View source for Undernet

{{Short description|Internet Relay Chat network}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2008}}
{{Infobox IRC network
| name             = Undernet
| image            = [[File:Undernet.org website.png|200px|A screenshot of the Undernet site.]]
| founded_on       = {{start date and age|1993|01}}
| located_in       = United States<br />Europe<br />Canada
| based_in         = Worldwide
| executive_board  = 
| website_url      = {{URL|https://www.undernet.org/}}
| primary_dns      = [https://chat.undernet.org irc.undernet.org] 
| average_users    = {{IRC NQNS link|Undernet|18,000 }}
| average_channels = {{IRC NQNS link|Undernet|7000}}
| average_servers  = {{IRC NQNS link|Undernet|36}}
| main_content     = Public/Unrestricted
}}
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The '''Undernet''' is the third largest publicly monitored [[Internet Relay Chat]] (IRC) network, c.{{what|date=February 2024}} 2022, with about 36 client servers serving 47,444 users in ~6000 channels at any given time.<ref>[http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/details.php.en?net=Undernet&submenu=years "Details of IRC Network Undernet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216233037/http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/details.php.en?net=Undernet&submenu=years |date=2012-02-16 }}. irc.netsplit.de.</ref><ref>[http://www.undernet.org/ "Undernet IRC Network"]. undernet.org.</ref>

IRC clients can connect to Undernet via the global [[Round robin DNS|round robin]] '''irc.undernet.org''', the region-specific round robins '''us.undernet.org''' and '''eu.undernet.org''', [[IPv6]] client servers '''irc6.undernet.org''' or a specific [[server (computing)|server]] from the server list.<ref>[https://www.undernet.org/servers Undernet server list]. undernet.org</ref>

== History ==
Undernet was established in October 1992 by Danny Mitchell, Donald Lambert, and Laurent Demally as an experimental network running a modified version of the [[EFnet]] irc2.7 [[IRCd]] software, created in an attempt to make it less bandwidth-consumptive and less chaotic, as [[netsplit]]s and [[IRC takeover|takeovers]] were starting to plague EFnet.<ref>History of the Undernet https://www.undernet.org/docs/history-of-the-undernet</ref> The Undernet IRC daemon became known as "ircu". Undernet was formed at a time when many small IRC networks were being started and subsequently disappearing; however, it managed to grow into one of the largest and oldest IRC networks despite some initial in-fighting and setbacks. For a period in 1994, Undernet was wracked by an ongoing series of [[flaming (Internet)|flame wars]]. Again in 2001, it was threatened by automated heavy spamming of its users for potential commercial gain. Undernet survived these periods relatively intact and its popularity continues to the present day.

It is notable as being the first network to utilize [[Internet Relay Chat#Timestamping|timestamping]], originally made by Carlo Wood, in the IRC server protocol as a means to curb abuse.

== Services ==
Undernet uses GNUworld to provide '''X''', its channel service [[Internet bot|bot]].<ref name="cserv">[http://cservice.undernet.org/ Channel service]. undernet.org</ref> X operates on a '''user'''name basis; a username is independent from a nickname, which cannot be registered on Undernet.<ref name="cserv"/>

As Undernet limits channel registration to "established channels" or channels with an active userbase, Undernet introduced a version of ''ChanFix'' (under the nickname ''C'') designed to work like EFNet's CHANFIX. Its use is to protect unregistered channels. ChanFix tracks [[IRC channel operator|channel op]] usage by username basis and restores ops if channels become opless or are [[IRC takeover|taken over]].<ref>[http://www.chanfix.info/ Chanfix]. chanfix.info.</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
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* {{Official website}}
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/19/014r-021900-idx.html Washington Post coverage] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217094326/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/19/014r-021900-idx.html|date=17 February 2019}}
{{IRC NQ|Undernet}}
{{IRC networks}}

[[Category:IRC networks]]
[[Category:1992 establishments in the United States]]