4 ms·

Why people love centralization so much? Gentoo hosts their own website, they surely have enough expertise to host an IRC server. I just don't understand it.

pmlnr 5y ago
If anyone is about to say that it is to make it easy for newcomers: it's gentoo. It'NEVER easy.
vertis 5y ago
It takes effort. Presumably all of the people involved in Gentoo are already busy people and running your own IRC server is just another task they don't have time for. Add to this that potential users then have to discover YOUR server and use it, rather than just 'all the open source project IRCs are on freenode', and it's a big hassle. None of that is insurmountable, but they have to apply their effort in the most efficient way possible.
- dTal 5y ago
  Not to mention that "running an IRC server" isn't just a technical job, it's a social one. You have to interact with channel owners, ban abusive users, combat spam etc. Much more efficient and convenient to consolidate all that into some sort of community.
immibis 5y ago
And yet I bet they host their servers on one of a handful of popular server hosting companies. Interchangeable vendors are usually good enough. You don't have to go full decentralized. They have now interchanged their vendor to irc.libera.chat.
geofft 5y ago
IRC is an unusual service in that legitimate use is very low-traffic and easy to handle (Freenode has under 100K users, and human users type at most one message per second or so), but it's also attractive for botnets and spam. Running the registration services and anti-spam measures to keep your small network going doesn't, to borrow a phrase, add business value. There's nothing Gentoo gets out of running their own server (besides avoiding once-in-a-lifetime events like this) that they wouldn't get out of using a service where someone is already dealing with all of that.
blfr 5y ago
Freenode has always been convenient in that you can just join a channel for virtually any open source project and expect it to be there.
EamonnMR 5y ago
Apparently running an chat network is a magnet for drama. Maybe these projects would rather keep that quarantined. I've certainly seen it in Discord servers.
blihp 5y ago
Without moderation, chat often turns into a spam sewer. The ability to run your own server isn't the problem, the ability and willingness to moderate it is.
CydeWeys 5y ago
Centralization is convenient. I'd rather have one account on an IRC network and then be in a dozen channels than have a dozen different accounts to manage on a dozen different IRC networks and then be in one channel on each. This is especially true when you're PMing users over IRC. So looks like I'm leaving FreeNode as my one network of choice and joining Libera.
account42 5y ago
Besides the reasons mentioned by others, it is also convenient for users if Gentoo is on the same server as other similar projects since a /join is a lot easier than setting up another server with nick registration, SASL and what not in your client/bouncer - double so because NickServ/ChanServ are not really standardized across different networks.

pmlnr 5y ago

If anyone is about to say that it is to make it easy for newcomers: it's gentoo. It'NEVER easy.

vertis 5y ago

It takes effort. Presumably all of the people involved in Gentoo are already busy people and running your own IRC server is just another task they don't have time for. Add to this that potential users then have to discover YOUR server and use it, rather than just 'all the open source project IRCs are on freenode', and it's a big hassle. None of that is insurmountable, but they have to apply their effort in the most efficient way possible.

dTal 5y ago
Not to mention that "running an IRC server" isn't just a technical job, it's a social one. You have to interact with channel owners, ban abusive users, combat spam etc. Much more efficient and convenient to consolidate all that into some sort of community.

immibis 5y ago

And yet I bet they host their servers on one of a handful of popular server hosting companies. Interchangeable vendors are usually good enough. You don't have to go full decentralized. They have now interchanged their vendor to irc.libera.chat.

geofft 5y ago

IRC is an unusual service in that legitimate use is very low-traffic and easy to handle (Freenode has under 100K users, and human users type at most one message per second or so), but it's also attractive for botnets and spam. Running the registration services and anti-spam measures to keep your small network going doesn't, to borrow a phrase, add business value. There's nothing Gentoo gets out of running their own server (besides avoiding once-in-a-lifetime events like this) that they wouldn't get out of using a service where someone is already dealing with all of that.

blfr 5y ago

Freenode has always been convenient in that you can just join a channel for virtually any open source project and expect it to be there.

EamonnMR 5y ago

Apparently running an chat network is a magnet for drama. Maybe these projects would rather keep that quarantined. I've certainly seen it in Discord servers.

blihp 5y ago

Without moderation, chat often turns into a spam sewer. The ability to run your own server isn't the problem, the ability and willingness to moderate it is.

CydeWeys 5y ago

Centralization is convenient. I'd rather have one account on an IRC network and then be in a dozen channels than have a dozen different accounts to manage on a dozen different IRC networks and then be in one channel on each. This is especially true when you're PMing users over IRC. So looks like I'm leaving FreeNode as my one network of choice and joining Libera.

account42 5y ago

Besides the reasons mentioned by others, it is also convenient for users if Gentoo is on the same server as other similar projects since a /join is a lot easier than setting up another server with nick registration, SASL and what not in your client/bouncer - double so because NickServ/ChanServ are not really standardized across different networks.