SlashNET

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SlashNET is a medium-sized, independently-operated Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Originally sponsored by Slashdot, in 1999 SlashNET split off to become its own entity. Several well-known communities and projects maintain an IRC presence at SlashNET, including #kuro5hin.org (kuro5hin.org), #slashdot (now only vaguely related to the website of the same name), #mefi (MetaFilter), #slash (Slashcode), #smokedot (smokedot.org), #sourceforge (SourceForge), #lnx-bbc (lnx-bbc), #paforums (Penny Arcade), #joyoftech (The Joy of Tech), #g7 (the IRC idle RPG), #totse (Totse) and #summer-discuss, the official Google Summer of Code channel for 2006 and 2007.

[edit] Administration

According to SlashNET's website, a "hands-off" approach to administration is used. More specifically, SlashNET claims that IRC Operators are just regular users with a status flag next to their nicknames. SlashNET's administration officially decries the use of mission statements and other business-like "buzzwords" for IRC networks and rejects the notion that these are necessary for the operation of a network. The overall objective of the administration as described by the network's website is "keep the servers running."

SlashNET is run entirely by volunteers from around the globe. SlashNET's servers run UnrealIRCd v3.2.5 on FreeBSD and Linux. IRC services and Blitzed Open Proxy Monitor are also utilized to provide a quality IRC experience for users.

[edit] Forums

SlashNET has been host to numerous IRC forums with famous people in the tech industry, including Ken Coar, Marcel Gagne, Richard Stallman, Jamie Zawinski, Matt Dillon of DragonflyBSD, Rob 'CmdrTaco' Malda and Jeff 'Hemos' Bates of Slashdot, Rusty Foster and Dylan 'Inoshiro' Griffiths of kuro5hin, and the distributed.net crew. Logs of past forums on SlashNET may be found on the network's website.