#Callahans FAQ(aa)1

What you need to know about #Callahans on Libera.chat

Didn't this channel used to be on Freenode?

Yes, it did.  But that was before Freenode was abruptly taken over by a Korean bitcoin millionaire (who also claims to be Korean royalty), in response to which the entire volunteer staff resigned en masse.  The new owner's appointed staff immediately siezed control of almost every major channel on Freenode, against the wishes of the projects involved, de-opped and de-voiced all channel ops, and wiped any channel topics that mentioned moving off Freenode.  Almost every major open-source project formerly homed on Freenode has now moved to OFTC or Libera.  We followed the former Freenode staffers to Libera.  "The sites and networks hosted at freenode.net/org/com", to use the terminology preferred by the former Freenode staff, "should now be regarded as a malicious network."  This should also probably be extended to libera.net, which was registered by a person or persons unknown and which redirects to freenode.net, an action which it is hard to construe as anything but malicious.

Is there anything I need to do?

Yes.  It is strongly recommended that you do the following before switching to Libera:

  1. Overwrite your stored email and password in Nickserv's records using /msg mickserv set email and /msg nickserv set password

  2. After overwriting, unregister your account using /msg nickserv unregister (you will have to ungroup any additional registered nicks first using /msg nickserv ungroup).

You can connect to Libera at irc.libera.chat:6667, or :6697 for SSL/TLS secure connections.

Are there channel rules I need to know?

Yes, but not many.  These are the most important:

  1. Abusive behavior is not tolerated, period.  If you abuse other patrons, you will be asked to leave.  You will be given a fair and reasonable number of chances, but if you continue to act in an abusive manner, you will be banned.

  2. Keep your personal disputes personal.  If you have a problem with another patron, except where abusive behavior is concerned (see the previous rule), please don't fight it out in open channel and make everyone else put up with it.  Take it elsewhere and sort it out between the two of you like adults.

  3. "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."  -- Voltaire

    #Callahans is an open channel.  Except for personal feuds (see the previous rule), anyone has the right to talk about anything they feel like talking about.  If you don't like what someone else is talking about, either ignore the discussion or leave, but don't demand that they take it elsewhere.

  4. Political correctness is not welcome.  Contrary to some widely-held beliefs, you do not have a right not to be offended.  No matter what you say, it's always possible to find someone who will take offence at it, and if no-one is allowed to say anything that someone might take offence at, pretty soon no-one's allowed to say anything at all.  Remember that if you want anyone to respect your freedom, you'd better be willing to respect theirs first.

  5. The previous rule DOES NOT condone obviously-deliberate offensive behavior (see Rule 1).

  6. There is no Rule 6.

  7. If you're babbling about deathly important issues like, say, the intimate details of your sex life or how hot the new boy at Sbarro's at the mall is, don't get your nose out of joint if no-one's listening to you.  Your right to free speech does not constitute a right to demand that other people listen.

  8. As a matter of courtesy, it is considered polite to pause other conversations while a patron is at the Line making a toast.

  9. NO UNINVITED BOTS.  If you'd like to run a bot in the channel, please get the approval of one or more of the ops first.  Uninvited bots will be banned.

Is there any communication between Libera #Callahans and Undernet #Callahans?

No.  At the beginning of the Freenode era, there was a bridge bot ("Bridget") joining the two channels, but it was quickly removed due to intense hostility from the Undernet side and due to the Freenode side being flooded with split/rejoin traffic from Undernet.  We couldn't hear ourselves think in here.

How long a nick can I use?

Libera supports nicks up to 16 characters in length.

Can I protect my nick?

Yes, through nickserv.  Here's the capsule summary:

  1. If you get a notice from nickserv when you join, telling you "This nick is owned by another user", and you haven't registered it yourself, it's someone else's registered nick and they have the ability to bump you off.  Better try again.

  2. If your nick is available and you want to register it, pick a password and send nickserv the message: register MYPASSWORD.  This will register your nick to you, identified by that password.

  3. When you log onto Libera, send nickserv the message: identify MYPASSWORD.  This tells nickserv you are the owner of that nick.

  4. If you have registered more than one nick, you can link them together.  To do this, pick one nick as your primary nick, then after registering additional nicks, you can link them to your primary nick by sending nickserv the message: group while identified to services.  You can use info to verify what nicks you have registered.

  5. If someone else is using your registered nick and you want to get it back, send nickserv the message: ghost NICK MYPASSWORD.  You will get a message telling you the other user has been disconnected, at which point you can change to that nick.

  6. Registering other patrons' nicks will be considered willful abusive behavior.

Send nickserv the message: help to learn about the rest of what nickserv can do for you.

Are there other services I can use on Libera?

Yes, memoserv and chanserv.  Send them 'help' messages to find out how to use them.

Where can I learn more about Libera?

All the information you should ever need about Libera can be found at https://libera.chat.


[1]  Frequently Asked Questions (and answers)

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