In the last few years I have hosted the vBulletin Fans Chat Network over at irc.vBulletin-Chat.com and we have grown quite a bit. We are still what is to be considered a small chat network, but we are an open network, have a flexible group of staff and have a growing group of supporters and chatters.

Each year I review the situation and decide whether to stop or continue with the chat network. After all, I pay it out of my own pocket or use the few donations we receive. And it could be that we’re paying too much for too many services when we perhaps only need half of the resources. Or, we might have grown so much that we need to double our set up and increase capacity. To just name a few questions I ask myself when the time is there again to make that decision.

We have a network set up from a central point node which is set up as the ‘hub’ of the net. It runs the main domain irc.vBulletin-Chat.com and runs the services that help the users manage their nicknames, channels and such. If the network splits the chance of a appealingly working network is pretty high since it has all the features of the net. Also, it is on the most stable server of the net. Hosted and sponsored by Viper.uk.net. Additional servers have been added in 2006 and 2007, such as irc.fortehwin.org and a separate one for the social network chat irc.diggchat.net. Each with their own handful of aliases. All our nodes are hosted by ACMEShells.com, which are a separate data center then the hub, so when we split either one way or the other, users are always able to reconnect to a different node and continue chatting until the net merges back again.

In 2006 and 2007 we have tried to partner up with a few other networks but our nets differ too much to achieve a comfortable netlink, so after a few tests I have decided to discontinue this. I also had a few friends offer a leaf node and we tried that and some worked, and some didn’t. Due to personal differences we also discontinued this. The last month of 2007 a new developer for vBulletin.com offered to host a leaf node on his box at a data center in London, which would benefit people with a European connection (lowers lag) and it is a great replacement for the connections we’ve lost over the year.

I took the opportunity to open a discussion which is still ongoing, but hopefully it will result is London’s leaf being the ‘althub’, which means if the main hub splits from the net that our network will connect to the alt hub and remains a network instead of splitting of into individual nodes. Martin also brings with him enough linux knowledge which helps us progress our scripts, services and he will be involved in the upgrading of our entire network planned for Q2 2008. The provider hosting Martin’s linux box offers great deals for VPS hosting, and they allow you to run irc servers, and connect them to networks (unlike, for example providers like theplanet or steadfast).

Besides me wanting to have a sandbox for upgrading our network next year, I also want more control, which I can be (as root) running a VPS. And to test stability and to bring back a few of our missing irc hostnames I’ve got an account with BitFolk.com and run a few nodes on them now and am working on the sandbox setup. I will list my plans for 2008 for the chat network in a bit, but I first want to list what we have right now.

We have a hub and a handful of leafs, they are spread over various data centers in both Europe and US. We allow connections without the requirement of identd, which makes it fast and easy for everybody using a chat client as well as online java chat in a browser. We have received enormous positive response to this. We also allow not only port 6667, but a range of ports. From 6665 to 6669, and additionally 7000 and 9999. This means users who are at work, behind a firewall, over a stunnel, or proxy, can still connect choosing an alternative port. And we had a lot of positive replies to this update too. And since last summer it is supported throughout the whole network, all irc servers.

The servers are:
-irc.vBulletin-Chat.com
|-irc.omgboards.com
|-irc.vbirc.com
|-irc.vbulletin-fans.com
|-irc.fortehwin.org
|-irc.vBulletin-Chats.com
|-irc.diggchat.net
`-irc.wetalk.tv

I also want to point our this is a network for everybody who wants to join, it started as a ‘vBulletin’ chat network, but it is more now. We do not provide any vBulletin support, but we can guide users who ask into the right direction. We host the #chat channel for http://www.vBulletin-Fans.com/ so about 35% of the visitors are vB fans who like to talk vBulletin and geek out. We also host the official chat channel for an official vB site: irc.vBulletin.org for http://www.vBulletin.org/forum - so there’s a short explanation why our network is called ‘vBFans’.

Our set up for IRC Operators have also changed. Chroder (Chris) and I are still set up as global network IRC Operators. We get help from local operators such as Marco, Martin (TinTin) and Martin (Mez).

We have Round Robin DNS set up which means that if you connect to our main irc host address irc.vBulletin-Chat.com that you will get jumped on to one of the servers in our network. So if one connection is down, even the main hub, that you will most likely get a working connection at your second or third try. This certainly decreases being reachable for almost everybody. Of course you could also connect directly to one of the nodes, or directly to the IP of that node.

We allow around 1000 users per chat channel, and we allow users to have multiple chat channels and multiple chat names. We also allow multiple connections and allow users to run robot programs if that helps their channel. Our network supports up to 7500 users online at the same time and we can expand this on the fly with a lot more. At the moment our average of online users is 100 at all times, spread of 25 active channels (we have around 100 public channels). According to SearchIRC (http://searchirc.com/rank/vBulletinFans) we’re in the top500 of 5000 networks that they host. Which is pretty good for a small network that’s only up for a few years. We’re big enough to get hosted on the biggest IRC web site netsplit.de (http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/details.php?net=vBFans). So it is time that we stop playing and testing around, and take it a step further.

In 2008 the plan is to be more serious about our network. First of all we will be more responsible about dealing with abusive users. We will create an internal protocol on how to ban someone, if it turns out to be needed, and for how long. And keep a history on this for reference. And we will be looking into creating tools for channel founders to do more without having to come to the opers. We’ve already implemented a public command for registered channels so anybody can type !staff and find a list of online opers they can query.

More serious changes are that we are planning on moving away from UltimateIRCd to UnrealIRCd (and most likely keep Anope). More networks run Unreal and it is better supported by third party scripts, and it will make it easier to link up with other networks. To just name a few things.

I already talked about the althub earlier, we want to realize this too. So we have a hub in the US and an alt hub in Europe.

I run a network of bots with various scripts such as a knowledge database and a google script. We plan to streamline this more and improve the script so all the bots can better use the resources. This way we can better offer individual bots to channels and give the owners better control over them. I also plan to unify the commands, and offer an easy way for users and channel staff to learn and understand these commands. For example, the majority of our commands are starting with ! or ?? - perhaps I will decide to make all public commands start with !

To improve our network on the inside is not enough, I need to work on the content of the network too, and make it more appealing to users. Our plan is to advertise it better, more, and work on the http://www.vBulletin-Chat.com/ web site so it has the right information, and offer quick services to help people getting started. We’re halfway there, but we need to be there 100%.

At the moment we have some great users chatting in our channels. And we have very little abuse. Most people know each other somehow and we’re slowly growing. We are also getting more channels and more network servers. It kind of feels we’re at a make or break moment in our network. And I don’t want to break it. I’ve been on IRC since 1994 and when EFNet split from IRCNet I stayed there for a while, but moved to my own network so I would have control over it, little to no spam and abuse, and have a central spot for my friends to find me. With the ability to help others who want to do the same (adding chat to their site - or want to have a live chat channel for their friends).

So there you go, now you know a bit more about the chat network I run, what’s involved in running it, and how we have grown. And that we have plans for 2008 to grow even further.  Please come over to #chat to say hello and have a fun discussion with whoever is online. And hopefully we will also see you in 2008. Please let your family and friends know where you chat and how to get there. And feel free to start your own chat channel(s) if you need any. And please feel free to come ask for chat support if you have any questions.

Come back soon to my blog to find more in-depth explanations about the things I do online and offline. Such as running a chat network. Got any suggestions or feedback? Feel free to register and leave a comment to this blog entry.

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