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I've been watching this whole Freenode situation unfold and I swear, it seems
like a bunch of spoiled school kids arguing and fighting. I doubt anyone really
cares that much about my opinions on the subject, but I'm going to share them
anyway.
I've been a Freenode user off and on, mostly on, since it was linpeople around
1996. I used to be pretty involved in a number of Freenode projects back in the
day, including being staff, WOPN/Freenode Radio, and a bit more. At some point I
grew a bit irritated with the direction some of the things were going and left
for a while, but then came back as a regular user.
I was present through the whole lilofree nonsense and the OFTC split, but
through all of this Freenode continued to be a pretty awesome place and it
continued to grow. It really was sort of the one-stop-shop for FOSS project
support. While I wouldn't say I was good friends with Rob Levin (lilo),
Freenode's founder, we did talk regularly, had dinner together once when I was
in Houston on business, and butted heads on a lot of topics related to the
network. The things I'm hearing now about Andrew Lee and his "takeover" of
the network are very similar to the things I heard back in the late 90s/early
2000s regarding lilo's control of the network, and although I may wrong, I think
it will amount to about as much as it did back then.
When lilo was killed in a hit-and-run accident, everything changed and got
weird. I had no idea who christel was, I don't know how she assumed control of
anything at that time, but she did. I wasn't particularly involved with anything
then, so I don't recall if she was staff and just stepped up or what. Obviously
she kept everything going for many years, but it also felt to me like lilo's
legacy was just... erased. He's mentioned in one spot on the website as founding
things. There's no mention that his philosophies are what made Freenode
different. There's no mention that all the terminology, guidelines, etc., were
all his doing and were what set Freenode apart from other IRC networks at the
time. It's like the "I made this" meme, where lilo conceived of the project and
put it together, died, and now it belonged to the new staffers as if it was
theirs all along.
Anyway, that's a lot of complaining about history, but I do feel like it's
somewhat relevant to the things unfolding now. While Freenode staff are
volunteers and obviously put a lot of time and energy into things, at some point
it seems they forgot that they're a part of the organization, but not THE
organization. I do not know Andrew Lee at all, but if you look at his account of
things, it seems the volunteers tried to take control of the assets that he
owns because they felt they were entitled to it. For the most part it's just
domain names and the legal entity that is Freenode Limited, but it undisputably
belongs to Andrew Lee because christel sold it to him. Right or wrong, that's
just how it is, and pitching a fit and stomping feet doesn't change that. It
just makes the staffers look like a bunch of toddlers or angsty teenagers.
That's not to minimize their accomplishments or the time and energy they put
into running the network, but they volunteered, and if they decide the terms or
situation have changed, they're free to unvolunteer and go elsewhere, not attempt
to sabotage things because they don't like it. Even the whole "zomg your
information will now be in the hands of a NON-STAFFER" messages are just
ridiculous.
This is also a bit personal for me in some ways because I see so many people
praising these volunteers as somehow being 100% responsible for Freenode's
existence, which is just wrong. Andrew Lee isn't responsible for Freenode
either. But now it's gone so far as to one account cricitizing Lee's involvement
as somehow his lone tie to childhood memory like a stuffed animal, and that any
act against that memory causes "trauma". I'm sure many people will take that
armchair psychoanalyzing as fact, but I just do not feel that type of public
supposition is appropriate nor professional.
I don't know what all of Lee's plans are, but this is his baby now, and we'll
see where he takes it. He certainly appears to have the resources available to
expand and enhance Freenode if he wishes. I also don't know what his motives
are, but considering he's supported it financially for several years where
financial support was required, I'd imagine that he's invested in its success.
For me, unless every project whose IRC channel I sit in moves to another network
or the network created by the ex-staffers, I'll stay on Freenode where I've
always been. This weird philosophical split is nothing new, and Freenode has
weathered it several times in the past, so I imagine it'll weather this one
too. I also don't have any interest in joining a new IRC network that exists
only because a bunch of people didn't get their way.