The official blog of freenode, the IRC network for open source projects, covering server incidents, policy changes, and organizational news.
HN links it as the primary source on freenode events, such as the Mibbit webchat block, spam and DDoS attacks, and the dissolution of its parent organization.
People abusing mibbit webchat to cause strife
http://blog.freenode.net/2009/06/new-freenode-webchat-and-why-to-use-it/
Honestly, freenode is loaded up with tech savvy users. This will solve nothing. If users want to cause strife on channels, the tool they use is inconsequential. Below are two scenario's off the top of my head.
Scenario #1 - people will be using proxies and using freenode's webchat client = banning mibbit was pointless
Scenario #2 - people will be using their own irc clients and using open proxies = banning mibbit was pointless
So banning of mibbit hasn't actually solved the problem, but like I theorised above, has the potential to funnel revenue to freenode and given the timing of axod's post about revenue, with the banning of mibbit only a day or so after followed by the awfully convenient default webchat installation that freenode put up, it smells a little fishy (even if it's tin foil hat territory, you still have to admit it's bad timing on freenodes part).
EDIT - Scenario #3 - lowtech, just reconnecting off your router to refresh your IP and connect from home = banning mibbit was pointless
Freenode has very recently been under DDoS attack[1] and has been dealing with them for at least a year or more[2]. It seems likely that they're getting the same government treatment as Quakenet. Given that Freenode hosts channels for many open source projects, these attacks aren't just annoying bystanders, they're potentially affecting the progress of our technology.
[1] http://blog.freenode.net/2014/02/turbulence/
[2] http://blog.freenode.net/2013/05/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
Statement by freenode because of the block
http://blog.freenode.net/2009/06/new-freenode-webchat-and-why-to-use-it/
Analysis:
Seems like mibbit was being abused and it was difficult for freenode to combat the abuse. Freenode eventually just got fed up with all the time required to fix the problem. It was too easy to get on mibbit to evade a ban to screw with a channel.
Doesn't serve as counter argument for web chat providing strong value proposition, just that Freenode leveraged existing open source software to provide an alternative solution that they could directly manage.
http://blog.freenode.net/2009/06/new-freenode-webchat-and-why-to-use-it/
http://blog.freenode.net/2010/01/javascript-spam/