AfterNET is an IRC network and was founded in September 1996. One of its main goals is to provide an environment with more freedom to speak than other networks, which leads to a more centralized structure than one would have in, say, Undernet or EFnet.

AfterNET is a medium-sized network with an average of 900 people connected to it at any given time, though this number can spike to 1300 or more. They use the Nefarious extension to the ircu daemon.

Channel services are provided through a bot called X3. It can kick, ban, and set modes on users when given the appropriate commands. It also performs various channel maintenance tasks like changing the infoline and setting dynamic user limits.

AfterNET supports the round-robin rotation address <code>irc.afternet.org</code> in addition to region-specific addresses <code>us.afternet.org</code> and <code>eu.afternet.org</code> for connections on ports 6667, 7000, and 16667. The network also has support for SSL-encrypted connections on port 9998.

Authorization and DNSBL scans

On July 3, 2004, AfterNET announced a new policy of comparing users' IP addresses to those listed in three DNSBLs, Blitzed OPM, SORBS, and NJABL [1255]. Any matching addresses is automatically prevented from connecting, and this has since been the subject of a lot of debate. Some people contend that the policy drives off new users and is a nuisance to current ones, while others (including the administrators) say that the amount of spam has dropped off considerably since this was started.

To alleviate some of the complaints, a "login-on-connect" feature was introduced. Those who have accounts can use this feature to bypass DNSBL scans and immediately hide their IP addresses from other users. Since the introduction of this feature, the user count is increasing again. The DNSBL scanning mechanism is built into the ircd software.

History

AfterNET was created in 1996 when several disgruntled server administrators delinked themselves from TheNET and decided to form their own network. Admistrators from InnerNET and OuterNET soon joined them.

External links

AfterNET homepage

Channel list

Statistical graphs of the network's activity

Project home page for Nefarious irc server software, X2, and X3