---
title: Final Chapter
date: 2021-05-20
tags:
 - irc
series: freenode
---

The last caretaker looked at the last light lit in the empty halls. They looked
out across their home. It used to be filled with thousands of people. There were
discussions about every topic imaginable from people of as many backgrounds.
Projects were born. Relationships were forged. Friends were found. Lives were
irreparably changed for the better.

But the darkness came and soaked into the foundation. Some noticed it and became
alerted. Some ignored it as an "inevitable" change. Some ran away, abandoning
their home of choice. Some stuck around.

Then the darkness took over and the larger discussion rooms sprung into action.
The meddlers between the halls suddenly became a network of people to assist the
other larger discussion rooms to move elsewhere. Through their careful planning
and surgical execution, they managed to move all of the major discussions away
in hours. Prior migrations on this scale have not happened. Normally there are
stragglers. Normally people try to stick it out and decry those that leave as
"reactionaries".

---

```
NickServ: User reg.  : Dec 03 22:31:33 2007 (13y 24w 3d ago)
NickServ: Last addr  : ~cadey@infoforcefeed/Xe
```

Freenode had been my home on the internet for over half of my life. All things
IRC must come to an end, but it felt like Freenode was eternal. The staff had
not always made decisions that I agreed with, but I have run IRC networks
before. I know how it is. Precedent can drown you.

It's just sad to see it end like this. The communities that I have joined there
have been _catalytic_ in my life. I have irreparably changed the life of others
on Freenode. I met people on Freenode that I talk with daily. I'm sure that I
wouldn't have the career that I have without Freenode. 

But it's been taken over by a narcissistic Trumpian wannabe Korean royalty
bitcoin millionaire, and I just cannot support that.

---

Not this time though. The darkness was so deep into things that the very rooms
themselves became at risk. The floors were not known to be safe. The caretakers
had worked together to come up with a new plan and had built an exact replica of
the meeting halls elsewhere.

Through that network of meddlers, people were helped over. The new halls needed
adjusting to cope with the sudden load, however they took them. The caretakers
spun up their new discussion hall and built it stronger than before.

They, the last caretaker, was unable to control the darkness anymore. The
darkness was too deep. Their access had rotten away.

---

```
NickServ: Account Xe has 5 other nick(s) grouped to it, remove those first.
```

I joined Freenode initially in order to get help with Ubuntu in high school.

> (shadowh511) hello, i need some help configuring wine 0.9.50 to run
> microsoft digital image suite 10, i try to run the setup app, an i get two
> looping messages about MDAC, and on how the system needs to reboot before it
> can install, but the messages loop, how can i fix this?

> (Fluxd) !wine | shadowh511

> (ubotu) shadowh511: WINE is a compatibility layer for running Windows
> programs on GNU/Linux. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine for more
> information, and see !AppDB for application compatibility.

> (shadowh511) they won't help me there

I eventually figured it out. I think I just did it on Windows.

I ended up rejoining it and really sticking around once I got into My Little
Pony: Friendship is Magic. There was a channel called `#reddit-mlp` that I
haunted for years.

I met friends that I still talk with today. I wonder if anyone from there that I
haven't talked with in years is reading this now.

---

The soul of the halls was not the halls itself. It was not the caretakers. It
was the people. Once the bigger halls moved over, the people followed. Each
person leaving took that much more of the soul with them.

Drops became a stream became a torrent became a flood and in a day's time the
soul of the halls had left. The soul was gone and only the darkness remained.

The last caretaker looked at the room and snuffed out their light. They packed
up their backpack and closed the front door for the last time.

They cried as they walked to their new home.

---

```
(Xe) ungroup JohnMadden
NickServ: Nick JohnMadden has been removed from your account.
(Xe) ungroup Xena
NickServ: Nick Xena has been removed from your account.
(Xe) ungroup Cadance
NickServ: Nick Cadance has been removed from your account.
(Xe) ungroup Cadey
NickServ: Nick Cadey has been removed from your account.
(Xe) ungroup shadowh511
NickServ: Nick shadowh511 has been removed from your account.
(Xe) drop Xe ******
```

> NickServ: This is a friendly reminder that you are about to destroy the
> account Xe. To avoid accidental use of this command, this operation has to
> be confirmed. Please confirm by replying with /msg NickServ DROP Xe `******`
> `86033ae0:9e021b10`

---

The halls fell, but the people that made up the soul of those halls moved on.

Their home went away because their home wasn't a building. It was an idea. Ideas
persist in ways that buildings don't.

---

```
(Xe) DROP Xe ****** 86033ae0:9e021b10
NickServ: The account Xe has been dropped.
```

You can find me on [Liberachat](https://libera.chat/) in `#xeserv`. If you want
to chat about my blog articles, I welcome any readers to join there.

Be well.

```
irc: server freenode has been deleted
```
