Freenode facts for kids
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| Founded | 1995 as irc.linpeople.org |
|---|---|
| Geographic location | Asia, Pacific Rim, Europe, United States |
| Based in | United Kingdom |
| Average users | 90,000–100,000 |
| Average channels | 50,000 |
| Average servers | 12 |
| Content/subject | Public / unrestricted |
Freenode (known before as Open Projects Network) was a very popular online chat network. It used a system called IRC. People used Freenode to talk about projects they were working on together. Many of these projects were about free and open source software.
You could connect to Freenode servers using the address chat.freenode.net. This address would automatically connect you to an available server. Around 2010, Freenode was the biggest IRC network for open source projects. It had over 70,000 users and 40,000 chat channels.
History of Freenode
Freenode started small, as a chat channel called #LinPeople. This channel was for people who needed help with Linux. It was part of another IRC network called EFnet.
By 1995, it grew from just a channel into its own network. It was first named irc.linpeople.org. In early 1998, it changed its name to Open Projects Net (OPN). At that time, it had about 200 users and fewer than 20 channels.
On June 24, 2006, something unusual happened. A user managed to gain unauthorized access to the network. This caused many Freenode staff members to be locked out. Most of the Freenode servers stopped working for several hours. This event caused a lot of disruption for users.
How Freenode Channels Worked
The Freenode network was mainly for supporting projects. These projects were often open source or created by groups working together. Chat channels that were not related to these topics were considered "off-topic." Users were encouraged to find other networks for those discussions.
To help with this, channels were organized in two ways:
- On-topic channels started with a single `#` symbol. Groups wanting to use these channels had to officially register with Freenode.
- Off-topic channels started with `##` symbols. Anyone could use these channels without needing a group registration.
Images for kids
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A decline in Freenode user numbers began following a network change.
See also
In Spanish: Freenode para niños
