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*Read and share online: <[link removed]>*


Dear Free Software Supporter,

Following our [announcement][1] of a planned gradual switch from the
Freenode IRC network to Libera.Chat, Freenode staff, with no notice,
seized control of the #fsf and #gnu channels away from FSF staff and
GNU volunteers during the early hours of Sunday morning (EDT). This
happened despite members of Freenode staff participating in the
[community meeting][2], as well as reassuring us publicly and
privately that they would respect and support the resulting review and
our decision. These channels were seized without informing the FSF or
GNU representatives of any disagreements Freenode staff had with our
plan, whether by means of the group contact system or otherwise.
Adding to the situation's instability was their switch to a new IRC
daemon late last night, also without notice, which dropped all
existing nicks and channels from the database.

[1]: [link removed]
[2]: [link removed]

This has forced us to adjust our plans for the transition, a move that
was already necessary due to an abrupt change in Freenode policy that
occurred shortly after our announcement, which eliminated the
distinction between # and ## channels that we planned to use to pass
ownership of the #fsf and #gnu channels over to the wider free
software community.

After several additional meetings of the working group FSF and GNU
formed to investigate this issue, we announce the following changes:

* The #fsf and #gnu channels on the Freenode network are to be
considered unofficial and will not be moderated by FSF staff or GNU
volunteers.

* So as not to mislead users, who might otherwise think that the #fsf
and #gnu channels on Freenode are the official channels for our
organizations, the irc.gnu.org alias is being retired effective
immediately. Instead, it is now pointed at a server of ours that
will give notice of our migration to the Libera.Chat network to IRC
clients that attempt to connect to it.

In light of these events, we would like to reiterate our call for GNU
maintainers to move their channels away from the Freenode network,
whether to a self-hosted server, alternate IRC networks such as
Hackint or Libera.Chat, or other networks that fit the [criteria][3]
we devised for our decision. Once again, GNU maintainers who have any
concerns about their channels are encouraged to email
<[email protected]> with their questions.

[3]: [link removed]

In freedom,

Greg Farough
Campaigns Manager


--
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Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

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