Due to the registration of bots during a clone/botnet attack this morning we will be implementing registration verification. The reasoning behind this action is simple enough, by verifying nickname registration the channel mode +R (Only allow registered users) is more enforceable during botting/clone attacks. The administration is currently discussing two options, and we'd like the input of the userbase for which option we will go with: 1) Email verification. Most networks use this method. When you register your nickname you'll need to supply a valid email address and check your email for a special code to send back to NickServ before your account is registered. 2) Website Recaptcha verification. Using this method you will be given a URL when you register your nickname and you'll have to go to the URL, solve the recaptcha and get a verification code to send back to NickServ. These are the current options we're looking at. Please vote in the comments on which option you think we should use. You can also include reasoning as to why you like that option better, as well as provide different options if you can think of something we may have missed when thinking about this issue.

Two weeks have gone by so fast! We've been working on new features for the servers and we've got some good ones for you.

The first is a major leap forward for privacy. Normally when you connect to a modern IRC server your hostname is slightly obfuscated.

For example, let's say that you're JoeQ!Public@98.230.162.12. You'll connect to an IRC server and that server will look up the PTR record for your IP address. In Joe's circumstance this is c-98-230-162-12.hsd1.ga.comcast.net. This gives us some information like: the IP address, and the state he lives in. The IRC server will then take the first part of the record (c-98-230-162-12) and make an MD5 hash from it. Once it's made the MD5 hash, it will downsample the MD5 hash from 128 bits to 32 bits. So it'll turn into something along the lines of 632d3938.hsd1.ga.comcast.net.

Now Joe's hostmask becomes JoeQ!Public@632d3938.hsd1.ga.comcast.net. It's pretty good at hiding his IP address. However, Joe's ISP puts the location of the IP address in the PTR record. Now everyone knows Joe's from GA. While it might be a large state, he may not want people to know where he is from. In some cases the ISP will include even the city that Joe lives in.

While many networks consider it perfectly normal to expose the location of their users, we feel that user's information should only be given out on their own terms. We've made slight modifications to our IRC's core to provide the security of knowing that no one will know this information about you unless you yourself wish to disclose it.

If Joe were to connect to our IRC network now his hostmask would become JoeQ!Public@ 632d3938.users.theinternetz.org. Now his location is no longer revealed to every user on the network.

We feel that this is a better way to mask IP addresses and hostnames. If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback about the method we're using please contact us and let us know your thoughts.

We've also added bs_seen to our services configuration, described by it's author as, "[bs_seen] enhances the behaviour of BotServ's !seen command by searching in the database of all registered users, instead of just the important users on the channel. This command can now be used by anyone on the channel, and can be used to look up any registered nick." You can use it by joining any channel with a BotServ bot and typing `seen [Some Registered Nickname].

That wraps up this week's update.

On May 6th, 2009 Julia and Tim launched this IRC network. That was one week ago today. Let's consider this to be our one week update.

A lot has changed over the last week. Let's take a moment to look at the "firsts" on the network.

The first...

• User to join the network: xt0rt (May 06 06:15:35)
• Channel to be registered: #fm (May 06 06:16:28)

No more nostalgia, we've added some new features to the network!

First of all, this site. It's no where near done yet, but we were rushed to bring our the first version today, so here it is fairly functional. If you find any bugs with it, please contact Julia on IRC. We plan to add a lot more to the site in the coming months!

We're also pleased to announce that we now support mibbit. Of course you could connect with mibbit fine from the moment the IRC network came online, but now your IP address is hidden in your hostname like it should be, instead of in your real name field for the world to see.

We've also brought a new leaf onto the network, omg.theinternetz.org. It was added to the irc RR at 8:07 PM EST.

There is much more that we plan on doing. In the near future you can look forward to a Mibbit chat page on the site, a status page, and more toys in services.

Thanks' for surfing The Internetz, we hope to see you and your friends on the network.