Re: Where else do you hangout?

[Ryan Hamel via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>]

John,

> Discord is walled garden.

How is Discord a walled garden? Choosing to sign up for the platform and joining an instance is a user's choice, and 
way more user friendly, than jumping through the hoops to get an IRC client set up, connected to a server, get their 
handle registered, make sure they identify correctly to the "NickServ" should the network be running a services package 
like Anope/Atheme. I can go on and on.

Ryan Hamel

________________________________
From: John Todd via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2025 6:59 PM
To: North American Network Operators Group <nanog () lists nanog org>
Cc: John Todd <jtodd () loligo com>
Subject: Re: Where else do you hangout?

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There is a marginally active #nlnog (irc.nlnog.net) and fairly active #networker channel that I lurk on despite not 
speaking Dutch - but they are mostly European. I am on several Slack groups that are DNS-focused. There is the DNS-OARC 
Mattermost. I do sort of prefer IRC - Slack becomes quickly fragmented into "helpful" topical sub-groups that I never 
have the time to look at - one layer of categorization is plenty. Discord is walled garden. Social media is barely 
functional for conversations - it is a broadcast mechanism. Email lists are also functional but have been dying out in 
favor of... nothing. I am on some IRC channels dedicated to very narrow subjects (all OSS-related.)

If someone wants to champion an effort to re-invigorate an IRC channel, I'd probably be there. I just looked at the 
Freenode #nanog - three other participants. I'm not even sure if that was the server/channel that I had used in the 
past, so pointers welcome if there is a more lively channel.

As with all open platforms, keeping the really off-topic chatter down is a challenge. It drives people away. Also, 
there needs to be some minor gatekeeping, otherwise #nanog would become "I can't print - is the internet down?"  I have 
no answers on this issue, though.

JT


On 20 Aug 2025, at 17:39, jim deleskie via NANOG wrote:

> I haven't been on IRC in a long long time.  Damn I'm old. :(
>
> On Wed, Aug 20, 2025, 8:36 PM Mark Prosser via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>
> wrote:
>
> > I was chatting with some industry colleagues recently and I realized
> > that various sectors of our industry are not "online" in the spaces I'm
> > online.
> >
> > Perhaps there was a time when most of us were on mailing lists & IRC,
> > but now the communities seem fragmented and behind walled gardens
> > (Mainly Discord and Slack .. the latter is deleting our messages faster
> > and faster).
> >
> > Personally, I'm subscribed to several discord groups (including NANOG),
> > several slack groups, a few mailing lists, IRC (I'm not on that often
> > these days), one or two Matrix groups, IETF Zulip...
> >
> > This quickly becomes cumbersome and I find myself mainly in Packet
> > Pushers & NAF Slack groups -- while being "reachable" in other places. I
> > feel like I'm missing out on conversations outside of the few bubbles I
> > participate in.
> >
> > Where do you spend most of your time, outside of this mailing list? Why
> > do you like it there? What kind of folks hangout there?
> >
> > Warm regards,
> >
> > --
> > Mark Prosser
> > // E: mark () zealnetworks ca
> > // W: 
> > https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fzealnetworks.ca%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cryan%40rkhtech.org%7C510c98a030154458bf7108dde0566f13%7C81c24bb4f9ec4739ba4d25c42594d996%7C0%7C0%7C638913384017592359%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7%2BT0khhhtAsmet22LflJi2r12XVukiqkt7nCPhA9RE0%3D&reserved=0<https://zealnetworks.ca/>
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