Zdoom (IRC channel)
From DoomWiki.org
#zdoom is a Doom community general discussion channel, not officially related to any project, nor specifically related to ZDoom. It is likely the most populated Doom-related channel, averaging around 50 users at any given time.
History
#zdoom was originally created on the Freenode network by Kurt Kesler as a private editing-related channel for him and a few other people. Tensions in the #doom channel involving James "Quasar" Haley and the other channel operators caused him and many others to become dissuaded to the way the channel was run. #zdoom was advertised as an alternative to #doom, and gained much of the latter channel's regular members. The #doom operators involved in the disagreement soon moved to their own private network.
All through the channel's existence on the Freenode network, Kesler was sometimes unable to gracefully handle the channel's more rambunctious members, and ownership of the channel passed between him and Quasar a number of times. Throughout 2002 and the first half of 2003, some users complained that channel operators were abusing their privileges.
Likely as an indirect result of these complaints, or perhaps due to some other incidents involving the Freenode network, network operators made #zdoom a network staff-run channel on June 25, 2003 (irrelevant lines have been removed):
<dmwaters> ok guys
<dmwaters> here's what's going to happen
<dmwaters> the channel's going to be retained by staff
<dmwaters> and some things, well a lot of things are going to change
<dmwaters> we're going to try and follow the channel guidelines, and the first
couple of things to change will be the constant opping and auto op
<dmwaters> the other thing is that we need to....ease up on the
......language a bit, mainly....sexual references and things like that.
<dmwaters> this channel is technically an offtopic channel, and if you want
to keep it here then some of this has to change
Exactly one month later, dmwaters closed the channel (again, irrelevant lines have been removed):
*** dmwaters has changed the topic on channel #zdoom to this channel is now closed.
<Bloodshedder> closed to what
<dmwaters> closed as in closed
<dmwaters> as in as the founder I'm choosing to close it
<tobester> why
<dmwaters> tobester: because, it's on it's 3rd founder, I've had people ask
me to close it and people here have driven off half my channel staff
<dmwaters> tobester: and to throw that in, everyone seems to have something
against the guidelines
<Bloodshedder> why spoil everything for the majority when the minority is
causing the problem?
<dmwaters> Bloodshedder: because when a channel makes the founder misserable,
it's time to do something about it
<Bloodshedder> like find a founder that it doesn't make miserable? heh
<dmwaters> Bloodshedder: it's more then just the founder.
<dmwaters> Bloodshedder: it's also what the people seem to think about the
channel guidelines
(The "channel guidelines" being mentioned refer to Freenode's channel guidelines page.)
In anticipation of something like this happening, Bill "Bloodshedder" Koch registered the channel #zdoom on the OFTC IRC network back in April of 2003. After the channel on Freenode was closed, nearly all of its former regulars eventually relocated to OFTC.
