[gentoo-dev] [RFC] Should we switch IRC client defaults off Freenode?

[Michał Górny]

Hi, everyone.

We've moved our official support channels from Freenode to Libera.chat.
All that's happened afterwards pretty much proves that this was
the right decision.  Maybe even to the point of saying that staying
on Freenode would be dangerous to our users (e.g. because of the late
NickServ impersonations, ops with bad reputation etc.).

However, there are still IRC clients in Gentoo that default to Freenode.
I think the next questions we need to answer are:

1. Should we be proactively changing the default network in IRC clients
(provided they have one) from Freenode to Libera.chat?

1a. If yes, then should we also make a change if clients default to
network other than Freenode?

2. Should we be proactively *removing* Freenode from the network list
in IRC clients (provided they have one)?

2a. Should we be adding Libera.chat to the list even if we do not remove
Freenode?


I think the answers depend on how strongly we feel about Freenode. 
Answering 'yes' to 1., 1a. and 2. generally makes sense if we assume
that we should make it easier for our users to reach official Gentoo
support channels.

If we assume that Freenode is explicitly dangerous to our users, it
might make sense to do 2. as well.  However, I'm not really sure about
this.


Quick recap for people that haven't been following the news or got
confused in the lots of data:

1. Freenode was sold in 2017 to some guy who apparently wasn't supposed
to interfere with its operations.

2. In 2021, the guy actively started to interfere, then formed a one-man
Board and demanded full compliance.

3. Most of the old Freenode staff (including people we've worked with)
left and formed Libera.chat.

4. Many projects (including Gentoo) started moving their channels to
Libera.chat.

5. New Freenode staff (including some disreputable types) went angry
about this and started automated reclamation of channels that indicated
move to another network (including some channels that didn't because
they failed at grep).

6. Services started falling apart, random trolls started impersonating
NickServ.  While they were kicked shortly, they still could have grabbed
some passwords from identifying users.

7. Eventually, the new Freenode staff announced yesterday that they are
rebooting Freenode and therefore losing all past registrations.

That's the most important events in my opinion.  I'm sure some people
have more to add.  My main point today is that it's a series of
unprofessional moves that in the end open a lot of impersonation
opportunities.

Just imagine unknowing Gentoo users having their systems compromised
through advice from trolls pretending to be Gentoo developers.

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny