Freenode is IRC – commit to update Freenode policies (git.freenode.net)

LOL what

the freenode community changed its name and moved servers

Background: someone (the author of the linked commit) bought the company that owns the Freenode domains and attempted to take control from the network’s volunteer staff. In response, most of the significant communities that were using Freenode moved to libera.chat.

Freenode is dead, as far as opensource communities go.

Almost everyone I know left for libera.chat and FSF today hammered the nails on the coffin by announcing a move to libera too.

The Freenode mess should be a case study on how not to do things. Authoritarian takeovers tend to not go down well with opensource folks.

Extra context: Here's the current policy page https://freenode.net/policies

Things of consequence that have been removed:

    * conduct expectations page
    * channel policies that allowed channel operator discretion
    * catalyst page - catalyst was a role descriptor for users whose actions benefit the community, and a list of guidelines for behavior
    * channel guidelines - referred a lot to the catalyst page 
    * group registration page - current terms still reference groups though
    * philosophy page
    * project history
    * Nuanced policies page was cut down to a short list of disallowed behavior

well, it can at least be summed up in the last file change: `templates/index.html` with the removal of `supporting free and open source communities since 1998`