IRC Takeover
Last week I made enough progress on researching IRC networks to find an initial 4 networks that seem worth contacting.
I did attempt to contact via IRC the members of the #irchelp channel on IRCnet. (Please note that this was before I was made aware by diana_coman that my conception of my position relative to the network admins was incorrect and needed work).
Does anyone here know if IRCNet is amenable to adding new servers?
[22:12:14] h0nk (h0nk@2001:470:7443:0:0:0:0:5) joined the channel
[00:23:40] probably no
[05:56:33] Duck_ (~Duck@cupcake.snoonet.net) left IRC (“(602): I wish they made sweatshirts for legs”)
[05:56:39] Duck_ (~Duck@cupcake.snoonet.net) joined the channel
[07:55:56] @mc thanks. Reading the application (for IRCnet and many others) it looks pretty tough to get in as a server in most places. Is that because there is a long history of flakey servers or is it something else?
[07:56:45] theres an application?
[07:58:41] mh: https://www.ircnet.com/articles/linking-to-ircnet
[07:59:06] oh
[08:00:10] well, id say if you dont already know someone who could link you, you are likely out of luck unless you got something too-good-to-let-down to offer :)
[08:02:53] from the link:
[08:02:57] Please be aware, that usually administrators never link servers from people, who apply for a link. If there is really need for a server, the administrators of that TLD will look around which organization would be most appropriate, and then ask them, if they would like to support an IRCnet server.
[08:03:07] Feel free to join #eu-opers and ask for more information. See disclaimer for rules.
[08:03:52] —
[08:13:20] mh: yes I read
[08:15:48] Wouldn’t additional servers decrease the network load/cost on other servers? I’m just trying to fathom the reluctance to add new servers given that (from my naive perspective) it would lighten the load on everyone else. And holy cow – what a load!
[08:17:08] The administrative costs of adding a new server must be huge, is all I can imagine.
Work on this has been postponed due to my blog and other important republican infrastructure being offline this week due to Pizarro ISP coming down, and my not having a backup of my latest posts.
Growing China Network
I was able to successfully have one article translated, which I published. The content turned out not to be all that interesting.
I asked Ms. Du (Mia) for information on her background and learned that she:
- Works for a technology startup
- Has a masters in marketing from the University of Southampton, UK as of last year
- Is interested in finance
Additonally I asked her to research Bitcoin blogs and WeChat groups. She came up with no blogs (just some news sites I already found), but is working on inviting me to a couple of Bitcoin focused WeChat groups that she says often post interesting blog links. I don’t think she knows what a proper blog is, though, so we’ll see. I will be more specific in my specificaiton of her next research task, which is tbd.
She is running into the same problem that I have had, which is being afraid to ask questions. Instead of asking me for help, she asked my local contact, who then ended up asking me. I have encouraged her to ask me about anything, but she hasn’t started asking me anything.
In addition to working with Mia, I’ve been asking about Chinese IRC Networks in China related freenode channels, including #Mandarin and #chinalug, which has a website. I was told that there aren’t any IRC Networks in China, though there used to be, and that everyone uses WeChat now. I got a lead on a Chinese BBS from #Mandarin:
07:18:51 lblume thimbronion: http://bbs.xcneurope.com/ and please forward to v4mp when they come back :) I’m told it’s a bit less used now for direct communication, replaced by WeChat. Located in France, so GDPR applies, GFW doesn’t. You’d be right to bitch at the lack of https, though.
Both sites are based in France, and I’m not really sure what to do with them, seeing as they’re a) not IRC networks and b) not very related to Bitcoin c) not clearly useful in growing my network.
Remedial Education
My review of my summary lacked structure. While writing the review I posted drafts of it via a pastebin site and updated them based on feedback. For my next attempt, I will refrain from posting drafts and instead ask specific questions instead of requesting feedback, providing a draft if asked for details.