IRCnet

IRCnet is one of the largest IRC networks. It currently has more than one hundred thousand users.

History

IRCnet was formed as a European fork of EFnet, when a number of operator disagreements resulted in a group of European admins declaring their independence. This happened between May and July 1996. The reasons for the "Great Split" as it came to be called, included:
* a policy disagreement about how much power system operators should have. IRCnet formed with the basis that there should be a set of rules defining what SysOps could and could not do. This viewpoint was opposed by many of the US-based EFnet servers.
* a technical disagreement on whether the network should use timestamping (TS) or Nick Delay as a means to prevent , according to Jarkko Oikarinen [ [http://www.efnet.org/?module=docs&doc=22&type=html EFnet - The Original IRC Network ] ]
* Vegard Engen, one of the European operators, stated [ [http://www.irc.org/history_docs/TheGreatSplit.html IRC.org ] ] that the immediate cause for the "Great Split" was that a major US EFnet hub had been disconnecting irc.stealth.net without warning, and thereby breaking the link to the European servers.

References

External links

* [http://ircnet.com/ IRCnet.com]
* [http://ircnet.org/ IRCnet.org]
* [http://ircnet.com/?p=5 IRCnet server list]
* http://irc.tu-ilmenau.de/all_servers/ extensive IRCnet server list
* http://pasky.ukeer.de/ IRCnet server map