As many of users of the FurNet IRC network may have noticed, we haven't opened up chanserv to general registrations yet. We would like to do so in the near future, but want to make sure we can do it in a way which is fair to everyone, especially users of existing channels.As many of users of the FurNet IRC network may have noticed, we haven't opened up chanserv to general registrations yet. We would like to do so in the near future, but want to make sure we can do it in a way which is fair to everyone, especially users of existing channels. As such, we're going to delay general, unrestricted registrations for a bit longer, though we'll allow people who have channels which they use and are in control of on a regular basis (through bots, etc...) to get the channel registered. The biggest risk is that channels can be registered by any op in the channel, so a very popular channel with many ops could be "taken over" by a single person who may or may not be a recognized "authority figure" in the channel.

Thus, we will lock out registration of all "commonly used" channels and open ChanServ registrations in the next week or so (exact date to be announced). If you want "commonly used" channels to get registered, you need to contact us directly and ask for the registration. We will register the channels if and only if it is clear from an existing bot in the channel that a single person is clearly running the channel already. Channels (such as #furry and #alf) which don't have any one person who clearly is in charge won't be registered to anyone. If the bulk of the people in the channel agree, we will set it up so that services will ensure that a bot (FurServ, in the example of #alf) is always opped, but beyond that, channels will remain unregistered. We will likely only do this for large bots which are "well known" to handle channels over much of the network, like FurServ and FurLink.

I apologize for how long this took to get done. We've all been concerned about how to do this transition fairly and with minimal pain, and I personally hope this solution is a sane enough one to be workable.