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IRC in the Dog House?

Posted by Cliff on from the falling-out-of-favor dept.

Emperor Tiberius asks: "It seems more and more dedicated server companies are turning tail to the idea of hosting IRC machines. Hosts like Rackshack are adding 'no-IRC' rules to their AUPs at the risk of having one's server unplugged. Why is IRC (the once applauded chat medium) being thrown to the dogs? Some might say the horrendous botnets written for the protocol are a part of the problem. However, if we were to shut down the IRC protocol. Isn't it theoretically possible the botnet authors would just migrate to a different protocols like Oscar/AIM, ICQ, ICB, Jabber, just to name a few? If so, how would we manage the problem? Would we shutdown all ICB servers, and cut-off the ICQ network? Are we trying to kill off the problem in the wrong way, or is there a compromise to keep IRC alive, and keep botnets away?"

1 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. What I know about Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    1. You can not play games on Linux.
    2. Linux cannot be used by my grandma.
    3. Linux lacks a GUI of any note.
    4. There is no support available for Linux.
    5. Linux is an assortment of fragmented OSes.
    6. Linux cannot be run on the x86 platform.
    7. You have to compile everything and know C.
    8. Support for the latest hardware is always poor.
    9. Linux is incompatiable with any other unix.
    10. Linux is dying.

    I just tried using the latest version of Red Hat and it took me over 20 minutes just to copy an 18MB file! Why?!?