A lot… and I do mean a LOT… of shit has happened this year. Really, since November of 2012 when we suddenly lost the original Omega server, then Xi a few weeks later in December. Then it was the loss of our .net domain in January and subsequent loss of hundreds of users following that when they were no longer able to connect to the BNC servers and never came in to ask for help… though a big part of that was the fact our website was also down due to the domain loss and they couldn’t get to us if they didn’t already know where we were. We went from almost 1300 users in August/September of 2012 to just over 600 by mid-March of this year. It wasn’t easy for me to accept this, or the server losses… or generally the lack of support I was getting at the time, and I nearly quit a couple of times during the January to March stretch of this year.
Then there was the “revival”. 3 new servers were added (Theta, Lambda, new Omega), Alpha’s move off BuyVM, and the new .org domain steadily made it’s way into Google and other search engines. We were finally moving forward again. I was, what I believed, ‘honestly’ ready to move into what I always call the “DDoS Season” (June/July/August) confident in the fact we already had most of the major networks with ‘DDoS tendencies’ banned: EFnet, IRCnet, UnderNet, DALnet. And then in late May, the shit began.
Prior to this we had already been getting the ‘occasional’ DDoS… it’s something every BNC service has to deal with. 99% of the time it is not directed at the ‘service’ but at 1 user on a particular server that “pissed off the wrong person”… subsequently, getting that IP and the BNC server taken down. This is pretty much unavoidable when you run a service like this. However, in late May the service itself was attacked with at least 6 servers getting hit, and the end result was the loss of Lambda as it’s owner pulled it from our service. But, it didn’t end there. Overall, since May, we have lost 5 servers… Lambda, Zeta (replaced), Theta, Epsilon (replaced), and recently the 2nd Omega, though the Omega loss isn’t due to DDoS. Every server was hit with DDoS shit at some point this summer. It didn’t matter that we had these nets banned. The latest Omega loss is a product of what we, and all ‘free BNC services’, generally run into… no funds coming in to ccver the costs. We at least had forewarning this was going to happen, unlike the DDoS server losses over the summer. Still, it hurts us… and it’s another server lost.
Where am I at? I’m fed up. I’m ready to quit IRC and everything associated once and for all. Yeah, I’m seriously talking not just the end of EliteBNC, but the end of all of my IRC projects. I’ve had enough bullshit. Either things change and I get some support, or fuck it and I’m out of here.
To our users: It’s pretty simple on your side also. There has been a shitload of abuse. Those of you who have always followed the rules, I thank you very much. Unfortunately, we have had more than our fair share of abuse. I, nor anyone else with this service, will EVER put up with abuse, bullshit, harrassment or any such bullshit. Just because we are free does NOT give you the right to abuse us. You WILL be dealt with if you abuse us. More so than if you were on any paid service. We cannot ‘afford’ abuse. It’s that simple.
If I do remain here, just expect me to become a total fucking asshole… because, quite frankly, it has been earned. I will not put up with anymore IRC bullshit… period. Do right, or be gone. If too much shit continues, then know that I am gone. And now, I seriously mean it, if I go, the EliteBNC service is likely to go soon after. This has to work both ways, or none at all.
Robby
EliteBNC General Manager