Our own IRC network?

[Spirit]

Hello, hello, goodbye and hello again!

Now I've been pondering this for a few months. What I've been pondering is ADISC's own IRC server. Not just some not-so-little channel on a totally random network.

There are a few I think this will work.

1. Our chat room is way too fast, you can hardly keep up with what's going on.

2. With our own IRC server, we can have a main "hangout" channel plus all the little interest ones, like babyfurs, music, whatever you feel like having.

3. Although it hasn't really been a problem before, I feel that with our own IRC network we could have more privacy and not interfere with others who might not appreciate what we do, since Blitzed is a rather "public" network.

So, what do you guys think? Do you think it's a good idea or not?

[Moo]

The advantages include:
* irc.adisc.org just sounds so much better
* independence from our current network
* I could set up the network to shield your IP addresses, protecting member privacy
* people could set up other channels more easily if they wanted
* we could ban bad people from the network, stopping them from IMing us.
* we could modify the code to allow you to block unwanted private messages, use the same IRC names/signon as used on the site, etc.

On the other hand, the disadvantages are substantial:
* If we hosted it on ADISC.org, it would go down when the server did. Rare, but not good!
* If we diddn't, it'd be an additional $10 to $30 per month in expenses... when we're not getting enough in donations to meet our monthly costs as is.
* If we did, it might slow down the website
* We'd also have to train our staff to manage an irc server. It isn't as easy as you'd think!

To respond to your points:
#1: I think this is good, it drives people to get involved and shows we are active. Better to be too active than too idle!
#2: I worry this would split up the community too much. Would those sub-channels be big enough to survive on their own? Really?
#3: Our channels are +s, which means you can't find them unless you already know their names. They don't appear in the server's channel list, or in the list of channels someone is on when you /whois them (unless you're in that channel too). So, that's pretty private.

I did actually spin up an IRC server for us, for testing purposes. I got quite far with it, too.
I turned it off in the end though, as I figured it wasn't worth the hassle of the above disadvantages.

[Lukie]

#Lukie ftw.

[Spirit]

Yeah, I'd be up for that, Happy Iron!

[dummydave]

I think that sounds like a good idea.

[Martin]

Me and a few other people (AJ, Danny and Squigma) have set up a network (about a month ago and it's still partially under construction) but we can offer that. Ask me if you want more details.

[UnMarth]

One of the things that Moo pointed out was, if the site goes down, the irc is likely to go down with it. I enjoy IRC on another network/system simply because you won't be left completely disconnected if one or the other goes down.

As for the small mini community run IRC network Martin mentioned, I think it won't be stable enough, sure, I enjoy trying to fix things when they break, but other not-so computer savvy will find it frustrating. And generally being amateurish, with constantly tweaking and updating settings/configs all the time.

I'm more in favour of running IRC on adisc, however blitzed was picked for several reasons, and I still believe its best to keep it there, despite things have changed over time. But the topic has been brought up several times on moving network. And Moo was tweaking with setting one up. I can't see it helping the members out too much. Not exactly going to perform miracles.

[r0bino]

I dislike the idea a bit for the downtime reasons. Blitzed is pretty stable, and people who are worried about privacy can probably use mibbit or something else. I also find it nice to have all the talk going on in on room. More than two seperate discussion rarely happen when I am around, so it's still manageable.

Additionally I think the downside of reducing the amount of people participating in a probably interesting discussion if we had a #adisc-babyfurwhatever is pretty bad. Personally I'd just join both channels (even though I'm not a babyfur), but not everybody would do that, so it might create a splitted environment.

I have to admit though that the idea of being able to ban people if they misbehave is rather nice. It's probably more work to administer an ircd than for members to ignore them, though (but a good idea if we ever get to a point where the irc-channel is becoming too much work for the mods if they have to ban manually)

[kevintje]

Originally Posted by Moo

On the other hand, the disadvantages are substantial:
* If we hosted it on ADISC.org, it would go down when the server did. Rare, but not good!

not if you use multiple servers (unless the whole domain goes down, but what are the odds?) you have the same problem with any other irc network.

Originally Posted by Moo

* If we diddn't, it'd be an additional $10 to $30 per month in expenses... when we're not getting enough in donations to meet our monthly costs as is.

not if you let the community host it... once my new server is up, I'll have the ability to host a branch of an irc network too (not the whole network tho').

Originally Posted by Moo

* We'd also have to train our staff to manage an irc server. It isn't as easy as you'd think!

Marty, AJ, Danny and Squigma are pretty well-trained in that allready :p

Originally Posted by Moo

#2: I worry this would split up the community too much. Would those sub-channels be big enough to survive on their own? Really?

believe it or not, but even on blitzed people have their own subchannels...
you can't stop that really, it actually improves the community a bit, just like the community forums here...

Originally Posted by Moo

#3: Our channels are +s, which means you can't find them unless you already know their names. They don't appear in the server's channel list, or in the list of channels someone is on when you /whois them (unless you're in that channel too). So, that's pretty private.

if we had our own irc network, you wouldn't find the channels without knowing the whole network existed! it's even more private!

[Moo]

I really don't believe we need our own network.

If we did get our own server, then I'd hold off on adding more servers until we actually need them.

People can't find us right now, anyway, given how our channel is set "+s" (meaning: invisible).
So aside from hiding our IP addresses from each other, I'm really not sure how having our own server helps our privacy.

Have there been any actual cases of random blitzed people dropping into #adisc?