[openstack-dev] [all] Ongoing spam in Freenode IRC channels

Dmitry Tantsur dtantsur at redhat.com
Wed Aug 1 12:50:43 UTC 2018


On 08/01/2018 02:21 PM, Andrey Kurilin wrote:
> 
> 
> ср, 1 авг. 2018 г. в 14:11, Dmitry Tantsur <dtantsur at redhat.com 
> <mailto:dtantsur at redhat.com>>:
> 
>     On 08/01/2018 12:49 PM, Andrey Kurilin wrote:
>      > Hey Ian and stackers!
>      >
>      > ср, 1 авг. 2018 г. в 8:45, Ian Wienand <iwienand at redhat.com
>     <mailto:iwienand at redhat.com>
>      > <mailto:iwienand at redhat.com <mailto:iwienand at redhat.com>>>:
>      >
>      >     Hello,
>      >
>      >     It seems freenode is currently receiving a lot of unsolicited traffic
>      >     across all channels.  The freenode team are aware [1] and doing their
>      >     best.
>      >
>      >     There are not really a lot of options.  We can set "+r" on channels
>      >     which means only nickserv registered users can join channels.  We have
>      >     traditionally avoided this, because it is yet one more barrier to
>      >     communication when many are already unfamiliar with IRC access.
>      >     However, having channels filled with irrelevant messages is also not
>      >     very accessible.
>      >
>      >     This is temporarily enabled in #openstack-infra for the time being, so
>      >     we can co-ordinate without interruption.
>      >
>      >     Thankfully AFAIK we have not needed an abuse policy on this before;
>      >     but I guess we are the point we need some sort of coordinated
>      >     response.
>      >
>      >     I'd suggest to start, people with an interest in a channel can request
>      >     +r from an IRC admin in #openstack-infra and we track it at [2]
>      >
>      >     Longer term ... suggestions welcome? :)
>      >
>      >
>      > Move to Slack? We can provide auto-sending to emails invitations for
>     joining by
>      > clicking the button on some page at openstack.org <http://openstack.org>
>     <http://openstack.org>. It
>      > will not add more berrier for new contributors and, at the same time,
>     this way
>      > will give some base filtering by emails at least.
> 
>     A few potential barriers with slack or similar solutions: lack of FOSS desktop
>     clients (correct me if I'm wrong), 
> 
> 
> The second link from google search gives an opensource client written in python 
> https://github.com/raelgc/scudcloud . Also, there is something which is written 
> in golang.

The bad thing about non-official clients is that they come and go. An even worse 
thing is that Slack can (in theory) prevent them from operating or make it 
illegal (remember ICQ's attempts to ban unofficial clients?).

And I agree with Doug that non-free server part can be an issue as well. As the 
very least, we end being locked into their service.

> 
>     complete lack of any console clients (ditto),
> 
> 
> Again, google gives several ones as first results - 
> https://github.com/evanyeung/terminal-slack 
> https://github.com/erroneousboat/slack-term

Okay, I stand corrected here.

> 
>     serious limits on free (as in beer) tariff plans.
> 
> 
> I can make an assumption that for marketing reasons, Slack Inc can propose 
> extended Free plan.

Are there precedents of them doing such a thing? Otherwise I would not count on 
it. Especially if they don't commit to providing it for free forever.

> But anyway, even with default one the only thing which can limit us is `10,000 
> searchable messages` which is bigger than 0 (freenode doesn't store messages).

Well, my IRC bouncer has messages for years :) I understand it's not a 
comparable solution, but I do have a way to find a message that happened a year 
ago. Not with slack.

> 
> Why I like slack? because a lot of people are familar with it (a lot of 
> companies use it as like some opensource communities, like k8s )
> 
> PS: I realize that OpenStack Community will never go away from Freenode and IRC, 
> but I do not want to stay silent.

I'd not mind at all to move to a more modern *FOSS* system. If we consider 
paying for Slack, we can consider hosting Matrix/Rocket/whatever as well.

Dmitry

> 
>      >
>      >     -i
>      >
>      >     [1] https://freenode.net/news/spambot-attack
>      >     [2] https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/freenode-plus-r-08-2018
>      >
>      >   
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>      >
>      >
>      > --
>      > Best regards,
>      > Andrey Kurilin.
>      >
>      >
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> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Andrey Kurilin.
> 
> 
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