stolen credit cards to access porn. Thankfully, the vast amount of porn available means they are least know what a women looks like...

      --
      perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
    7. Re:sad, sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. And true porn freaks know that the original forum protocol is the best way to get it.

    8. Re:sad, sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not the first time. Last year irc.gmd.de of IRCNet passed away for the same reason along together with a fusion of the scientific instute who ran it. See also this bit about that topic. (sorry, german)

    9. Re:sad, sad by SimCash · · Score: 1
      So, if we are so good - why can't we help prevent this sort of stuff. The reply to the complaint "I am surrounded by turkeys!" is to ask how smart you can be if you let the turkeys surround you. A similar cry here - how stupid are we if we continue to let the "l33t cyber d00dz" spray paint our cathedrals of knowledge and commerce with their childish displays of (essentially) faceless anonymous power.

      Or is it that we are just soooooo apathetic that we don't care (yup, that's probably where I fit in, though I, personally, do not have the OS and TCP skills to do anything anyway)?

      Maybe we need to form a sort of "Starry Chamber" (say it fast) whose purpose is simple - massive (extra-legal) e-retaliation against any virus writers or other exploiters of the common good. Mutter mutter mutter, now where did I leave my e-hanging rope?

  4. What they don't understand by The+Great+Wakka · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The server will be flooded from now to Jan1. People will want to just chat on it "one more time"; the costs will be much higher than normal.(Also the 5|41P7 81DD33Z will want one more go at it) Of course, that means that the University may pull the plug on it even earlier...

    --
    Everything is mainstream now.
    1. Re:What they don't understand by aka-ed · · Score: 1

      The server will be flooded from now to Jan1. People will want to just chat on it "one more time"

      An influx of former users coming in to type a bit of ascii (which I think is unlikely to happen in large numbers anyway) would not likely strain the bandwidth of a server that's been dealing with years of deliberate DoS floods.

      --
      I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
    2. Re:What they don't understand by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 1

      Heh, what you should be worried about are the kiddies who are going to 'Just DoS one more time'

  5. That sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Too bad they can't keep that little piece of history going!

  6. Liability? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Liability? So they're taking it off to avoid being infected and spreading DDOS?

  7. dalnet's all good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    efnet went down. i'm still cool with dalnet, though.

    ps -- first post

    1. Re:dalnet's all good by mpegman · · Score: 1

      EFnet has great channels Like #videopimp and #futuramavcd but DALnet is great too.

    2. Re:dalnet's all good by vax · · Score: 1

      hmm i couldnt tell if you were, A. Advertising your lame channels or B. A actual fan of videopimp and futuramavcd. Not that iam dissing DivX or getting movies online but is this really the place to get more hits to your rooms? i mean if i made a room today on say dalnet called #IamMakingMoneyOnAllYouMoronsThatComeInOffSlashdot would it really benefit the community for me to paste it all over the comments? hmmm? yea and besides those not intrested in the "videopimps" can check out some of the more interesting channels on EFnet, theres a nice little feature called a chat list *grin*

      VAX

    3. Re:dalnet's all good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Making money off of IRC channels? Bwahahah, thats about as feasible as making money off of open source software.

    4. Re:dalnet's all good by vax · · Score: 1

      .. hmm shows how much you go on dalnet these days, you should see some of the bullshit bots, make money, well if ad banners can make money than so can fake channels and lotsa spam bots.

  8. EFnet history by Harumuka · · Score: 5, Informative

    Four years ago, Jarkko Oikarinen wrote a history of EFnet. In late '9, irc.colorado.edu reached 1000 users. Interesting read for anyone interested in how EFNet became what it is today.

    --
    What do you think of MusicCity now?
    1. Re:EFnet history by Daemon42 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, I put together the EFNet history page on the-project.org and included that email
      from Jarkko. Back when the colorado.edu server was serving 1000 clients that was a big
      deal as it represented something like 10% of the total EFnet client load and that's when
      we had almost 200 irc servers (before europe branched off). At other times in its history
      it was a hub server connecting many of the servers in the western states, and at times
      *.au, with up to 13 peer and leaf servers linked. Over time the network situation at CU
      changed a bit and we could no longer be an open client server, or a large hub. Later
      still, after some particularly heavy attacks the client access had to be restricted to
      *.edu, and any ISP with Colorado or a few surrounding Mountain west states that
      bothered to contact me. Limiting access helped quite a bit actually, but that's why
      most people can't get on now.

      Only the ITS management at CU know for sure why the decision to pull the plug on
      the server was made. The DoS attacks have actually tapered off almost entirely
      in the last couple months due to changes to the server, and to EFNet in general.
      Oh well.

      ian

  9. that sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lame how servers get attacked like that.

  10. Kiddies by Arecibe · · Score: 0

    It really ticks me off when little kids ruin the internet for the rest of us. Do the world a favor, and give out infected copies of B.O. over IRC

  11. it would be interesting if... by Hercynium · · Score: 2, Insightful

    someone volunteered their bandwidth to host the machine... they could even get colorado.edu's sysop to update the DNS entry.

    Other than that, I can't see much else to do with it. It's only worth nostalgiac value. I'll be watching eBay for when someone puts it on sale. *grin*

    --
    I'm done with sigs. Sigs are lame.
    1. Re:it would be interesting if... by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      heh been up for years...I wonder what the hardware on it is?

      heh tho, I doubt it will get sold on ebay no matter what. If the hardware is reasonable in any way, it will probably be ressurected as a test box, else it will probably languish sitting next to someones desk until it finnaly gets thrown in ther trash heh

      least thats how universities I know work heh.

      -Steve

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  12. EFNet DoS by kelsey.grammer · · Score: 0, Troll

    Bunch of lamers.

    --
    I reflect your pompous signature back upon you.
    1. Re:EFNet DoS by ThatComputerGuy · · Score: 2

      Yeah, the lamers DoS the irc network, and us /.ers DoS the network's webpage... yeah, aren't we just great?

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    2. Re:EFNet DoS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I seriously hope you're just kidding and really aren't someone who doesn't know the difference between loading a web page to READ it and simply DoS'ing it for no reason other than to annoy.

    3. Re:EFNet DoS by vax · · Score: 1

      although, for the sake of those of us with humor, we as a community do have that effect on things dont we = ) perhaps it shows the power of thousands of eager geeks = ) i can remember when i was on 56k and trying to read pages linked off slashdot. It was usually something like "Connecting to "fill in url"......
      and the the progress bar going about this much every few mintues
      |=| | (such wonderful graphics i know)
      followed by a cannot load site error, lol
      but hey web masters cant complain we also spend alot of $$ as a community and they probly make alot off our popup adds alone = )
      lemme see 10cents a click times 50,000 tricked slashdot users.. yea sounds like we should all make sites and "get rich quick"

      VAX

      ..

  13. Ah the sadness of it all by imrdkl · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    > But ICQ is proprietary!?!?!

  14. special treatment by acm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't understand why they can't just limit the server for use of the students of CU (hey, and maybe CSU too :).

    I've tried logging in to that server countless times under the colorado.edu domain and have gotten rejected due to too many users logged in at ocne. You'd think they'd give some priority to their students.

    1. Re:special treatment by Sho0tyz · · Score: 1

      I think they do to some extent. I'm not a Colorado student, but I attend another midwestern university. I can always get on irc.colorado.edu from a computer on campus, but can never got on from my ISP at home. I know Stanford used to limit use to only clients on internet-2, maybe Colorado does the same? I suppose they could go a bit farther and limit access to only Colorado students, but then again how many college students use IRC anymore? I only know one other besides myself at my school. If they limited to Colorado students only I'd imagine the server would be almost entirely unused.

    2. Re:special treatment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More college students use it than you think. Seriously, I cannot even recall how many people I know that use IRC at school and how many people I got into it. Some of my coworkers in college use it for having rooms to chat with their virtual friends in games (everquest, quake 3, etc.). I use it for gettin I've only been using IRC since 1995, but have appreciated it's ease of file servers, communication, and known constant exploits (win 95 users' open ports, the com1 nick, etc.).

    3. Re:special treatment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to be geographically correct, then Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, that's the "mid" West. Or you could just count Oregon since it's in the middle of the west. Depends how you want "mid" to be. North-south, east-west.

      Chicago is almost in the mid-East. It's further to the East than to the West, so if we're going to be geographically misnaming things. I live out in Illinois, (transplant from a true Western state) and it's amazing how many people fancy Illinois and Texas to be "the one true West." Nope, sorry. Texas is mid-south. Chicago is mid-North. The number of yokels who think they're ranchers because they've got a coupla cows is amazing. (Hint: you're not a rancher if your major source of income is livestock, AND if you don't own a ranch, AND live on it.)

    4. Re:special treatment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you don't understand. Anything East of Nevada is "Back East", including Colorado.

    5. Re:special treatment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Chicago is almost in the mid-East.

      Chicago's in the middle east? Damn, I need to update my atlas.

    6. Re:special treatment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's crazy, the middle east is too peaceful and stable for Chicago.

    7. Re:special treatment by vax · · Score: 1

      yea but then the Admins would want priority and then the Co-Admins, and then the GoFers(go for this go get that also called "bitches") would want it as well and next thing you know the homeless man outside CSU is going to sue untill he gets a laptop with wireless networking and a account on the CSU EFnet server..

      = ) thats how the irony usually plays out
      .....

    8. Re:special treatment by malfunct · · Score: 1
      No if you study much Geography Illinois is definitely in the region that is commonly called the "mid-west". Montana Idaho are definitely in the "northwest" and Arizona and possibly Utah are in the "southwest".

      The wierd naming convention stems from the days when the entirety of the United States lay east of the Mississippi river. I guess I would have to agree with the people, if I had to walk west for weeks to get to a place I'd consider in the far west too.

      --

      "You can now flame me, I am full of love,"

  15. Another network? by autopr0n · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From what I understand, EFnet is a real mess because they don't use things like ChanServs/nickservs, etc, so stupid script kiddies will try to DDoS servers and users in attempts to take over channels (yes, extremely stupid)

    I wonder why the colorado.edu people didn't just move to another network? Undernet, I believe, supports more advance authentication methods. There's slashnet :) and some others. They could also have tried going it alone, as a server for the local university.

    I don't really think IRC is dying per-se, but these big networks are really becoming untenable. In my experience, it seems to be dividing up into niche community networks like slashnet, espernet (RPG stuff) with a few major rooms -- such as #slashdot and #kuro5hin on slashnet -- where most people hang out.

    Also, in all this time I never knew what Efnet stood for, just finding that out was worth clicking the story :P

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:Another network? by realdpk · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "From what I understand, EFnet is a real mess because they don't use things like ChanServs/nickservs, etc, so stupid script kiddies will try to DDoS servers and users in attempts to take over channels (yes, extremely stupid)"

      Not to mention that, at least for a time, many of the opers and admins were kiddies themselves. EFNet is just in bad shape all around. Chanserv/Nickserv would be great, but the mentality would live on somehow.

      Dal.net hasn't sucked since I moved there. The best part about it is you can /server irc.dal.net and pretty much get connected every time, whereas with EFNet you have to hunt around for a server because they never figured out how to cooperate.

    2. Re:Another network? by ThatComputerGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're completely correct about EFnet being a real mess, and it is in large part due to takeover attempts. Check stories 1 and 2, posted on /. some time ago, for just some of the recent events.

      I frequented EFnet all the time, but eventually left because I got tired of basically it's lameness. No nick/chanserv means people rely on their own bots to control their own channels. Once the botnet goes down thanks to some scriptkiddie's DoS, the channel is free to be occupied and the takeover is complete. Or you can hammer away at the irc server(s) the botnet sits on, causing a netsplit and once again allowing a takeover. There is usually some protection against this now, which means that during a netsplit nobody can gain OPs, but this can still lead to plenty of chaos.

      At the time, I checked out DalNet and a couple of others that use nick/chanserv, but for one reason or another didn't like them (I mean, what the hell kinda name is DalNet?). I think Undernet is the more popular one for warez now, as it uses these server-side protection services.

      I was involved in takeovers at one time, which meant I both gained and lost a number of channels-- at the time, either of the sides would likely have said that it was more of a contest, or a game, than just being assholes, since the chans involved weren't really that important, just hangouts. Of course, at that time we also didn't think twice about how much bandwidth we were chewing from the servers. Oh well.

      Having said that, I usually only go back for warez now...

      Oh, and I might as well say... ShannoW, you asshole, I liked that chan!

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    3. Re:Another network? by toofast · · Score: 5, Informative

      I remember when blackened.org went offline because of DoS attacks. They had the ability to serve up to 7000 IRC clients. One of the main reasons for killing the server, IIRC, was because of an evening where a bunch of idiots threw tons of garbage down blackened's pipes, causing the entire state of (arizona?) to be deprived of internet access. Although I cannot find Matt's original letter, I did find the config of irc2.blackened.com:

      oldcharred.blackened.com: AMD K6-2 @ 333mhz, 128M of ram, 18G-10k rpm scsi primary, 9G secondary. This server houses the origional irc2.blackened.com EFnet server, the largest EFnet server in the world before it de-linked. Still running with the origional IRCD, I, O, C/N lines and TCM.

      It's a pity that, in blackened's case, volunteer workers such as mjr are forced to abandon what they love to do, because of immature kiddies flooding the network with useless garbage.

    4. Re:Another network? by Xref · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, on the contrary, EFNet has been on its way back up for quite some time now. After bottoming out due to DoS attacks and numerous servers losses at about 50,000 users, it's back up to an average of 75,000, and growing.

      You are also mistaken in saying that EFNet does not use "things like ChanServs". A sort of channel services was in fact introduced on EFNet several months ago, and overall has been a great success.

      I'll leave it at that, but suggest you (and anyone interested) checks out the most up-to-date information @ EFNet's unofficial web site - www.efnet.org.

      Also realize that /. is very predictable in posting stories about EFNet's demise, but never about its successes (of which there are many). It's typical of mainstream media - bad news makes good news... too bad this is the route /. has taken.

    5. Re:Another network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My God, you're a total fuckhead, aren't you?

    6. Re:Another network? by Xref · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      it was always blackened.com, never blackened.org.

      *cough* moron *cough*

    7. Re:Another network? by toofast · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why do you call me a moron for making one mistake? The two other references to blackened were correct. There is no need to be rude.

    8. Re:Another network? by Electrawn · · Score: 1

      Figures a lame takeover pup/ warez kiddie is on AOL.

    9. Re:Another network? by billcopc · · Score: 1

      Indeed, Undernet is quite clean. I don't IRC much anymore, but practically every bored teen in this stupid region hangs out on the local channel on Undernet, so I have no choice but to be informed of it.

      The various bot services are quite efficient, allowing fine-grained control over who gets ops and what they can do with 'em, with privilege levels going from 0-400 I believe, where one can only affect users of lower ranking than oneself. Simple yet effective, which is great because lots of IRC people aren't that technically inclined and rely almost exclusively on ready-made scripts to handle the dirty work. Netsplits are almost a thing of the past, happening less than once per week. It's quite nice.

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    10. Re:Another network? by bopo · · Score: 3, Funny
      At the time, I checked out DalNet and a couple of others that use nick/chanserv, but for one reason or another didn't like them (I mean, what the hell kinda name is DalNet?).

      An old-ish saying from an EFnet channel I frequent: "DalNet is like the Special Olympics of IRC. A lot of drooling, and everyone is a 'winner'."

      --
      "Understand you're having a little Jimmy Page trouble."
    11. Re:Another network? by zerocool^ · · Score: 2

      IRC is dying, but not dead.
      In response to the stuff about EFnet configuration versus Undernet configuration, it is undernet that uses no nickserv or chanserv (per se). Nicks on undernet are first come first served. Undernet, for the longest time, used a much weaker channel service method, as well: They had two universal bots, X and W. The problem with this idea is that the bots were hosted on servers connected to hubs. So it wasn't hard to /map and see that cservice.undernet.org had 2 clients and was connected to baltimore-r.md.us.undernet.org - it gave the kiddiez a real easy target - take down the X or W server and there's chaos, and the only way to get ops is if you had your own bot or an oper with a global O:line opped you.

      I'm not sure what they're doing now, but i think that X is a distributed channelservice now, that each server has a piece of X in them. My point was just that at least EFnet's administration, if not their administrators (not high opinion) had a better chanserv and actually had a nickserv (no split collisions). It was just that undernet, from the start, was less seedy.

      Didn't stop them from taking down irc2.att.net - at&t's undernet server which rocked - had the best ops, most bandwidth (att-duh) and better hardware - they could sustain 10,000 connections and frequently went higher than that. Now delinked.
      ~z

      --
      sig?
    12. Re:Another network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      kinda like galaxynet...full of singapore lame-asses

    13. Re:Another network? by bnitsua · · Score: 1

      The issue at hand is not running an IRC server for the sake of running an IRC server, it is running an IRC server for EFNet. And irc.colorado.edu does not have the resources to keep up with that, thus it is shutting its ports.

    14. Re:Another network? by Afrosheen · · Score: 1

      Jesus, it's not that hard to fix all these problems.

      Ban everyone coming from Aol and @home.

    15. Re:Another network? by ThatComputerGuy · · Score: 2

      As funny as that is, it fucking horribly sucks... most @home users were banned from most EFnet servers a couple of years back... "use your own @home server", that's what they'd tell us. But then, irc.home.com also sucked fat, juicy ass, so we couldn't use irc very easily.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    16. Re:Another network? by Large+Green+Mallard · · Score: 1

      I'm one of the co-ordinators of Undernet's channel service. I would like to add my three cents in saying that we do not support warez channels. We have also moved to server based information hiding in a move to try to keep our network topology hidden. It was not something many of us wanted to do, but it was for the "greater good". I don't think Efnet can't survive with it's current model.

    17. Re:Another network? by vax · · Score: 1

      you do have a good point about niche communities, ive seen quite a few of them ever since about '96 when i first got on DALnet i think it was.. anyway some ive seen were PrankRadioIrc, UPINnet, UberNet, ive noticed alot of internet radio sites have thier own networks. I think the three most popular networks are DALnet (just hit 100,000 online mark awhile ago i guess) EFnet (which was also getting packeted with dalnet) Undernet (are they still up? i used to chat on there)
      niche networks are kind of like POP music, they fluxuate and fade but the original trendsetters usually seem to prevail.. if any of you guys has some serious bandwith laying around it looks like EFnet could use a hand, same with DALnet, besides i wonder if you could turn that into a tax write off = ) heh who knows, Charity bandwith == tax returns.

      VAX
      ...

    18. Re:Another network? by FeeDBaCK · · Score: 2
      No nick/chanserv means people rely on their own bots to control their own channels. Once the botnet goes down thanks to some scriptkiddie's DoS, the channel is free to be occupied and the takeover is complete. Or you can hammer away at the irc server(s) the botnet sits on, causing a netsplit and once again allowing a takeover. There is usually some protection against this now, which means that during a netsplit nobody can gain OPs, but this can still lead to plenty of chaos.

      When was the last time you were on EFnet? There is a new service called JUPES which automatically gives back ops to the "proper" ops given the case of the channel becoming opless. It uses an average of who is opped over time to know who are the "proper" ops. Combine this with the inability to gain ops on a split and you have a fairly good deterrent to takeover. EFnet is based on the idea of not having services.

      --
      wolf31o2 Developer, Gentoo Linux Games Team
    19. Re:Another network? by Teratogen · · Score: 1

      IRC services promote fascism and stupidity. And guess what, DalNet and Undernet still get attacked, and the spam on DalNet is the worst I've ever seen on any irc network. Long live EFNet!

      --
      --- even the safest course is fraught with peril
    20. Re:Another network? by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      since the chans involved weren't really that important, just hangouts.

      cince when has ANY channel in irc a vital or important channel?

      I dont believe that IRC has been used for anything important cince the late 80's.

      I may be wrong, but when I last touched IRC back in 1998 it was nothing but a copy of the mess we have on the CB radio spectrum.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    21. Re:Another network? by MrPotatoeHead · · Score: 1

      correct me if i'm wrong, but didnt we use IRC to chat with some of the boys stationed in the middle east during the gulf war?

    22. Re:Another network? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can thank Dianora for EFnet's current state.

  16. W00+!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    1 rU13 sUX0r5!!! 1 kI113d 3fn37!!! 1 h4K3d 4 4 y34Rz 2 m4k3 7h15 h4P3N!!!

    U 100z!

  17. LISP IS AT FAULT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe that LISP is the main reason for the downfall if this particular IRC server. Someone obviously spent too much time trying to come up with a solution to this DOS attacks with LISP, which left almost no money for MUCH more important programmers and network admins. DAMN you LISP!

  18. Well... by Vegeta99 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm surprised they lasted this long. IRC itself is on a long spiral down, thanks to the ungrateful bastards that DoS the servers. People can't afford all that extra bandwidth. Where will the skript kiddiez go after the Big 3 die? MSN Chat?

    1. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      script kiddies you all say? well I postulate that it is the big companies that own the competing technologies, specifically MS and AOL, that wrote code and their power to distribute it. Turning nonpower users into DDoS clients. They probably didn't do this in U.S. they just got their non-U.S. branches to turn all the foreign users into DDoS clients.

    2. Re:Well... by Xref · · Score: 1

      People can't afford all that extra bandwidth?

      Is that why UUNet/Worldcom is about to link a brand spankin new IRC server to EFNet?

      *ponder*

    3. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where will the skript kiddiez go after the Big 3 die? MSN Chat?

      One can only hope.

    4. Re:Well... by Vegeta99 · · Score: 1

      that'll probably last 6 months and then they'll delink.

    5. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the script kiddiez attacked MSN Chat, Microsoft would send a team of lawyers to cut of their testicles.

    6. Re:Well... by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Where will the skript kiddiez go after the Big 3 die? MSN Chat?

      Nah.. Keyword: People Connection

  19. DDOS Attacks and IRC by NatePWIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What is with IRC and DDOS attacks? If you abuse it you lose it... What about this do the DDOS attackers not understand, they are only hurting themselves, if the whole internet gets shut down because of their antics then what? Don't they see they are only hurting themselves?

    --

    Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
    www.haidacarver.com
    1. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really, the kinds of people that DDOS networks are those that also shit in their own living rooms. They are scumbag punks who need to be killed.

    2. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually, they aren't. The people who i know who do this kind of thing are otherwise normal people. They just like to play on IRC.

    3. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by mfkap · · Score: 1

      The problem is that 13 year old script kiddies don't really care. Ya know how you used to cut class even though you knew you would get detention, because you didn't care about the later if the now was fun? Imagine you are 13 and have the power to shut down a server that has been the foundation of EFnet for 12 years, by doing nothing more than running a script a few places. Kids don't care about the results, and nothing is going to change that.

      mfkap

    4. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Osty · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What is with IRC and DDOS attacks? If you abuse it you lose it... What about this do the DDOS attackers not understand, they are only hurting themselves, if the whole internet gets shut down because of their antics then what? Don't they see they are only hurting themselves?

      Most of them don't realize 100% what they're doing. They're stuck in the old "IRC war" mindset, where most people were on dialups, or if they were lucky on a faster connection at college. It didn't take much to packet a person off when they were at 28.8 or less. As broadband has become more widespread, however, it gets harder and harder. That means the kiddies need more bandwidth to do the same thing (hey, sounds like a drug addiction ...). At a certain point, it became easier to attack the servers themselves than the people and bots in a channel you wanted.


      That's only one scenario, of course. There's also many kiddies that somehow feel they have a personal (real or imagined) beef with an IRCop, and so they attack that opper's server. They don't realize they're hurting more than the single person they have a problem with.


      Few kiddies can see past their own personal anger to the actual damage they're doing. They have the bandwidth (countless compromised machines with broadband connections -- thank you, @Home), and they have no qualms about using it. Part of the problem could be solved simply by getting people to fix all those compromised machines, or more drastically by getting rid of broadband altogether (not a realistic course of action, and not one I would condone even if it were realistic). The deeper problem lies in the mindset of the kiddie -- they're often your typical angsty teen, and this is a way they can gain power. It's very sad, but what can you do?

    5. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by CMiYC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is just something that is a result of society. We can see things like this in a number of places. DoS attacks are just another example of vandalism. "Hey, its not mine, who cares?" Its not that the people doing the attacks are immune to understanding what they are doing. It is they just don't give a flying fuck. Its very sad. Until someone destorys something they work to maintain, they won't understand.

    6. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, and I bet you, you stupid cunt are about to shit on the living room floor. Fucking moron.

    7. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Glytch · · Score: 2

      That means the kiddies need more bandwidth to do the same thing (hey, sounds like a drug addiction ...).

      Sounds like an arms race, too.

    8. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by FeeDBaCK · · Score: 2
      thank you, @Home

      Luckily, with the demise of @Home, most of these machines are at the very least getting new IP addresses.

      --
      wolf31o2 Developer, Gentoo Linux Games Team
    9. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by borud · · Score: 2, Informative
      1. "kids" don't care
      2. "kids" are unable to see the kind of damage they do. the real damage is gradual acceptance of (among other kids) and escalation of destructive practices over time.



      I've been running an IRC-server for almost a decade and a lot has changed during that time. the number of users has exploded, and the severity of abuse has skyrocketed. many years ago most types of common abuse would only affect other IRC users. security/system administration staff would usually adopt a "this is an IRC-related problem and we don't care what goes on on IRC" attitude, which was fine back then. Annoying to IRC users, but still fair enough.


      in the last 5-6 years the attacks have become a lot more serious. even ignorant people can launch attacks that effectively render the network unusable for hundreds of thousands of users; if not millions, and they do not even need to understand what they are doing -- on a technical level or otherwise.

      however the willingness and ability to address the problem has not really improved that much. most ISPs don't care about being a good neighbor and I have even experienced cases where ISPs would look the other way because an abuser was a personal friend or coworker of people in the abuse-department of that ISP.


      the attitude of many ISPs has contributed to legitimizing denial of service attacks to some degree by not taking any responsibility for keeping their back yard clean.


      ironically enough this attitude will just end up hurting the ISPs themselves, since the erosion of boundaries between what is acceptable and what is not ultimately ends up costing them wasted bandwith, time and effort.


      also, as someone else mentioned: IRC admins are not totally free of blame. most of the good ones don't really have enough time to deal with all the bullshit -- and as for the not so good admins and opers: well, what do you expect when most of them are in it just to have a sense of power?


      finding good admins is hard. I've been trying to pass along the baton for some years now so I could quit maintaining the IRC server, but whenever I try to recruit opers and prospective future admins I either end up with good people who can't spare the time or I end up with a bunch of people who are just after that sense of "power".


      IRC as such stopped being fun many years ago. The biggest tragedy is that although we probably should just stop offering the services altogether in order to put a stop to the waste of resources, we aren't. even though the usefulness of IRC has been diminished there will always be those who will keep it alive in some shape or form which means that to the feeble of mind the service will never "die" and thus they conclude that it is okay to keep doing whatever they do to wreck it.

    10. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then I would conclude that the problem is you:

      you are apparenly unable to view their behavior in an objective manner. Vandalism is not okay and people who commit acts of vandalism ARE vandals no matter how good friends they are of yours.

      Being unable to even admit that these people "wet their nests" is a flaw in your reasoning and as long as you are unable to remain objective and see them for what they are you are as much part a part of the problem as they are. Perhaps even more, because your lack of judgement might give other kids the idea that vandalism is okay.

      Booo! Hiss!

    11. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      as a side note, hese kiddies are usually the type that need the tar beat out of them. You know mthe mouthy asshole at school, they type that need about 3 guys to give an attitude adjustment to.

    12. Re:DDOS Attacks and IRC by multipartmixed · · Score: 2

      > It's very sad, but what can you do?

      Legalize marijuana.

      --

      Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  20. Is IRC going into a commercial future? by Lunastorm · · Score: 1

    If more large IRC servers shut down, I believe that other IRC servers ,charging for use, would come into existence to fill the void left by the loss of EFnet and the like. It's happening everywhere else on the Internet, which is why it seems quite possible.

    --
    You die too easily.
    1. Re:Is IRC going into a commercial future? by SCHecklerX · · Score: 3, Informative
      No,

      Those of us sick of the crap simply start running our own servers. I used EFNet to hang out on a single channel. When everything started going to shit, and since I had cablemodem access (now DSL), I simply put up my own small server, and notified everyone where the channel's new home would be. Problem solved.

      I really do miss the early days of IRC though. Before the 'net became flooded by the damned AOL kiddies. #flirt and #ircbar on EFNet were a riot. Oh well. We've lost this culture just as we've lost ascii art, since email clients all have HTML now. Usenet will be next, I fear. You even have people in the mozilla group posting shit with HTML. *sigh*

    2. Re:Is IRC going into a commercial future? by Lunastorm · · Score: 1

      That's true. There will always be people running their own server, but what about the large ones with thousands of people?
      As for Ascii art, it'll always exist on Slashdot. Just browse at -1. :)

      --
      You die too easily.
    3. Re:Is IRC going into a commercial future? by onepoint · · Score: 1

      I would like to say that you are lucky. I'm on Road Runner and they scan the networks every now and then. If they find a server they will notify you and then boot you off on the second warning if you continue.

      Best of luck and I hope you continue.

      Onepoint

      --
      if you see me, smile and say hello.
    4. Re:Is IRC going into a commercial future? by vsync64 · · Score: 1

      So just drop all packets from their scanning server. Problem solved.

      --
      TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
  21. Re:you want a fork bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    This shellscript will freeze a FreeBSD box:

    #!/bin/sh
    while true; do
    $0
    done

  22. Lamers by Renraku · · Score: 0, Troll

    IRC is home to the largest collection of lamers in the world. It's home to people that do nothing but try to express their sexual virility and looking for porn. But...its fun. IRC is great. I know lots of cool people on IRC, and its going to be morons like flooders, advertisers, etc, etc that ruin it for everyone else. They should be sued.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
  23. Record? by Talez · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Nov 99 - irc.core.com breaks 14000 clients
    Dec 99 - irc.core.com breaks 15000 clients
    Dec 99 - irc.core.com breaks 16000 clients

    Big deal! Windows has broken way more than 16000 clients! :P

    Talez

  24. IRC User by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have been an IRC server for years... I remember spawning a telnet session on a gopher server to get to an IRC server back in the day before there was any of this GUI stuff.

    Those were the days let me tell ya. IRC today seems to be in a rather sad state... Efnet for the past few years has been my favorite IRC network (well, just because of the people that were on it). Dalnet always sucked, and so did Undernet as far at that goes.

    It pains me to see Efnet go down in flames like this, If I could find the bastards responsable for all of those DoS attacks I would go after their heads with a baseball bat, and after their computers with a 12gague shotgun.

    I swear if I ever catch anyone on my network attempting to flood an IRC server I will personally have their balls in my hand.

    1. Re:IRC User by TheDisciple · · Score: 1

      EFnet is not going down in flames. Our global user count continues to grow. As we speak we have 2 brand new servers being setup to link to our network, one of them is at uu.net. We have an automated services that keeps channels from becoming opless, and allows irc admins to 'restore' the original ops in a chan should something happen. Much more is to come as well... I don't at all consider us "going down in flames"

    2. Re:IRC User by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IRC admins have been able to "restore" ops forever, and not just by (ahem) modifying your ircd sources. All you need is a H: line, a couple of lines of text to introduce a fake server and user, then SJOIN them into the channel of choice with a lower TS.

      The other servers clear the ops, and your fake user gains them. Yay! All you need is a link to your ircd that can absorb the surge of data when you link up, and a bit of luck - so nobody notices this bogus irc-2.SNIP.net connecting and then disconnecting right away.

      I know this because I wrote a little tool to do exactly this back around 1996, and it got used about a dozen times on EFNet before I hung up my oper hat.

  25. two words. by vax · · Score: 1, Insightful

    hmm immature kiddies. god thats a shame though, oldest server using IRC and its shutting down because of a bunch of unapreshative packet kiddies who are being immature because they pissed off the network by being stupid and want shit like channels and accounts back. to them all i have to say is get a life. stop ruining good things. want to be elite then go learn something useful and perhaps even code something to help the world rather that hurt it.
    VAX
    .

    1. Re:two words. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And to you all I have to say is, find and take a good writing course. unapreshative? what the fuck is that?

    2. Re:two words. by vax · · Score: 1

      iam not the kiddie defending my little bullshit "Jhiad" on free servers. Attacking the free networks you use, What the fuck is that?
      get a life, and then maybe ill get a spell checker

  26. Will I lose OP status in my channel??? by IgD · · Score: 0

    I'm really concerned about this. Will +O op status transfer to other servers???

  27. "first time"? by fo0bar · · Score: 1

    You know how many efnet servers have closed or reduced availability because of the kiddiez? More than one, I can tell you.

    1. Re:"first time"? by TheM0cktor · · Score: 1

      true... i should have said first time a high profile/sentimental value machine has been knocked out by vandals. But you get the idea

  28. Copyright Liability? by EchoMirage · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While reading the MOTD, I noticed this:

    They [the University] can no longer accept the liability of running an IRC server

    Given IRC's tendency towards being a haven for piracy, especially software and music, and given recent attempts by the RIAA/MPAA/$FOO_EVIL_ENTITY to prosecute servers and ISPs who host pirated files, one has to one if this server being taken down is a response to or a preemption against legal threats...

  29. Where have you guys been? by MrPerfekt · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some peoples comments here have been a little misinformed/out-of-date but, I'll spout some knowledge for your enjoyment.

    Chanfix, a sort of ChanServ, has been put into operation on EFnet. Making packeting for channels relatively pointless. As of late, I've noticed less DoS, but I may just not be feeling it.

    There is no, and probably never will be, any variation of NickServ. The "nicks/channels aren't owned" philosophy that EFnet was famous for is dying out. But, I don't think it will ever die out so much as to put in some type of NickServ solution.

    As for EFnet politics, they're still there. But some progress has been made. The efnet.org website is the most official, functional website the network has ever had. There's been attempts to put comittees together for various area's, such as CoderCom. The voting site is functional and got some use where I had access to it, I don't know about it now.

    But there still is work to be done. I personally haven't seen much in the way of enforcement of most things that were "voted" on by the admins. But this could be my not-in-the-know fault. All in all, EFnet and IRC in general is surviving. EFnet has remained at a stable, if not very slightly growing, lower to mid 70k users. Other networks have grown to surpass us, last I checked DALnet had over 100k users and they're doing quite well.
    IRC is far from dead. All servers delink eventually, it's just the way of things. But the network is still the same stuborn machine it's always been and will continue to be.

    --
    I just wasted your mod points! HA!
    1. Re:Where have you guys been? by wo1verin3 · · Score: 1

      Too bad packeting has not become pointless. I know some of the admins on some servers, regardless of the cause of packeting, it will result in servers being taken down because of bandwidth concerns. These people don't make money hosting an irc server, they may rely on a workplace or other business, but someone will eventually have to eat the cost of the bandwidth.

    2. Re:Where have you guys been? by jesser · · Score: 0, Troll

      You say efnet nicks aren't owned, yet you put your efnet nick in your sig?

      --
      The shareholder is always right.
  30. Re:Colorado has some issues... by travisd · · Score: 4, Informative

    On the PtP issue: do what other groups have done: Bandwidth limit the PtP prototcols. This way they're not censoring it, and bandwidth is preserved. Many even open up the pipes during otherwise low-traffic hours.

  31. Why should you be upset ? by Oxide · · Score: 1

    By continuing to refuse to implement tools like ChanServ and NickServ, Efnet servers and admins made a WAR zone of themselves. I think they digged their own graves; if people would not fight on who owns the channels, thier wont be no DoS to Efnet servers.

    EFNET, Register the phreaking channels!!

    1. Re:Why should you be upset ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why has undernet been targeted so heavily the last year then huh?
      BECAUSE THE ROMANIAN KIDDIES TAKE PRIDE IN TAKING SERVERS AND OPERS OFFLINE. they get insulted by someone? take out them and if they get back? take out their isp.

      freaking moron..

    2. Re:Why should you be upset ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no, no! If you want registered nicks and channels, use one of the other networks.
      I've always thought one of the beauties of EFNet was the "organized anarchy" they work under.

      As a long-time EFNet user and channel op, I saw my share of channel takeovers, name-collisions, and all of that - but that creates its own atmosphere too. Some of the best channels I used on EFNet were held pretty solidly by a core group of ops with very well-designed channel bots.
      It wasn't impossible to stake out your own channel and keep control of it (at least 99% of the time), but it *could* be difficult. So what? The "survival of the fittest" came into play - and only the most organized groups kept their channels well-guarded.

      IRC had a little more to it than just providing a place to communicate. Anyone who has used instant messengers and IRC can attest to that. The idea that someone could come along and attempt to hijaack your channel or your nickname added to the thrill/fun of using EFNet.

      Some truly excellent and full-featured IRC scripts and bots were developed all because of EFNet's "hands-off" policy towards preventing abuses. That being said, I don't think they really planned on the wide scale distributed denial of service attacks people are waging against entire servers now. That's a bit much, and is sort of like bringing nuclear weapons to a squirt-gun fight.

    3. Re:Why should you be upset ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sure, that way theyd get together and hold the whole network down :D~~~~~~~~~~

      Nick/Chanserv sucks... if someone runs a channel badly, then they get to continue to do so to their hearts content. If someone doesnt like you, they can register all variations of your nick, and act falsely.

      Only solution is to identify the kiddies and murder them in their sleep :(

  32. Oh yeah, one more followup comment. by MrPerfekt · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is the one of three remaining .edu servers. US EFnet at one point in time was made up over 50% edu's.

    A list of dead EFnet servers can be viewed at http://outcaste.shits.in.the.pigpond.com/dead.html

    Notice that .edu makes up about 50% :) IRC got it's start with colleges, that is a fading trend however as major ISPs are mostly the ones holding the torches. This does seem to parallel the Internet itself though, doesn't it? Starting with educational institutions and then being supported by commercial endeavours.

    --
    I just wasted your mod points! HA!
  33. Re:Colorado has some issues... by arjennienhuis · · Score: 1

    How little bandwith do they have if 22.5Mbps matters?

  34. Re:offtopic but.. by foonf · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    att@home is really pissing me off, require constant renewal of DHCP leases.


    Don't do it that way. Figure out how often, minimum, you need to have it done, and then use cron. Thats what its there for.
    --

    "(Man) tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story. But you have to choose: live or tell." --Sartre
  35. attacking the wrong services by StationL5 · · Score: 0

    ....I know the director of the oldest freenet on the planet....they get attacked constantly just because of who they are....why attack a free computer service?....isn't it difficult enough just trying keep things running right....why spend time trying to make things run wrong....

  36. People Actually Use IRC? by bytes256 · · Score: 0
    I had heard the rumors...

    But I didn't believe...

    Not for a second...

    That IRC was still used.

    And all this time I thought it had went the way of the Gopher...

    But it's on slashdot so it must be true!

    --

    Slashdot, the site where everything's made up and the points don't matter
    1. Re:People Actually Use IRC? by CheeseMunkie · · Score: 1

      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.

    2. Re:People Actually Use IRC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find that the best warez and porn are to be found on irc networks which swear up and down that they do not allow warez and porn.

      Thats irony for you I suppose.

  37. Re:Good by TheDisciple · · Score: 2, Interesting

    EFnet's official website is http://www.efnet.org/ They have a server list that is updated automatically like once every 10 mins. Enjoy.

  38. Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If by ``use'', you mean Google for ``simpsons xdcc'' and !list every channel you find, then yes, IRC is in heavy use.

    1. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are places where !list is punishable by gline, and where fservs are the bane of chatters...

      but to post such places on /. would mean to disrupt that order.

  39. what about irc.eff.org? by tcc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought that was the oldest server, when did they appear?

    I think I started chatting back in 92 AFAICR... I do remember typing irc.eff.org :) but 9 years of beer really wears a brain out...

    Anyways, it's really a shame that these servers are going offline one by one, I guess it's more like "we don't have anyone that wishes to administer our irc server but we don't want to look like [insert any unjustified insults here] so we'll go out with a comment that will put more preasure agains those lame script kiddies, diverting the real issues", I'm sure most DDoS exploits can be patched easily, so it's probably the lack of people that wishes to administer the server. We can't blame them for that, I mean, most of us used the service, but how many would actually give away a box and bandwidth for it?

    Of course, having the power to /kill is worth it... but I guess it grows old :)

    --
    --- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
    1. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by TheDisciple · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You have no idea what you are talking about. I respect the fact that you were around during the infancy of efnet, however it is not that easy to patch against DDoS attacks. There isn't a whole lot you can do when you have 3gbit coming down a 100mbit or 1gbit pipe. The cluephone is ringing... pick it up, I'm certain it's for you :P Disciple @ EFnet

    2. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by rtaylor · · Score: 2

      Block it at the firewall.

      /me runs!

      --
      Rod Taylor
    3. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by jroysdon · · Score: 1

      Too late, the firewall is past the bootleneck unless your ISP is going to let you colocate it at their site (unlikely, or if they're that small it won't help much).

    4. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by ckd · · Score: 2
      I thought that was the oldest server, when did they appear?

      Despite the perceived similarity in names between EFF and EFnet, it was not the first, main, or only EFnet server in any way. irc.colorado.edu both predated and postdated it.

      And it was never "EFFnet".

    5. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by fishebulb · · Score: 1

      yahoo.com had this problem, it doesnt matter if you firewall it off.
      because guess what, if all the bandwidth before the firewall is congested, the firewall keeps blocking it, but the pipe is still full

    6. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by tcc · · Score: 2

      >The cluephone is ringing... pick it up, I'm certain it's for you :P

      Ever configured a Router? :)

      --
      --- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
    7. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by WWWWolf · · Score: 4, Informative
      I thought that was the oldest server, when did they appear?

      I thought the oldest IRC server, in pedantic sense, was tolsun.oulu.fi, a SUN box that now sits in University of Oulu computer museum...

      ...and mind you, that machine was not taken down because of network abuse - there were two reasons for its ruination, actually: 1) it could easily be replaced with a 386 running Linux to increase its general performance, and 2) some idiot lost the power source wiring diagram when they took it down for maintenance one day.

      EFnet is the first "separate" IRC network, yes, but the old IRCNet is still up and running, and is one of the most popular mostly-European networks. (Some say that's infortunate...)

      (Well, at least irc.oulu.fi works just fine for me =)

    8. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by rtaylor · · Score: 2

      Ugh.. apparently the /me runs wasn't enough of an indication that it wasn't meant to be taken as truth but was a dumb comment intended to bring the weeds out of the woodwork.

      Say, perhaps it worked?

      --
      Rod Taylor
    9. Re:what about irc.eff.org? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unable to connect to port 6667 of server irc.eff.org: Unknown host

  40. Huh? by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 5, Insightful

    skr1p+ k1dd1ez0rz are Luddites? Puh-leaze. They're vandals, pure and simple. They like breaking shit because it commands fear and respect among their peers. Nothing new here, folks. Same shit stupid kids have been doing for ages to get attention.

    -grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
    1. Re:Huh? by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Yup.... sounds about right to me.

      They are basically the online form of vandals, those little teenage punks just going around and making trouble and every once in a great while (it seems) getting arrested for it.

      A good friend of mine is the offline kind. Nice guy generally and all, but ask him about his tagging. and he will go on about how he is all "old school" and has so much respect because hes been doing it for years.

      Just kinda juvenile pissing around really. Some do have some skills of some sort (ike my friend... really great artist if he actually puts any time into it) but... spend their time instead just pissing away any skills they do have by being punks.

      Most grow up at some point and stop.

      -Steve

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    2. Re:Huh? by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

      Most grow up at some point and stop

      Unfortunately that leaves some that don't ... they get older, they get more money, and they do more damage. It really is sad that punk kids have destroyed 'digital heritage'. I never used EFNet much (mostly an Undernet guy myself), but we always hear about how cool and great it is. It's a shame that the oldest running server is going away. It's like someone destroying an American icon or something. Oh shit, someone did that recently too ...

      ~LoudMusic

      --
      No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  41. MODERATORS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure just about any fish currently confined to a barrel, and faced with being shot, would resent being compared to a /. moderator... Please show respect for higher lifeforms.

  42. sigh.. by amed01 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    irc, believe it or not, is how i defined my "internet identity" so to speak, and i know many people who agree that it definitely somethign special. its entirely to sad to see the one network that offered the most freedom to its users get a leg chopped out from underneath.. the way i (and we) grew up on irc is a far cry from how kids are growing up on other forms of internet communication (aol instant messenger and icq, etc). hell, i remember when irc meant one of three things: dalnet, efnet, or undernet. "Time is simply a way you humans meausure your own decay!" -Thundercleese

    --
    "Everything we say and do is right." -a mooninite
  43. What's the appeal of IRC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I've tried it a few times, and I find it consistently boring: a collection of self-centered childish idiots who can't
    even spell properly.


    And so I return to Ham Radio instead.
    At least there, since you're talking to people,
    you can't tell that they can't even spell
    properly.

    1. Re:What's the appeal of IRC? by pa-guy · · Score: 1
      I agree.

      VE6LSH

    2. Re:What's the appeal of IRC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a collection of self-centered childish idiots who can't even spell properly.

      Sorta like slashdot editors?

    3. Re:What's the appeal of IRC? by TheOnlyCoolTim · · Score: 1

      IRC is still one of the best place to find warez, movies, pr0n, all that good stuff...

      Tim

      --
      Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
    4. Re:What's the appeal of IRC? by Glytch · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah, yes, because god knows ham radio fans are never full of themselves.

  44. Steve Gibson - help! by EaglesNest · · Score: 1

    Steve Gibson brags on his web site how he read the RFC for IRC and easily was able to act like a super Op. If it's that easy to find holes in the protocol, then why not just add a few security measures to the protocol and have the servers update their software? Sendmail, BIND, and the like are always updating their server software. Won't someone maintain ircd? Yes - it's tragic that the large IRC networks may be going the way of the dinosaurs. Then again, then last time I personally was on EFNET was at least 6 months ago. The last ime I used it regularly was more than 2 years ago.

    1. Re:Steve Gibson - help! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gibson didn't become a "super Op", he just found the channel that the zombie clients connected to, along with the key, by looking at a copy of one of those clients (he probably used a sniffer, or ran "strings" on the file). The modern IRC protocols (every network uses a different protocol) are almost nothing like the protocol described by the RFC, and most security holes have been fixed.

    2. Re:Steve Gibson - help! by CheeseMunkie · · Score: 2, Insightful
      People do maintain ircd. See the various recent vintages from:
      As far as I know, IRCnet is the only major network that uses an ancient ircd, and I assume even that one gets updates occasionally. I don't know Hybrid's homepage offhand (that's EFnet's ircd), but I assume it also has some active development.
    3. Re:Steve Gibson - help! by ComaVN · · Score: 1

      Steve Gibson is a moron, and to be ignored in serious conversation

      (see here and here)

      nearly all successful attacks against IRC servers are DoS attacks, which cost a lot of bandwidth, and apparantly the University of Colorado is tired of supplying it.

      --
      Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
  45. It's not so bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Folks, things change, and the computer industry changes at about 100x the rate that everything else does (with the exception of operating systems, but that's a holy war in itself I suppose ;>). EFNet is not bound to last forever, eventually every server will be gone, or it will have become something different than the current form that it is today; a new communication medium, perhaps. Look forward to change; if nothing else it's new, and the world could use a few new ideas.

  46. Fuck!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No more picking up high school bitchez on colorado's server! that sucks cock!

    ROFL

  47. connect to irc.prison.net by mpegman · · Score: 1

    irc.prison.net is a good way to connect to EFnet. That is what I use to connect

  48. Very sad.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real sad part is most of the people who DoS are 14-17, some dont even know what they are doing.. They have no idea what they cause.. lil gits.

    -linkz (je@inipi.org)

  49. Re:Colorado has some issues... by MaufTarkie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is exactly what we do at my University. We went with Packeteer and have never looked back. Before we limited p2p clients, they were utilizing 80-90% of our T1 pipe, and hardly anything else could get through. Now that they're limited, the students (and professors) don't complain that the network is slow all the time. Those that use p2p clients don't seem to mind -- they're still getting their warez and illegal music, just not as fast.

    --
    Without you I'm one step closer to happiness without violence.
  50. And on a lighter note.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks to Rob Levin (lilo) of openprojects for inspiring the formation of several new irc networks. With masters like lilo to guide the IRC world to new levels of hospitality and `niceness' as well as governmental legitimacy through incorporation, and in turn, solving the age old problem of how to pay for all the necessary expenses incurred in day to day operations, the IRC world has truely never been in a better state. Sure a few servers will always be de-linking, but there's always someone ready to pick up the torch and keep on.

  51. And it parallels it in more ways than one by Electrawn · · Score: 1

    Don't forget the dot com flameout...EFNet also once had 250+ servers...now it's down to 38.

    38 servers on EFNet now, 38 servers on EFNet...
    Take it down by DOSin it around...
    37 servers on EFNet now...

    Electrawn

  52. Some new IRC-like services that are available by Cardhore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are some other services like IRC now that are secure and highly available, and have some features that usenet and irc don't have.

    Freenet 0.4 is shaping up; expect the final 0.5 release shortly. Try downloading the newest nightly to get on. For those who aren't in the know, freenet is a peer-to-peer encrypted datastore. Each node shares part of that datastore, and freenet efficiently routes and stores data that you insert. Also it is anonymous as you can not easily tell who inserts data and who requests it

    Now build on top of that is a program, Frost , that acts like Napster and a message board, a la Usenet. There are different message boards, and all messages are send & recieved anonymously.

    Now both of these programs are in beta, but they do work, although large files tend to get lost in Freenet as of yet.

    The final project is IIP, or Invisible Irc Project, available at http://www.invisiblenet.net/.

    Also available there is a nifty program called "Psst" which allows for encrypted instant messaging. You can use it in conjunction with your normal IM program, and it's really easy to use and install.

    One final note is that all of these program are cross-platform, open source, and binaries are available for windows & linux.

    1. Re:Some new IRC-like services that are available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      offtopic my ass

    2. Re:Some new IRC-like services that are available by Yakman · · Score: 1
      Also available there is a nifty program called "Psst" which allows for encrypted instant messaging. You can use it in conjunction with your normal IM program, and it's really easy to use and install

      PGP integrates with ICQ on Windows, so you can send PGP encrypted messages seamlessly (apart from having to enter your keyphrase the first messgae you send each session).

    3. Re:Some new IRC-like services that are available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well in response, I've been told, and have experienced that sending PGP via chat is slow and not that seamless, but that's just what I was told.

      Anonymous

  53. About god-damn time, I say... by iie1195 · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... the only people that hang out on those fucking things are "l33t d00dz"-fuckheads anyway.
    I hate IRC. Really do.

    1. Re:About god-damn time, I say... by Nikstlitslepmur · · Score: 1

      "THE OLDEST IRC SERVER". Didn't you read???? ...people didnt's spell like "l33t d00dz" in these days... Damn, what a waste! R.

  54. EFnet *does* have services... by xenoweeno · · Score: 1
    ...kinda.

    6) My channel is opless. Now what?

    EFnet has introduced a channel fix service, called JUPES. If your channel is made opless for any reason, JUPES will op the five most opped people in its database. The service takes snapshots of the network at regular intervals to see who is opped on every channel at that time. If none of the five most opped people are on, you will have to wait for one of them to come onto the channel.
    http://www.efnet.org/index.php?p=faq-id=USE
    1. Re:EFnet *does* have services... by Pills · · Score: 1

      JUPES actually does a lot more than that now. It can fix any kind of channel takeover by either opping the right people, or reversing channel modes and waiting for the right people to come on channel.

    2. Re:EFnet *does* have services... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which, contrary to dianora's massively uninformed opinion, is an incredibly bad idea.

  55. Disciple....Honestly by Electrawn · · Score: 2, Informative

    How many "clients" on EFNet are bots and how many are actual users.

    I'd put money on the fact that the actual user count has gone way down since inception, EFNet is about 75% eggdrop bots holding channels or nick holders.

    And 25% of those are probably Mark's bots.

    Quantity never equalled quality. While EFNet may never die, Opers on EFNet need to wake up to some cold hard facts:

    1) Channels have owners.
    2) Nicks have owners.

    When Opers maintain a policy of not getting involved in such disputes, parties involved will go to war to maintain control, turning EFNet servers into a battle ground.

    Finally, as the servers start dying out and the leftist liberals running them can no longer maintain the anarchy of script kiddies, warez and kiddie porn, the only way to save the network is to run services that keep order.

    Electrawn

    Electrawn

    1. Re:Disciple....Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I respectfully (but strongly) disagree.
      Nicks do *not* have owners. Before I ever discovered IRC chat, I selected a nick and used it for BBSing. Even back in the BBS days, you'd think you had an original "handle", only to log onto some BBS you never used before and find someone else using your name. Did you get in a huge war over it? Probably not. You probably did the sensible and logical thing; selected an alternate name. In fact, you probably woke up to the idea that your "original" idea for a nick wasn't really so original - and you tried harder to be original the second time around.

      When you step up to the global scale of IRC, it's even more ridiculous to assume that you're the first and only one who ever had the idea of using a specific nick, and therefore you somehow "own" the right to use that name exclusively.

      On the other hand, I do see where it makes some sense to allow channel registrations. People expect a channel with a given name to have a certain group of users in it, talking about a particular topic. (If I become a regular in #car_stereo, I'd expect to see some of the same people in there every time I join, discussing car stereos. A mechanism that helps keep that expectation valid isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

  56. Re:you want a fork bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dear sir, i am a CHINESE DUDE sir, could you teach me the function fork() because i don't know sir, please sir, thank you very much sir

    good day to you sir, from CHINESE DUDE

  57. at least it isn't a commonly used server anymore by AnimeFreak · · Score: 1

    irc.colorado.edu
    Users: 758 Opers: 5
    (1%) of EFnet Population

    It is sad to see it go. Too bad some people ruined it for others.

  58. Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe the a**hole script kiddiez who think the Internet is theirs will learn that their shit will not be tolerated. Moderate me down, but like it or not, the Internet is being ruined by bored teenagers...

  59. This SUCKS!!! -- GET A LIFE!!! by Nikstlitslepmur · · Score: 1

    the oldest IRC server in continued operation on the Internet is going to be turned off for good...

    ... specifically the extra bandwidth required for the various DoS [snip] attacks [snip]. They chose not to accept the liability and decided to retire the server.

  60. oldest IRC server by XO · · Score: 1

    I would just like to note that IRC-2.mit.EDU has been running for far longer than irc.colorado.edu. However, it has not been part of EFnet for a good many years now.

    --
    "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    1. Re:Oldest IRC server by p0ppe · · Score: 1

      So IRC, Linux and GSM (almost) originally comes from Finland. Funny, that makes feel nationalistic, while sport does not.

      --


      "Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."
  61. Re:Colorado has some issues... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think that's about half of all they have. I'm almost sure that my school also a colorado school has only a T1. We have 1/10 the membership that CSU has, though. Us midwestern schools just haven't had the oppourtunity that others (costal) to get that kind of speed. Level 3, the upstream provider here is hurtin bad, and is in bankrupcy court. Untill they came along, there was just about dick for fat-pipes here, partly due to the terrain, I imagine.

  62. Re:Colorado has some issues... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...

    I swear.. You have worked at excite, been involved with several embedded devices, your friends are involved with practically everything posted to slashdot...

    And a lot of your posts start with "I did xyz, or my pal did xyz...."

    I dunno dude, your smart at any rate, but you still smell like a troll

    Jeremy

  63. don't forget... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the 'death' of efnet is not just the death of any ol' network. Napster was born out of it, nearly every DoS tool (which, although lame to use, are still ingenious in invention), and countless other innovations were made; due to its unscrupulous 'wild wild west' nature.

  64. 2001 - 1988 = 12? by MrBadbar · · Score: 1

    It's been good serving the IRC community for the last 12 years.

    Huh? I'm pretty sure that no part of 1988 was 12 years ago. Either that first year must have sucked, or math isn't a big thing at the University of Colorado.

    1. Re:2001 - 1988 = 12? by Daemon42 · · Score: 1

      *I* the person who wrote that MOTD have been running the server for 12 years.
      I inherited it from someone else in 1989. Note it was a statement about
      my attitude toward supporting the IRC community, not that of my predecessor.
      12 years under one management, or 13 under two, it's still the oldest.

      ian

    2. Re:2001 - 1988 = 12? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe with all the downtime because of the DoS attacks its only been `good to service` clients for 12 of those 13years...

    3. Re:2001 - 1988 = 12? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      heheh... liar

  65. Re: abs.net, chanfix, and irc.att.net by dboldt · · Score: 1

    when abs.net (whom hosts baltimore-r (now known as hidden51)) would get attacked, uworld (the primary oper service bot on undernet, also hosted at abs (talk about putting all your eggs in one basket)) would be down too, making it nearly impossible to reop channels. Granted EUworld was there as a backup, sometimes. EFnet Does have a channel service far superior to that of undernet and dalnet, and here's why. #1 Chanfix doesn't care what your channel name is, or what type of activity goes on there. It simply ops the top five 'regular' ops and leaves. #2 No User Login or Registration. You aren't forced to apply for protection on EFnet, and there are no 'passwords' you have to 'login' to the bot with. #3 No Oper Intervention. Chanfix monitors the network for opless channels, and when it senses one, it simply joins, reops and leaves. You don't have to kiss an opers ass to get them to reop your warez channel like you do on other networks which are too facist to allow protection for channels with questionable content. and as far as irc.att.net.. it did NOT have the most bandwidth. It ran off four T1's. The bandwidth was nearly maxxed with 10,000 users. And it wasn't delinked due to DoS. It was delinked because the way it was setup, att.net had to pay a third party (superlink.net) to host the server every month, provide the long haul T1's, and pay for hardware. They simply got sick of paying for it with 0 return, and decided to focus on the att.net community port. Also, the ircadmin of the server had problems with undernet routing, which made her frustrated, and I believe influenced the delink. As far as the best opers, I'll agree with you there.. =] dB

  66. Milestones by bnitsua · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This has happened many times before.
    irc.blackened.com went down for similar reasons.
    It was the first IRC server to break 5,000 clients among other firsts.
    At one point, the packeting got so bad the entire state of Arizona's bandwidth was effected (or something to that effect.)
    For a good resource on EFNet history, I recommend
    the EFnet history page at the-project.

  67. Re:Colorado has some issues... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's kind of a leap in logic. Being a troll entails posting controversial material. Most of Walter's posts have been quite informative and generate few replies - hardly a hallmark of a troll. Even if they were all BS, they wouldn't be trolls, just misinformation or karma whoring.

    But if you are looking for more controversial material written by the best trolls Slashdot has ever seen, check out adequacy.org.

  68. From the depths... by rbruels · · Score: 1

    From deep in the University of Colorado, in the dark recesses of a server room long forgotten by the passing students but still held in the hearts of those who have never stood in front of her...

    ...a sob is heard...

    Farewell to you, irc.colorado.edu! I'll try to come by and pet you before I head into finals. ;)

    Ryan

    --

    "All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
  69. Specs on EFnet's services-like thing. by xenoweeno · · Score: 1
    More info on the latest changes to EFnet's channel fixing bot/service, JUPES:

    https://voting.blackened.com/pastvotes/0022.shtml

  70. Intefering ops, lame admins, DoSsers...hassle! by Alioth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have the capability to run an IRC server if I really wanted. I enjoy using irc (#alt.fan.elite on Starchat), and I have met good friends through IRC (in real life, as in go out have a beer etc) but as for running a server, I've decided that I'd rather try skiing through a revolving door before I ever bothered running an IRC server.

    Why? Firstly, the politics. IRC is supposed to be fun, but the politics amongst the routing teams, opers, network admins etc. is just lame. Half of the friggin' admins like to think they are God.

    Secondly, running an IRC server is like painting a huge DDoS bullseye on your server. Normally, IRC doesn't take up /that/ much bandwidth. But one DDoS attack could easily put you into excess bandwidth charges - as well as knocking your server offline.

    IRC is supposed to be fun but the combination of lame admins and lame lusers make it an unpleasant chore. So I'll stick to being a mere user in an out of the way channel that's mode +s.

    As for Starchat, at least they've done some things to protect themselves from DDoS attacks - they've made it non-trivial to find out the actual names of all the servers and the way they are linked (/map etc. are disabled), IP addresses are masked so users won't get DDoSed, ChanServ and NickServ are implemented. StarChat's still relatively small so they aren't the big DDoS target the large networks are. But even with this network, there's more than enough lameness to go around.

    Looking at the bigger networks - look at the application process for adding your server to DALnet. The process seems about as fun as an IRS tax audit. Half the time, the IRC networks are their own worst enemies. I think a lot of the problems with IRC could be solved if there was no such thing as ops (instead, server-side /ignore if a user was being a pain in the ass). In our channel, we solve it the other way - everyone gets ops. It runs remarkably smoothly that way.

    1. Re:Intefering ops, lame admins, DoSsers...hassle! by mpe · · Score: 2

      Half the time, the IRC networks are their own worst enemies. I think a lot of the problems with IRC could be solved if there was no such thing as ops (instead, server-side /ignore if a user was being a pain in the ass).

      IIRC some IRC networks do offer such an ignore. Also the original idea of channel ops was to stop the server admins being bothered by problem users. But you then end up with the very human problem that having channel ops is highly attractive to "jerks".

    2. Re:Intefering ops, lame admins, DoSsers...hassle! by jooniqzb1tch · · Score: 1

      undernet does, try the /silence command

    3. Re:Intefering ops, lame admins, DoSsers...hassle! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Most decent IRC networks have /SILENCE commands.


      Try /QUOTE SILENCE

  71. Communities... by rmadmin · · Score: 1

    I just realized something while reading this. The dal people usually despise the efnet peoples, and yes, the efnet peoples think dal peeps are a bunch of script kiddies. But my point isn't that. Does anyone remember 'the mentors last words'? Something like 'We exist without race, nationality, religeous bias...' Well, this doesn't exactly ring true anymore. Seems you can be discriminated against now because of what network you chat on. I guess times change.

  72. "Digital Vandals" by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

    The biggest reason it's going offline is the DoS attacks that it's had to endure. I agree that they can't go on the way they've been, but going offline may not be the right answer either. I'm sure the server will continue running in some dark room where only the sys admins know about it, and only 'special' people get access to it.

    But the point is, punk-ass imature little brats have ruined something that we all love. When a group of people vandalize buildings to the point they can't be used, the building gets torn down. It's pretty much the same thing. And it sucks that the villian doesn't pay for that either.

    ~LoudMusic

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  73. Organizational issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the problem is also related to organizational issues. After a while it takes very large teams of people to manage a network like Efnet. Within the hierarchy you have many vested interests and bureaucracy sets in - remember that irc.blackened.com was 'still using the original lines in the IRCD.CONF'. If the colorado server team had remained on top of tech issues instead of trying to stay 'old and gold' they might still be here today.

  74. ian is still working there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sheesh. he was there back when i was a little student.

  75. What about Qdeck.com? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    I remeber chatting on there back in 91, run by quatradeck(quarterdeck?) corp? outta cali?, met a lot of intresting people there, gone and drifted since then...and to think...it's been 10 years since that. I think the server eventually folded around 93-94 when the company closed up shop.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  76. Re:Colorado has some issues... by David+Price · · Score: 2
    Maybe they should take some of their $13.5 million Fiesta Bowl payout and buy a fatter pipe.


    Wouldn't that be a lark - your IRC experience, sponsored by the Colorado Buffaloes football team.

  77. Strange Choice by BrickM · · Score: 1

    I find it interesting that CU is choosing to shutdown an IRC server when they allow programs like http://www.cunap.com

  78. Re:Good by vax · · Score: 1

    aww but that ruins the kids fun of scanning whole class A networks looking for "EFnet" servers.

  79. mirc friends by sebol · · Score: 1

    During that time, i'm sure there are no such word
    "mirc friends" like today

    --
    -- Hasbullah bin Pit (sebol)
  80. Oldest IRC server by jaywee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seems the poster doesn't know IRC history.
    First IRC server on the world, has been obviously tolsun.oulu.fi. This server is *still* running as part of IRCnet (The other side of The Great Split).
    Saying "Oldest server on EFnet going offline" is correct "oldest in world" isn't.
    JV

  81. Re:Colorado has some issues... by Whelkman · · Score: 2

    Or you could do what Rutgers University does and threaten students with nasty emails promising account revocation if you exceed 200 megabytes of traffic per day.

  82. Is Jinxi still a whore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought so. Have a nice day.

  83. They've never heard of a Packeteer? -nt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [nt]

  84. Whither, and where? by noc · · Score: 0, Troll
    Oh, whither IRC? Not only whither, but where? The last time I tried to get on efnet (almost exactly a year ago), I had to send out an email asking friends/aquaintances what server to use. My ordered-by-west-coast-goodness server list from back in the day (according to my comment in it, the last time I updated it was late '94) was completely inoperable. Damn!

    I can really understand the exhaustion w/ efnet. I quit using it because we had to go to such lengths just to defend our chanels from "hackers". And for godsakes, a couple of 'em were formal democracies in organization! It's sort of like a world wherein a total lack of a life (*cough* scriptkiddies *cough*) can cause a small tactical nuclear weapon to materizlize in someone's lap -- it just doesn't leave much room for communities.

    Oh, and by the way:
    y'all suckers and motherfuckers
    tryin to cop my nick
    tryin to dis my skilz
    bout to get a gun up in yo grilz
    bitch!
    -NoC 2001, 2o6/CStM/VpN/DTi/uC/and-all-that-shit

    :-)

    I'm pretty sure I was the first one rockin my handle on iRC -- I been rockin it since '90 and I'm gonna keep on rockin into the new millenium so best to watch your back, son.

    1. Re:Whither, and where? by noc · · Score: 1

      What? I get moderated as a troll? No wonder slashdot is so impossible to read at high moderation settings these days. For those of you who weren't around iRC in the early and mid 90s, that rhyme was nostalgic, hence the smiley. I don't see *how* nostalgia could possibly be construed as anything but on-topic for a discussion of the oldest irc server going kaput.

      Ob IRC: Seriously, though, where *do* folks on the west coast hook up nowadays?

  85. Re:Not First Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now you tell me! Thanks jackass!

  86. CORRECTION! Its not the oldest server! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know you Yanks don't really care about IRCnet, but the oldest server is tolsun.oulu.fi which was started buy the guy who designed IRC. You guys should get out of the little leagues more often, IRCnet gets over 100000 clients.

  87. Sweet, juicy irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ham is good, though.

  88. them were the days. by Nick · · Score: 1

    Ah.. Brings back memories of efnet '93-'94. There was plenty of people, the right amount I would say, before Win95 was released and AOL was connected.

    Granted, there were lots of idiots (myself included) but man, there was alot of cool people back then. Mainly college students, if you knew what IRC was back then you had some sort of intelligence.

    I remember hanging out mostly on #punk (we frequently waited for a split to take over #metal).

    --
    Fuck Ajit Pai
  89. Re:Colorado has some issues... by laserjet · · Score: 2

    That would certainly help, but from my experience at universities, it seems that bandwidth expands to whatever your capacity is. Funny, I remember at my universiy we doubled the bandwidth coming in and out, and within several months we were back up to nearly 100% saturation. It never stops!

    --
    Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
  90. Re:Colorado has some issues... by Upsilon · · Score: 2

    200 megabytes?! I've done Debian updates that have taken up more than that...

    --
    I am not an idiot. Please use my name to email me.

    "That's right, I'm quoting myself."

    -Upsilon

  91. IRC network for intelligent people? by bandicoot · · Score: 1

    I've been trying various IRC networks but the people I met were all appallingly stupid, self centered and uneducated. Is there a network for topic oriented intelligent debate? Something where you can discuss anything from a Mozart opera to a math theorem without having to deal with totally moronic preteens?

  92. Its my fault! by scseth · · Score: 1
    I was at UC Irvine and frequented irc.uci.edu (which my friend sysop'ed) back in 1996 when the university got sick of the attacks (not just on the server, but relevant routers even!). Now I am at CU Boulder and the same decision occurs. Perhaps I'm a bad luck charm for effnet ;)

    I wonder if irc is giving away to IM... Although I still like the chat room, community aspect of IRC. Perhaps AIM could go with a MIRC-like interface and support rooms?

  93. IRCnet by paskie · · Score: 1

    Strange that actually it looks the probably biggest IRC network (over 100 000 users in busy parts of day) (I'm not sure if dalnet isn't actually a bit bigger, but it really doesn't matter ;) IRCnet is not very known. In fact it also includes *.fi, including irc.oulu.fi, so the very first core of IRC is the member of it as well, and this supports the claim of IRCnet to be original IRC network. It suffers from many problems as EFnet has as there's no chanserv or nickserv at IRCnet as well, however I think the DoS attacks aren't so frequent at IRCnet (altough they happens), even when it's larger than EFnet is.

    There's story about The Great Split in '96 (EFnet vs. IRCnet) at http://www.irc.org/history_docs/TheGreatSplit.html

    There's also IRCnet's homepage, surprisingly at http://www.ircnet.com/.

    Anyway, do anyone know what's up with Jarkko?

    --
    It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
  94. Duh ! by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 0, Troll

    They r not vandals, just young people having "fun"

    For having has the pleasure to "observe" some of them in action, effectivly they are just a bragging bunch that still didn't discover Beer and Girls...

    BUT among them are some keen minds. some guys I wouldn't like to meet after their Comp CS, at least not on the wrong side of a DoS...

    But then, it has always been so. And it'll give us competition in the coming years... Well, maybe I'll have to readapt that ol'Doom (You know, the one with process as monster, and to kill a process you killed the corresponding monster) and put a specific attack to each weapon, and maybe a good sniffer/tracker to play radar...

    If on my own turf, I should be on the winning side 8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  95. Sad Day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a sad day, but you can't take your anger out on kids in general. I've been IRCing for the bast 4 years, and I have never once attacked any server or users(I'm 14). I say you should all blame the idiots on IRC, not the kids. And to address all the ppl who talk about Efnet not being oldest:
    Efnet and IRCnet were 1 network if i read correctly. Therefor, either one is the oldest network. One may have an older server, but who cares?

  96. Troll! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    "Play"???


    That's not "play"!!!

  97. Mod parent up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod parent up!

  98. Troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod parent down

  99. Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    A culture based around battle.


    No thanks.