IRC in the Dog House? 94
Emperor Tiberius asks: "It seems more and more dedicated server companies are turning tail to the idea of hosting IRC machines. Hosts like Rackshack are adding 'no-IRC' rules to their AUPs at the risk of having one's server unplugged. Why is IRC (the once applauded chat medium) being thrown to the dogs? Some might say the horrendous botnets written for the protocol are a part of the problem. However, if we were to shut down the IRC protocol. Isn't it theoretically possible the botnet authors would just migrate to a different protocols like Oscar/AIM, ICQ, ICB, Jabber, just to name a few? If so, how would we manage the problem? Would we shutdown all ICB servers, and cut-off the ICQ network? Are we trying to kill off the problem in the wrong way, or is there a compromise to keep IRC alive, and keep botnets away?"
Re:Real reason (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Micropayments (Score:5, Funny)
And the thought of paying for each message won't improve the quality of discussion. Cell phones, 2-way pagers and now SMS text messages have always been used to conduct trite, illegal, or sexual calls even when it cost something like a buck fifty per minute.
I agree with you, but reading that first sentance I quoted gave me a different idea...
fred (schmoe@dsl.isp.com) entered #smallcozychannel
fred: hello channel
cellphonenoob: hi fr3d
fred: I've noticed a lot of trouble connecting to the server lately.
fred: The website's news hasn't been updated in two days, anyone spoken to a higher up recently?
cellphonenoob: Y do U talk like tat?
fred: Huh?
cellphonenoob: dznt ur fone cmpny chrge like a $ a msg?
fred: No. I use a computer for IRC. Why can't you spell nomrally?
cellphonenoob: omg im typng wit my thums!
fred: Ok... I can see this channel isn't raising mensa entry requirments