Undernet Channel
From Callahan's Wiki
The #callahans Undernet Channel has been a gathering place for callahanians since 1995.
The channel is overseen by a Channel Manager and several operators.
Contents |
Administration
For more information, check out the current management charter.
Current Operators
- 500 ManinBlak
- 400 Callahan
Former Operators
- 500 zem
Bots
- Callahan - Mike Callahan is the bartender of Callahan's Place in the Spider Robinson novels, and thus Callahan is his IRC bot counterpart. He is referred to as "Mike", as he likes to keep a first name basis with his patrons. Mike was originally developed in mIRCScript by Donovan and hosted by Confucius, but both of those regulars decided to leave #callahans after a while and he was rewritten as Tcl script addons to the Eggdrop bot by AuntieEm.
- Pixel (defunct) - Donovan also developed this bot in mIRCScript, a representation of the bar's cat. Pixel would interact with Mike, play with the regulars, and sometimes do random actions. Unfortunately, he also failed to attend #callahans after Donovan left, and even when Donovan was still in the channel Pixel would rarely show up. Incidentally, Pixel was "reincarnated" and rewritten by the Freenode #callahans regulars, as the two cats Gridley and Grimes.
- FastEddie (defunct) - FastEddie was used on occasion to match algorithms in the hostmasks of spam bots, and would interface with X to permaban them as they entered the channel. While he didn't catch them all, and sometimes made mistakes, FastEddie helped protect the channel against invasions in Undernet's worst times.
- Wurlitzer (defunct) - A "jukebox bot", Wurlitzer would take requests from patrons and play all kinds of music. It was short-lived and was gone before 2000.
History
The Callahan's IRC channel began as a Wednesday night gathering for the patrons of the alt.callahans newsgroup. Elana started the channel, and it's first patrons were emb (Elana), Yue-shun, Gendalia and rowanf. Its first creation was on December 30th, 1993 at 12:00am EST, and the channel stayed "open" until midnight. Eventually, more alt.callahanians joined the channel and it quickly outgrew it's "Wednesday night only" policy, and as more folks began joining it other days of the week, it grew to a fully-fledged discussion point.
IRC was just developing at this time, and so in the beginning the channel wasn't popularly frequented by the newsgroup readers. As computers got faster and more people got IRC access at either work or home (if they were on a BBS), or if they had a more modern internet connection (such as AOL or CompuServe), they could run an IRC client off of their home PC. Gradually, more and more newsgroup patrons joined the channel and made it their main contact point with others. After a few years, the channel had taken on a life of it's own and was forever separated from the newsgroup (though many #callahanians frequent the newsgroup and the channel). When the Undernet introduced "X", the channel services (to protect against spam and retain administrative control) IRC bot, #callahans was registered and a channel manager was elected. It was determined that after a certain length of time, a new channel manager would be elected so the channel can stay alive with new thought and progress.
2003 Split
In 2003, a large portion of the #callahans regulars were becoming unhappy with the disorganized state of the Undernet, which included almost daily netsplits and spam bot annoyances. (A regular programmed a bot that interfaced with X to ban spam bots on entry) began researching networks with more stability and a smaller userbase. While Undernet was not originally a huge network, its longevity has made it the 3rd largest IRC network in the world. These regulars settled on Freenode, and began a new #callahans channel on that network. In a few months time, many regulars who joined the new channel moved over entirely, leaving their Undernet brethren behind. The channel still exists today but is nowhere near the popularity of Undernet #callahans.
X Temporarily Removed
On April 19th, 2007, the channel lost its registration status due to a lapse in channel management. Registration was recovered May 2, 2007, prompting discussions on appointing a new channel manager via election. You all helped by participating in Nominations for a new channel manager, the results of which were released on July 8, 2007.
