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An IRC channel is hosted by a network of federated servers (such as Freenode or EFNet). This is why netsplits happen when communication is disrupted between ser
by tapoxi 8y ago
An IRC channel is hosted by a network of federated servers (such as Freenode or EFNet). This is why netsplits happen when communication is disrupted between servers.
Some networks have bolted-on authentication to prevent people from riding netsplits and commandeering channels, but that's not a part of IRC itself.
- claudiawerner 8y agoI'm interested in knowing more about this. Accessing #xyz on Freenode won't let me access the #xyz on EFNet, I don't understand how the servers are linked or to what effect. Surely I have to be connected to Freenode to talk in a Freenode channel? Similarly if Freenode goes down, is the channel I was using still accessible somehow else?
- tjoff 8y agoFreenode and efnet are completely separate. But both freenode and efnet have lots of servers (typically spread out geographically) that are synchronized and it's between those that a split can occur. People in channel #xyz on efnet doesn't have to be connected to the same server to talk to each other (during normal operation).