Power Struggle in IRC Land

Well, that's what some call it. I prefer to call it a return to normalcy, but that remains to be seen. Didn't happen, will not happen. sigh. Here's an outsider's view of what has transpired, leading up to the event of August 17, 1996:

Some time in the not so far distant past, a schism formed within the #Mississippi IRC channel, resulting in the formation of a #Mississippi-Lite channel. The particulars over when and why this occured can be argued, but the fact remains that a number of "IRC regulars" were avoiding the #Mississippi channel on NEWNET.

Then Andy died.

Andy was the only one to have ever given one of those "virtual hugs" to my wife ... sometimes on as "Sunshine" ... usually just content to watch me do the "IRC thing". I liked Andy, though I didn't know about the {{{{{{{Sunshine}}}}}}} thing until just today. Anyway, I found myself on the Mississippi-Lite channel that Saturday night, and Uaru was configuring chanserv on the "-lite" channel. He mentioned that the #Mississippi channel name was not registered -- a fact I found unfathomable, realizing that without a registration "just about anyone" could become the Channel Founder ... able to usurp control of the channel, banning particular users or even entire domains at a whim.

At that point, I registered the Channel name within ChanServ. I did so openly, masking neither my identity nor my intentions, which are, by the way, to

Repair the rift between those who fled the #Mississippi channel and those who may have caused the departure
Delegate authority for the #Mississippi channel operation widely, with no one central person/organization dictating policy for a state-wide collection of individuals

Some will perceive this as "taking over the #Mississippi channel". Others view this as "taking it back". Whatever. I strongly believe we should all just, as Uaru quoted, "try to get along".

Life is just too short.

Update: Aug 18, 1996
Zorn reports that the channel name had been previously registered -- by him. If anyone notices ChanServ similarly crashing in the future, please register the Channel Name quickly. We don't want non-Mississippians owning the #Mississippi channel.

Update: Aug 19, 1996 -- or close enough, anyway
Founder status of the Mississippi Channel relinquished voluntarily by brm4, after a request from SammyBear. Crisis over. Schism alive and well.

Anonymous Reactions, posted as they arrive

I am wondering why you took our mississippi channel from us. You are hardly ever in there.
Note: This email message inspired the creation of this Web page -- brm4
nice web page....put very diplomatically. I miss Andy too.
I do think that you have done the right thing by creating a web page to make your opinion clear. Misunderstandings and disputes usually arise due to people NOT making themselves clear.
If these things are that important to you folks then, hey it's yours, my interest was purely wondering why an imaginary piece of material is what you want to fight over.
If you can unite the Mississippians on IRC you will have indeed made a worthy contribution to the IRC's Mississippi community. I wish I could tell you what it would take, but looking at your statements I see that you've got a rather healthy grasp of the situation. The basic problems I saw was a need to be in control, not an entirely new problem in the world. If a channel is going to ride with the name of the state it will have to accept that others feel they have a *right* in it... make an IRC channel named #Shady_Rest and nothing like this would happen. When the name is part of who you are you feel you should have a say in it.
Very nice page. Very nice insight. I think IRC should be fun - fun - fun! and I really LIKE all the people I've met on here. I can't believe Andy died though. When the world is virtual, you lose people every day -- but normally they just stop coming to IRC. They don't normally die.
Very nice. Very interesting.
f### brm4
Note: heard in #Mississippi
Watch out for brm4, he's won an award ... smartbutt of the year
Note: heard in #Mississippi-Lite

The Mississippi Channel

*ChanServ* Information for channel "#Mississippi":
*ChanServ*     Founder    : SammyBear (sammybear@ppp66.emeraldcoast.com)
*ChanServ*     Description: "A loving place"
*ChanServ*     Registered : Aug 18 21:44:05 1996
*ChanServ*     Last used  : Aug 23 21:18:10 1996
*ChanServ*     Mode lock  : +nt
*ChanServ*                : No enforced OFF modes.
*ChanServ* Channel flags  :
*ChanServ*                  Topic retention option is * ON *.
*ChanServ*                  Topic lock is * OFF *
*ChanServ*                  Secure ops are * ON *
*ChanServ*                  Private option is * OFF *
*ChanServ*                  Restricted access option is * OFF *
*ChanServ*  
*ChanServ* Secure ops means      : "Don't allow non-authorized users to be opped"
*ChanServ* Private means         : "Hide channel from ChanServ LIST command"
*ChanServ* Restricted means      : "Those not allowed ops are kickbanned"

Mailing list: Refer to Mississippi List Serve

The Mississippi-Lite Channel

*ChanServ* Information for channel "#Mississippi-Lite":
*ChanServ*     Founder    : godfather (Gdfather@port92.jxn.netdoor.com)
*ChanServ*     Description: "A place for friends to meet"
*ChanServ*     Registered : Aug 16 16:21:03 1996
*ChanServ*     Last used  : Aug 18 22:01:17 1996
*ChanServ*     Mode lock  : +nt
*ChanServ*                : -iklps
*ChanServ* Channel flags  :
*ChanServ*                  Topic retention option is * ON *.
*ChanServ*                  Topic lock is * OFF *
*ChanServ*                  Secure ops are * OFF *
*ChanServ*                  Private option is * OFF *
*ChanServ*                  Restricted access option is * OFF *
*ChanServ*  
*ChanServ* Topic retention means : "Retain topic even after last person leaves channel"
*ChanServ* Topic lock means      : "Topic can only be changed by a CHANSERV SET TOPIC"
*ChanServ* Secure ops means      : "Don't allow non-authorized users to be opped"
*ChanServ* Private means         : "Hide channel from ChanServ LIST command"
*ChanServ* Restricted means      : "Those not allowed ops are kickbanned"

Mailing list: Refer to The Mississippi-Lite Mailing List

For additional information on IRC for Mississippians, see

Welcome to Mississippi!

brm4