IRC is old-tech, but the real decline seems to be caused by weird ownership of networks and funding of software developers. Reminds me of the Amiga clusterfuck ...

Excerpt from: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ev8y/freenode-open-source-korea-crown-prince-takeover
(read the original article, it has links to other posts from Freenode staff):

*Developers Flee Open Source Project After ‘Takeover’ By Korean Crown Prince*

Developers of the open source organization Freenode are quitting en masse after Andrew Lee, a tech entrepreneur and the Crown Prince of Korea, has taken control of the network in what developers are describing as an "hostile takeover."

Freenode was founded in 1994 and has since become the largest free and open source project that runs Internet Relay Chat (or IRC) networks, which were once hugely popular and are still an important internet chat protocol. It has traditionally been run by volunteers and has amassed "90,000 users and just shy of 50,000 registered channels," according to the organization's official website. While it is not as popular as it used to be, it is still a key site for free software project coordination.

On Wednesday, a dozen Freenode staff volunteers published posts announcing their resignations, which explain their decision to quit. The broad strokes of the letters explain that they believe Lee bought the entire Freenode network under what they believe are false—but legal—pretenses, and that they have lost control over the network. They said there is little the staff can do to oppose changes that Lee wants to implement.

The now former staff members announced that they are launching a new chat network, Libera.chat, to continue Freenode's mission.

Marco d'Itri, one Freenode staffer who has resigned, wrote in his post that "the freenode IRC network has been taken over by a narcissistic Trumpian wannabe Korean royalty bitcoins millionaire."

[...]

Full story: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ev8y/freenode-open-source-korea-crown-prince-takeover

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Oli wrote to All <=-

The now former staff members announced that they are launching a new
chat network, Libera.chat, to continue Freenode's mission.

Marco d'Itri, one Freenode staffer who has resigned, wrote in his post that "the freenode IRC network has been taken over by a narcissistic Trumpian wannabe Korean royalty bitcoins millionaire."

Full story: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ev8y/freenode-open-source-korea-crown- prince-takeover

The story made HackerNews, and it sounds like people are leaving Freenet in droves.

It's 2021, and I'm finding myself running irc all day for the first time in years.


... Would you like to wake up from this dream?
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Re: Re: Freenode (IRC network) screwed
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Oli on Thu May 20 2021 08:46 am

Oli wrote to All <=-

The now former staff members announced that they are launching a new chat network, Libera.chat, to continue Freenode's mission.

Marco d'Itri, one Freenode staffer who has resigned, wrote in his post that "the freenode I
network has been taken over by a narcissistic Trumpian wannabe Korean royalty bitcoins
millionaire."

Full story: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ev8y/freenode-open-source-korea-crown-
prince-takeover

The story made HackerNews, and it sounds like people are leaving Freenet in droves.

It's 2021, and I'm finding myself running irc all day for the first time in years.

... Would you like to wake up from this dream?

I don't know, the channels that are actually active in Freenode don't seem to be giving a flying
damn.

I understand the concerns but a lot of what I am hearing is just ridiculous, like minorities in
Freenode are now at risk of being sold because the new owner supports this or that politician. I am
actually more concerned by the fact long standing members don't want to work with the new head,
because it suggests there are internal problems that are not making the headlines.

Still, I have never been that active in Freenode. Most of my clearnet ircing is at Efnet, Canternet
and IRCnow nowadays.

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Arelor wrote (2021-05-20):

It's 2021, and I'm finding myself running irc all day for the first
time in years.

... Would you like to wake up from this dream?

I don't know, the channels that are actually active in Freenode don't
seem to be giving a flying damn.

I understand the concerns but a lot of what I am hearing is just ridiculous, like minorities in Freenode are now at risk of being sold because the new owner supports this or that politician. I am actually
more concerned by the fact long standing members don't want to work with the new head, because it suggests there are internal problems that are
not making the headlines.

I think the former unpaid freenode staff made it all very clear what the internal problems were, just read their posts. They resigned and created libera.chat, which is the old freenode under a new domain.

Not everyone is leaving immediately, but it will get irrelevant as a platform for open source projects. Andrew Lee killed it, it's the Trump Steaks of IRC networks.

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Re: Freenode (IRC network) screwed
By: Oli to Arelor on Fri May 21 2021 07:38 am

I think the former unpaid freenode staff made it all very clear what the internal problems were,
just read their posts. They resigned and created libera.chat, which is the old freenode under a
domain.

Not everyone is leaving immediately, but it will get irrelevant as a platform for open source
projects. Andrew Lee killed it, it's the Trump Steaks of IRC networks.

We shall see. I am certainly not seeing an exodous right now in the channels I am active in.

Brand has a lot of power, and Freenode has a lot of brand.

For reference, the other side of the story: http://techrights.org/2021/05/19/freenode-and-cancel-culture/

A link for those who are late to the party and want to learn what the noise is about:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ev8y/freenode-open-source-korea-crown-prince-takeover

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Arelor wrote (2021-05-21):

We shall see. I am certainly not seeing an exodous right now in the channels I am active in.

Brand has a lot of power, and Freenode has a lot of brand.

For reference, the other side of the story: http://techrights.org/2021/05/19/freenode-and-cancel-culture/

Let's shed some tears for RMS and Andrew Lee ... Bad bad cancel culture.

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