I have now been banned from Freenode
Timeline:
At 2021-06-13 01:38:57 BST, I was banned (k-lined) from Freenode (server
evilcorp):2021-06-13 01:38:57 -- You are banned from this server- Abusive behavior. (2021/6/13 00.38)My bouncer automatically tries to reconnect, to
niveus,evilcorp(some lines omitted):2021-06-13 01:38:57 -- niveus.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:39:15 -- You are banned from this server- Abusive behavior. (2021/6/12 19.38) 2021-06-13 01:39:30 -- evilcorp.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:39:47 -- You are banned from this server- Abusive behavior. (2021/6/13 00.38) 2021-06-13 01:40:02 -- evilcorp.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:40:17 -- You are banned from this server- Abusive behavior. (2021/6/13 00.38) 2021-06-13 01:40:32 -- evilcorp.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:40:50 -- You are banned from this server- Abusive behavior. (2021/6/13 00.38)It then automatically tries to reconnect to
happytree, which strangely works, until I am banned a few seconds later (some lines omitted):2021-06-13 01:43:06 -- happytree.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:43:19 -- You are now logged in as hl. (hl!hl@unaffiliated/hl) 2021-06-13 01:43:21 -- Welcome to the freenode Internet Relay Chat Network hl 2021-06-13 01:43:21 -- Your host is happytree.freenode.net[64.44.81.98/6697], running version ircd-seven-1.1.9 2021-06-13 01:44:21 -- You are banned from this server- Ban Evasion (2021/6/12 19.44)It then automatically tries to reconnect to
hostsailor(some lines omitted):2021-06-13 01:44:21 -- hostsailor.freenode.net: *** Looking up your hostname... 2021-06-13 01:44:53 -- You are banned from this server- Ban Evasion (2021/6/13 02.44)
Analysis:
I don't think I've even spoken on any Freenode channel, let alone PM'd anyone via it, in the last few days. This ban was spontaneous and I didn't receive any notification of why it was being made, or any contact from any Freenode staff of any kind.
The most likely direct cause of this ban, aside from my previous coverage (which is now some time ago), was my last act on Freenode, on 2021-06-08, in which I changed the topic of the channel
#talos-workstation, with the permission of its founder, to notify users that the channel had moved to Liberachat.Of course, as I previously documented it now appears to be established policy of Freenode to prevent communities from trying to move away from it, and given the rate at which Freenode has been falling apart, this doesn't surprise me all that much. Everyone in the channel had already been notified of the move in chat, which was a deliberate move on my part in case mass actions based on channel topics were taken again, in a repeat of the previous incident. I only finally changed the channel topic, ending the grace period for people to move, when everyone had more or less moved anyway. I would recommend this for other communities trying to leave Freenode; avoid trying to use channel topics until the move is essentially already complete.
Apparently auto-reconnecting IRC clients are “ban evasion” now. Does Freenode not even have functioning G-lines (global bans) anymore? In recent days Freenode has not merely been plagued by a baleful administration but also operational issues. I am to understand, though I did not directly witness, that services went down and a random user was able to take the nickname “NickServ”. Since people message NickServ to authenticate with their passwords, this has probably led to the compromise of many NickServ passwords on Freenode. If you absolutely must continue using Freenode, you might want to change your password.
Funnily enough, it doesn't appear to me that this ban will inconvenience me at all, whereas just a few weeks ago it would have inconvenienced me greatly. Basically every community I know of has moved from Freenode now, with the only channels I was remaining in being channels that are essentially dead, and Freenode official channels I was in for forensic and monitoring purposes.
As of writing, Freenode has 48,424 connected global users and Liberachat has 30,952 connected global users. On 2021-05-19 23:19, I found that Freenode had 74,757 connected global users and Liberachat had just 8,079. Freenode's user count has dropped by over 37% since the Freenode debacle started, and Liberachat's global user count is now 63.9% of Freenode's. In reality, a lot of connections are probably dormant and derelict connections from disused bouncers or Matrix bridges; one suspects that the figure would be even higher if these could be excluded from the counts.
You can find more statistics on the rise of Liberachat and the collapse of Freenode at isfreenodedeadyet.com. This website also forecasts — but note that it is only a forecast — based on current rates of change that Liberachat will have more connected users than Freenode by next month.