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."

Comments

Re:Another network?

[Xref]

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.

Intefering ops, lame admins, DoSsers...hassle!

[Alioth]

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.