[ruby-core:41691] Ruby IRC Presence Problem

Hi,

As some of you may remember, Ruby's IRC situation is slightly problematic, but recent developments offer a slightly simpler way of resolving the situation.

TL;DR: Matz or a designated representative should assert rights over the #ruby channel.


The Problem
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I've tried to condense as much as possible. Please ask if anything's unclear.

As designated on http://ruby-lang.org/en/community/, the official channel is #ruby-lang on Freenode. 

Unfortunately around the same time, a channel named #ruby was also created, and it was/is run mostly by people who had gotten banned from #ruby-lang.

Many new people will automatically go to #ruby, assuming that it is the correct place. This was not a problem until 2008 or so because #ruby was gracious enough to use their /topic to redirect people to #ruby-lang. At some point, however, #ruby removed the redirect and used other questionable means to retain people on their channel (such as telling people that #ruby-lang was for language internals discussion).

The current situation is that both channels have some 300 unique users. I personally find this quite vexing, as it leads to unnecessary fragmentation and duplication of information. I do not have anything against there being two Ruby channels, just that the separation is artificial and based on false premises.

Freenode's policy is that only official channels may use the single hash namespace, but #ruby cannot be reassigned to ##ruby (for example) without authorization because it's been around for some time.


Solutions
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There are three possible solutions:

1. Do nothing, and let the fragmentation continue.

2. Designate #ruby as the official channel (incl. on ruby-lang.org), and have everyone move there by default. The problem is that the channel ownership is lost, and in hands of a questionable history.

3. Assert rights on the #ruby namespace. This allows the unofficial #ruby channel to be renamed ##ruby, and then either the name #ruby can be redirected to #ruby-lang, or #ruby-lang can be renamed.

Fortunately Freenode has made obtaining the rights a bit easier than it was previously[1]. It can be done by filling out the group registration form[2], either by Matz or a designated representative (perhaps for example David A. Black or Eric Hodel, who are the registrants for #ruby-lang?).

[1] http://freenode.net/group_registration.shtml
[2] http://freenode.net/group_registration_form.php 


I'd very much like to get opinions on the matter. Thanks!