WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Time for an IRC Chat 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.320 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.239 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.640 and I love all things tech. And it is Friday. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.599 That means it is that it's time for a classic episode. 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:30.000 And this episode originally published on March two thousand and fourteen. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.559 It is titled time for an I r C Chat. 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.639 I hope you guys enjoy. Let's listen. In long time 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.400 listeners of tech Stuff might be thinking, we already did 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.240 an episode on I r C, and you are completely correct. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.519 Jonathan and Chris did one of those way back on 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:50.280 June called what is I r C? But it was 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.800 it was more of a basic overview of what the 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.160 service is and how it came about and how people 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.800 use it. We wanted to go a little bit more 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.360 into the history of I r C. Thanks Mo Splee 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.080 to an idea from listener Addie Um that's at Addie 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.840 cyrom One on Twitter, who said, can you do an 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.920 episode on I r C? And we said sure, yeah. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.440 I just want to make it clear that I listened 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.560 to that podcast from and I have no memory of 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.240 ever saying those words, and I it sounds like I'm 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.200 making a joke, but I was, like I, I clearly 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.479 recognized my voice, but there is nothing in my brain 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:27.520 that held onto the fact that I did an episode 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.640 about I r C already. So we if you did 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.319 listen to that episode and you have a better memory 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.200 than I do, some of this might sound familiar, but 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.600 go with us, all right, So let's start our our 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.520 journey down memory lane, and and also open up a 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.240 few other doors on the way if I can make 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:49.400 some metaphors. So what exactly is I r C. Well, 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.680 as we have mentioned even just in the past couple 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:54.840 of minutes, here, it stands for Internet Relay check Weight. 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.960 I have no memory, Jonathan, this is becoming a problem. 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.320 I know that you're off caffeine today. Better it might 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.200 be the issue. Yeah, I gave up caffeine and now 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.560 now I'm all sorts of messed up, y'all. So yeah, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.000 it's it's actually a platform for real time chat on 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.560 the Internet. And it's text based. It's not you know, 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.360 voice or video or anything like that. This is actually 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.120 typing in your little type type. It's a it's a 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.640 type of instant messenger. Might be a phrase that people 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.880 are more familiar with these days, although I would argue 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.919 that most instant messengers are probably based on I r C. Yeah. 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.160 I r C is also group based, as opposed to 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.720 a one on one discussion. You would It's almost like 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.480 if you were to go to a physical location where 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.320 the people at a physical location are all all interested 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.280 in a particular topic, and you walk through the door 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.959 and you join the conversation. Except in I r C 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.400 you can actually be in multiple rooms at the same time, 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.680 having multiple conversations about multiple topics, right, because you're going 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.840 through a server. Yeah, a server that has multiple different 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.600 kind of rooms, virtual rooms, or or channels exactly. And 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.880 each channel has its own name. Uh. Most of the time, 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.400 the channel name kind of gives you an idea of 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.680 what the subject is some of them. Some of them 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.720 are general subjects. They're pretty straightforward. It's uh, yeah, like 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:15.840 hashtag firefly fans. I guess that would be people who 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.440 really enjoy bugs that light up at night. That clearly 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.680 must be it to to connect to these kind of spaces, 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.280 you have to use a program, a client, an app YEP. 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.600 So you've got this client server relationship the servers what 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.880 houses the connections, and the client is what you use 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.480 to have your computer connect to the server. And these 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.160 days there are many much clients, yeah, and lots and 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.440 lots of servers too, So the clients exist for all 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.360 sorts of different operating systems. So you're not going to 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.640 be left out, you know, if you're if you're saying, 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.480 but I use a Mac, how could I participate in 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.200 this wonderful world that is I r C. First of all, 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.640 I'd say, well, you're about a decade late to this party, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.360 more than a decade later, it turns out. But also 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.120 I would say, don't worry, because every operating system has 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.600 a host of clients you can choose from. Many have 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.760 very different capabilities that are built in. Some of them 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.480 are more intuitive than others. And there are also lots 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.000 and lots of servers on them. And UH. The other 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.440 interesting things is that the servers can connect to each 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.919 other to form networks. And in fact, that's how I 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:24.320 r C got started. It started with an a network originally, UH, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.599 and then eventually reached the world that we're in today 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.960 where you have all these different servers UH and networks 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.200 that some of them are not connected to each other. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.599 So in other words, there may be channels on one 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.960 server that you really like and channels on another server 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.359 that you really like. Those two servers aren't connected, so 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.280 you have to connect to either one separately in order 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.200 to access the stuff that you want exactly. Yeah, it's 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.360 not like you can just jump from channel to channel 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.480 if those servers have no connection between them. And uh 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.880 so it's meant for, like we said, group discussions, you know, 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.839 having a big group conversation. There are ways that you 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.799 can send private message is went forth um, and to communicate, 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.440 you just type your text into a little text field. 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.560 Think of a divided window. So the window on the 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.880 top is sort of the ongoing conversation within that channel, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.120 and the window below, it's very narrow, is really a 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.520 text field for you to type in. And then you 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:18.840 can also enter in commands I r C commands. We 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.800 talked a lot about I r C commands in the 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.520 two thousand ten episode, so I highly recommend you go 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.760 and check that out if you're really interested. For one thing, 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.480 the commands are dependent upon what client you use because 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.480 the different systems use slightly different phrasing. Yeah, just imagine that, 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.920 you know, think of it as evolution, and at one 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:42.200 point all these different client philosophies split and then evolved 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.920 on their separate pathways, which is actually exactly what happens, 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.080 which we will talk about. Yeah, so that's the basic 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.360 way that these things work. So so let's talk about 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.000 how this actually came to happen. It all started way 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.800 back in y'all when when we mentioned that you are 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.440 or twenty years too late, we were not really kidding 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.039 um and and for the record, on all of this 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.080 history stuff that we're about to talk about, there are 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.960 a bunch of vaguely conflicting reports about all of it 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.800 because no one was really documenting it at the time. 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.000 No one was expecting this to be something that someone 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.560 would be sitting in a podcast room talking about. It's 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.160 It's the way a lot of things unfold eventually is 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.520 that unless there was someone who was officially a chronicler, 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:29.360 uh you just get you know, kind of time is estimations. So, 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.480 for example, the birth of I. R. C Is often 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.640 said to be sometime around the end of August nine, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.720 but we don't remember what the day was because the 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:49.000 operative person um one yarco a k A whiz Karen, 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.560 I'm gonna go I think it's I. I think it's okay. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.080 So here's the thing, guys, he's finished. There are a 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.880 lot of Finnish people involved in the development of I 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.440 r C, and we are Americans who have a vast 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.360 ignorance on the way to pronounce Finish names. Lauren has 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.400 done her best to to decipher this. I have not, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.400 and hilarity shall ensue. Now. I want to extend all 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.800 my apologies to my Finnish friends who are going to 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.280 cringe every time I mangle a name. But just no, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.520 it's not at a malice. It's just from ignorance. Yea 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.560 yea ignorance um. But so at any rate, he was 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.840 working at the University of Aulu in Finland, and he 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.400 was working specifically in the Department of Information Processing Science, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.400 and he thought, you know, I want to include some 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:45.160 sort of chat functionality in this BBS service software that 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:49.520 I am installing BBS bulletin board system. So this is 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.360 sort of the predecessor to you know, these were like 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.120 those those local networks that you could log into. It 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.760 wasn't an Internet, it was something that you could dial 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:02.480 directly into a BBS and get a net like uh services, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.520 including things like messaging an email, but it was usually 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.120 restricted just to that BBS. So in other words, again 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.840 it was they were like little islands as opposed to 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.800 a global internet. Yeah, there was usenet, which was a 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:22.200 little bit more expansive and had more group discussion kind 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.320 of functions. But but one of the ideas that Yorko 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.320 had was that he really wanted to to integrate that 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:32.080 into a real time chat capacity, right, and he started 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.160 looking around for inspiration u and one of them was 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.160 a bit chat client that was developed by a friend 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.320 of his. He actually started borrowing parts of multi user 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.720 chat programs that were written by other people, including then 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.240 tell me if I get this one wrong, or key 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:53.199 yes your key, I don't know, Copala no, I got 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.840 that one wrong, and Yoka Peel and uh. So his 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.800 friends had been working on similar ideas for other implementations, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.600 and at the end of August, n r C was 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.440 switched on and it lived on a single computer, so 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.800 just one computer in the world running the server software 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:19.880 for i r C. So then you had this group 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:25.120 of friends campaigned the university to eventually allow them to 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.360 release this code to a wider audience because technically the 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.480 code belonged to the university itself. And I love the 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:36.559 way that the that Yarko talks about the the development. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.800 He says, once it got up to ten users, I 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.480 knew that I wanted to let other people have a 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.720 crack at this, and I thought ten on the Internet 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.319 was very I mean, it wasn't really the Internet yet. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.160 The Internet was a yeah, the Internet was was just 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.760 the realm of research organizations and universities. No one outside 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.280 of that really had much access to it. Besides it 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.160 was some government agencies as well, but you know, we 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.600 plebians out in the real world didn't have any access 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.080 to it. The Worldwide Web was more than a decade away, 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.920 so this was you know, this was early early days, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.880 so ten was actually a significant number. Just I just 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.040 joke about it because I think of our discussion about 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.360 Twitter from a few weeks ago about how the five 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.760 thousand number was so small. But yeah, ten people. So 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.520 he just he convinces the university to allow them to 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:31.160 release this code to some other people, and they started 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.920 getting it installed in other universities in Finland first and 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:39.400 they joined on and then looked at other countries as well. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.400 But there were some issues there right there, there were 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:48.640 a few like inter country connectivity issues apparently. Uh yeah, 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.199 because I mean at this point, again, internet is not 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.000 a real thing, right right, Yeah yeah. Yrkill remembers there 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.440 being specific problems connecting his his networks in Finland with 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.480 US networks, but this wouldn't go on for very long. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.080 there were improvements in the infrastructure going on at the 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.880 same time as I r C starting to catch on 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.400 in popularity. In fact, by November of that year, of 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.960 universities in Colorado and Oregon would become connected to the 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.360 I r C network. Um they would set up their 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.560 own servers and and hook everything up together, so it 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.360 was no longer solely finished and what it was just 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:33.680 getting started. I couldn't help myself. UM and uh Jorco 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:35.880 had connected with some people through m I T S 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.319 network and distributed a couple of copies and it basically 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:40.080 just went wild. I mean like he did. He didn't 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.840 distribute it physically to all of these people that ended 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.680 up setting up their their their own versions. But yeah, 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:47.880 it's actually kind of funny, like the story about the 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.280 Colorado coming online. As I understand it, one of the 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.400 other UH universities in Finland there was a user who 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.320 was very interested in it, who then passed it on 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.240 to someone who was at in Colorado, who then uh, 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.760 you know, so it was it was growing organically. It 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.360 wasn't like a planned out this is how we're rolling 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.079 this out. It was it was a viral. Yeah. He 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.280 was just like, hey, check out the school thing that 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.360 I made, and and all of a sudden he would 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.640 see it pop up in other places. So that was 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.400 August to November. It took very little time at all. 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:24.280 By mid there were forty servers worldwide. Uh, and by 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.480 nineteen ninety the average number of active servers so forty 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.800 servers worldwide that not all of them are necessarily active 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.400 all the time. So by the number of active servers 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.400 and the number of active users at any particular given 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.400 time was still pretty modest. We're talking twelve users and 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.599 thirty eight servers. Granted, the original code for I r 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.480 C really only accounted for some hundred users to be 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.880 connected all at the same time. And uh. Furthermore, according 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.640 to some numbers around that same time, there were only 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.160 three million people worldwide who even had access to the Internet. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.360 So right and and doing something like if you've ever 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.080 connected to a BBS in the old days. A lot 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.320 of those original bbs has only had capacity for a 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.880 couple of people to connect at a time. So for 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.680 something to have the capacity to allow a hundred people 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.920 to communicate simultaneously was a huge deal. It was it 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.000 would turn out to not be scalable really all, which 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.199 created many problems down the line. Yes. In fact, so 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.200 in August, that's when one of these problems starts to 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.520 rear its head, and that the I r C community 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:31.720 suffers its first schism, but not the last one. Hey, guys, 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.080 we'll chat some more about I r C in just 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:44.120 a moment, but first let's take a quick break. So 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:50.120 in this corner you have the traditional I C community, 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.880 and on the other corner you had a group that 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.880 just they you know, they didn't want people to tell 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.720 him what to do. They wanted they wanted freedom from 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:03.480 rules rules of four squares. Man, I don't know if 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.679 they actually used that voices, that's exactly how people talk 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:12.360 to I'm old enough to remember, I see. So So 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.680 these two groups split and the kind of anarchists, the 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.640 anarchists sort of side founded a net which stood in 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:21.840 fact for anarchist net. Yes, and the rest of it 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.000 became known as e f net, which stands for Aris 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.000 Free Network e r I s Aris Free network and 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.480 why because the server that a net was founded on 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.600 was named Aris dot Berkeley dot e d U. So, 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.120 in other words, you had one group of people who 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.160 are like, we kind of want the freedom to do 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.280 whatever we like, because we don't like these rules where 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.000 you say we can't do things like take over someone's 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.400 channel just because they weren't smart enough to block us 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.480 from and since they're not smart enough, they should not 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.720 be allowed to run that channel. I should be allowed 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:55.760 to run it and do whatever I want. I'm being 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.240 I'm certainly adding a little more motivation here than there 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.480 was probably in the literature. But that's kind of how 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.920 I do things. Well, I mean, you are you are 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.000 being snarky, But first of all, snark is what you do. 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.160 Snark is what both of us do. Snark is what 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:12.200 tech stuff does. We embrace it. We do. Um, but uh, 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.360 the folks who are on that that a net did 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:20.360 really enjoy exploiting um what was called nick colliding and 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.360 this is um. Yeah, so here's the thing, Like you 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.720 would choose a nickname when you log into a channel 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.160 or or a server to to chat with other people, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.760 and this nickname represents who you are. You can choose 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.160 any nickname you want given the character limit of that 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.840 that's supported by that particular client and server. So one 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.360 thing that could happen is that if you try to 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.840 choose what you know, another person's nickname, the system would 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.120 generally prevent you from doing that, saying that that name 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:51.400 is already taken. But if you were able to orchestrate 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.960 an event or take advantage of an event where everyone 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.320 is kicked out of a room and then you rejoin 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.320 that room or channel, I should say, everyone's kicked out 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.760 of a channel, you rejoined that channel before the operator 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.120 or OP can join that channel, and you name yourself 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.520 the OPS name. You could end up giving yourself OP 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:11.720 powers for that channel, and you prevent the rightful OP 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.480 from being able to take hold. And so that's nick colliding. 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.920 It's when these nicknames collide. In One way that that 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:19.720 would happen is you would have what what's called a 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.360 net split. A net split is when uh you have 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.160 two servers that are connected to a network that are 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.360 running the same sort of channel, and some people are 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.440 on one server, some people are on the other server, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.520 but they're all in the same chat room. But then 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.840 somehow a connection between those servers breaks and then you 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.280 end up having two instances of that same channel. So 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.680 you've got half the people in one and half the 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.600 people in the other. So let's say that I'm a jerk. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.320 I mean, it's easy to say, right, So I'm a jerk. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:53.680 I've lugged into the mansion. I'm hold on, it's gonna 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:55.960 take me a second. Yeah, I know, it's okay. There's 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.720 you're in the forest. There's a tree, all right. So Lauren, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.480 you're an OP and I'm a and I've logged into 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.359 the channel and right now I'm not being too jerky, 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.040 so you haven't booted me or anything like that. But 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.640 there's a net split, and you and your group are 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.080 in one server. I'm on another server, so we're on 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.359 separate ones. I say, uh, there's been a net split. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.159 I shall change my name, yes, exactly, I'll change my 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.200 name to Lauren's name. And so I changed my nickname. 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.920 And then when the servers are reunited and it tries 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.520 to reconcile these two worlds into one because you have 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.120 two people with the same nickname, the nicknames collide, thus 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.760 Nick colliding, and it boots both people out of the channel. Now, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.119 because I'm a jerk, and because I've planned for this, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.600 I've already got another window open, so i can log 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.880 right back in using Lauren's nickname again. And Lauren, because 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.199 she wasn't expecting this because she was being decent, is 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.840 locked out of her own channel. That's kind of nick 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.080 colliding in a you know, in a nutshell, and that's 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.240 the sort of stuff these guys like to do. So 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.879 they started up their own party. They say, well, you know, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.160 the e f net people for some reason don't find 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.919 this nearly as entertaining as we do, so we're gonna 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.679 make our own party. However, a net would not last 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.320 very long, and in fact, most users chose to go 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:15.879 with e f net instead, saying this anarchy thing doesn't 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.439 sound like it's a lot of fun or very you know, 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.200 a productive does Everyone being nice seems to make a 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.720 lot more sense, right, So then we have a unified 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.439 network e f net again. So it started off as 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.359 a unified network, had that one schism, A net did 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.520 not last very long. We're back to unified. However, then 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.560 you have a second splintering, which is when some users 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.119 left e f net to form tub net, which was 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:47.040 mostly kind of a The tub net folks were saying, look, 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.960 you need to fix things so that net splits happen 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:55.520 less frequently. They are, they're disruptive, you, it's it's ruining 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.280 the experience, right. The way that people react to net 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.520 splits is not the problem. The fact that year having 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.760 net splits at all is something that really needs to 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.119 be worked on more exactly. And so it wasn't so 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.800 much a disagreement with policy as it was we need 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.600 to improve this platform. So they left and uh tough 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.040 net had about five servers and around a hundred users, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.280 but it didn't stay around very long either. People kind 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.240 of might kind of reabsorbed. Yeah, um and and again, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:25.359 basically all of these were really scalability issues, um, which 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.760 which Jerko himself actually listed as being just about the 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:29.640 only thing that he would go back and change if 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.679 he had it to all do over again. Right. But 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.320 you know, again, hindsight being twenty, it was a lot 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.440 harder to imagine this back when you were doing something 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:41.679 where you had ten people on absolutely so an event, 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.320 a world event happens that ends up making i r 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:49.720 C a very useful utility for a certain population. That 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.080 was when the Gulf War broke out and you started 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.679 seeing lots of people using i r C to communicate 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.239 about the war, sharing news stories, sharing information as they 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.480 got it because different parts of the world we're getting 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:05.080 reports earlier than other parts, and everyone wanted to know 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:07.879 what was going on. And this was when they were 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.280 seeing the height of their popularity in their early days. 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.240 And keep in mind, again we're talking modest numbers. So 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.280 when we tell you how many users at the higher 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.840 their popularity, don't snicker, right, because for the first time 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.200 in history, it was it was about three concurrent users 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.639 at any given moment, and that that was a big deal. Uh, 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.720 you know, kind of similar to how we were saying 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.760 in the Twitter episode about how how people were so 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.800 impressed by the ability that this that this software gave 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:38.320 them to tune into live reporting about an issue, same 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:42.879 same thing. Yeah, yeah, exactly, So it was you know, really, 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.560 to me, what this says is it's it's it's a 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.040 premonition about what the Internet will be and how it 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.439 will be important and how people will use it to 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:57.320 communicate these important ideas in real time. Across the entire globe, 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.320 and even though it was very tiny, particularly compared to 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:03.879 something as enormous as the Internet, it was kind of 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.080 a proof of concept in many ways. So then another 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.239 split happens, but this one was not It was an 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.240 amicable split. It wasn't something where a bunch of people 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.160 were really upset. A user who used the nickname wild 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.119 Thang and yes that is how it's spelled, created a 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:24.720 test network to develop bots. So these are automated accounts. 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.760 Often they will create admins that are bots, and the 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.840 admin bots really are just there to scan for anything 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:34.720 that would be objectionable and react to it so that 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.440 if someone's typing in all caps, the bot can step 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.800 in and say, please, don't type in all caps. People 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:42.080 were much more sensitive about that in these early days 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.840 of Internet. Yeah, you know, because it was considered shouting. 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.119 And no, no, I mean it's still considered shouting. But 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:49.680 it's kind of funny these days. I think back back then, 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.920