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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-been-taken-over-by-the-crown-prince-of-korea/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-

by fsloth 5y ago

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-been-taken-over-by-the-crown-prince-of-korea/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/freenode-irc-has-bee... Abbreviated: A LLC has enough papers to prove that they own Freenode, and they have more money than the Freenode past volunteers to spend in court fighting over this. Hence the Freenode volunteers decided to abandon Freenode. Lesson: Even though you are a fully volunteer organization, always maintain an explicit paper trail that holds in court who owns and what, or someone will at some point simply come up with some documentation to their advantage and claim what you've built as their own.

matwood 5y ago
The bigger lesson is anytime there is something of value with more than a single person involved, all assumptions need to be written down and codified. I'll add that if friends are involved, even more so.
myfavoritedog 5y ago
Interesting. So how much did Lee pay for Freenode? Did that all go to Christel Dahlskjaer?
- klyrs 5y ago
  As I understand it, Lee paid for the domain name and generously donated hosting -- and had done for years. Thus, he had keys to the house, and when he decided that he owned it, nobody could stop him short of a court injunction. But apparently there was no clear legal agreement, so nothing can be done.
  - myfavoritedog 5y ago
    From the Arstechnica article: In 2017, Christel Dahlskjaer—who was, at the time, head of Freenode staff—created a corporation, Freenode Ltd., which she immediately sold to Lee. Sounds like some money exchanged hands.
joepie91_ 5y ago
> A LLC has enough papers to prove that they own Freenode Actually they almost certainly don't. But they don't need to, either; they can just suppress the staff through legal threats, because lawsuits are expensive. Whether they are in the right is immaterial.

by fsloth 5y ago

matwood 5y ago

The bigger lesson is anytime there is something of value with more than a single person involved, all assumptions need to be written down and codified. I'll add that if friends are involved, even more so.

myfavoritedog 5y ago

Interesting. So how much did Lee pay for Freenode? Did that all go to Christel Dahlskjaer?

klyrs 5y ago
As I understand it, Lee paid for the domain name and generously donated hosting -- and had done for years. Thus, he had keys to the house, and when he decided that he owned it, nobody could stop him short of a court injunction. But apparently there was no clear legal agreement, so nothing can be done.
- myfavoritedog 5y ago
  From the Arstechnica article: In 2017, Christel Dahlskjaer—who was, at the time, head of Freenode staff—created a corporation, Freenode Ltd., which she immediately sold to Lee. Sounds like some money exchanged hands.

joepie91_ 5y ago

> A LLC has enough papers to prove that they own Freenode Actually they almost certainly don't. But they don't need to, either; they can just suppress the staff through legal threats, because lawsuits are expensive. Whether they are in the right is immaterial.