I used to run one of the more populated channels on freenode before one of they killed nickserv registration without notifying anyone. As a result I lost chanserv access and the oper/freenode staff member I contacted “couldn’t prove I was the actual owner”. I think that freenode has suffered from chronic mismanagement for years.

I professionally worked with some members in the channel who attested to my identity and true ownership of the channel and I offered to provide a signed pgp message using my registered email to prove that I owned the channel using a domain name that I own which matched all of my information (basically a true cryptographic proof of identity).

Instead of this, the oper made me announce my intentions to “re-take over” the channel to the other members saying that if nobody contested then he’d return ownership. I did this for about four months every week. Then the oper decided to give owner perms to his friend saying that I wasn’t active enough to administer the channel. After his buddy took over the channel, there have been no administrative actions taken (ie no mode changed) because there haven’t needed to be any? It’s almost as if I knew how to administer an IRC channel and configured it in a way where it didn’t need to be touched? Either way it was pretty much a slap in the face after spending years growing a community for their platform. If anyone is a member of this channel and wants to start fresh ##embedded channel somewhere else, happy to do so. I hope others do the same.

Looks like the former staff member resigned recently. Good on you buddy. But you still have a special place on my no fly list :).