Taking back control of the #numpy irc channel
Over the past few days spambots have been hitting freenode's IRC channels[0, 1]. It turns out the #numpy channel has no operator, so we cannot make the channel mode "|+q $~a"[2] - i.e. only registered freenode users can talk but anyone can listen. I was in touch with the freenode staff, they requested that someone from the steering council reach out to them at ||projects@freenode.net, here is the quote from the discussion: " it's pretty much a matter of them sending an email telling us who they'd like to represent them on freenode, which channels and cloak namespaces they want, and any info we might need on the project " In the mean time they set the channel mode appropriately, so this is also a notice that if you want to chat on the #numpy IRC channel you need to register. Hope someone from the council picks this up and reaches out to them, and will decide who is to able to become channel operators (the recommended practice is to use it like sudo, only assume the role when needed then turn it back off). Matti [0] https://freenode.net/news/spambot-attack [1] https://freenode.net/news/spam-shake [2] https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201808/fighting_spam_on_freenode.html |
Hi, I idle in #scipy and have op in there. I’m happy start idling in #numpy and be op if the community is willing to let me. I’m also in the process of getting ops for #matplotlib for similar spam-related reasons. I’d say all the scientific python IRC channels I’m in get a decent amount of traffic (perhaps 10% of the number of questions that get asked on StackOverflow) and it’s a good venue for asking quick questions. Let’s hope that forcing people to register doesn’t kill that, although there’s not much we can do given the spam attack. Nathan On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 9:03 PM Matti Picus <matti.picus@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 7:15 PM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks Nathan. Sounds useful. There's also a Gitter numpy channel. AFAIK few/none core devs are regularly active on either IRC or Gitter. I would suggest that we document both these channels as community-run at https://scipy.org/scipylib/mailing-lists.html, and give Nathan and others who are interested the permissions they need. I think our official recommendation for usage questions is StackOverflow. Cheers, Ralf I’m also in the process of getting ops for #matplotlib for similar
On Mon, 2018-08-06 at 21:52 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Sounds good. I haven't really hung out there for a long time (frankly, I never hung out in #numpy, I thought people just use #scipy). Can we just give a few names (such as Matti, Nathan, maybe me, anyone else right now?) and add others later ourselves? I can get in contact with freenode (unless someone already did).
Yeah, the gitter seems pretty inactive as well. But I guess it doesn't hurt to mention them. - Sebastian
On Tue, 2018-08-07 at 22:07 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Will do, just realized looking at it. The Steering Council list, etc. has a list of names, but not email addresses (or PGP keys). I do not remember, was that intentional or not? Also I am not sure if the steering council email address is published anywhere, IIRC it was possible for anyone to send an email to it (OTOH, it would be nice to not catch spam there, so maybe it is fine to ask for the address first). - Sebastian
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 1:23 AM, Sebastian Berg <sebastian@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
I have a vague memory of that being intentional, but not sure. I don't mind making email addresses public; they can be found from git commit logs and mailing lists anyway, so why make life difficult for whomever wants to reach us.
Google's spam filters are pretty good. For the record, it is numpy-steering-council@googlegroups.com Cheers, Ralf
On Wed, 2018-08-08 at 08:55 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Yeah, well, I find PGP keys a good idea, even if they might outdate once in a while.... That means if someone wants to check you can easily sign an email and they can be pretty sure you can claim to have some sway in NumPy (right now freenode did it by seeing I have power on github, but it is not really quite ideal). On a general note about IRC, we have claimed #numpy now: If anyone wants anything #numpy related on IRC now (new channels, cloak namespaces, ...), please contact me or Matti (I assume you are happy with that role!). If someone is unhappy with us two being the main contact/people who have those right on freenode, also contact us so we can get it changed. - Sebastian
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 9:06 AM, Sebastian Berg <sebastian@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
Hmm, happy to add PGP keys (optionally), but it doesn't really replace an email address for me. E.g. I don't have PGP keys on all the machines I work on. It's just not worth the trouble syncing that for the few times a year I use a PGP key. How about adding both, optionally? If yes, then it would be nice to collect those in a single PR to limit the churn to the governance doc files. Cheers, Ralf
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 9:06 AM, Sebastian Berg
If someone is unhappy with us two being the main contact/people who have those right on freenode,
On the contrary, thanks much for taking this on! -CHB -- Christopher Barker, Ph.D. Oceanographer Emergency Response Division NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception Chris.Barker@noaa.gov
Hi, I idle in #scipy and have op in there. I’m happy start idling in #numpy and be op if the community is willing to let me. I’m also in the process of getting ops for #matplotlib for similar spam-related reasons. I’d say all the scientific python IRC channels I’m in get a decent amount of traffic (perhaps 10% of the number of questions that get asked on StackOverflow) and it’s a good venue for asking quick questions. Let’s hope that forcing people to register doesn’t kill that, although there’s not much we can do given the spam attack. Nathan On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 9:03 PM Matti Picus <matti.picus@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 7:15 PM, Nathan Goldbaum <nathan12343@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks Nathan. Sounds useful. There's also a Gitter numpy channel. AFAIK few/none core devs are regularly active on either IRC or Gitter. I would suggest that we document both these channels as community-run at https://scipy.org/scipylib/mailing-lists.html, and give Nathan and others who are interested the permissions they need. I think our official recommendation for usage questions is StackOverflow. Cheers, Ralf I’m also in the process of getting ops for #matplotlib for similar
On Mon, 2018-08-06 at 21:52 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Sounds good. I haven't really hung out there for a long time (frankly, I never hung out in #numpy, I thought people just use #scipy). Can we just give a few names (such as Matti, Nathan, maybe me, anyone else right now?) and add others later ourselves? I can get in contact with freenode (unless someone already did).
Yeah, the gitter seems pretty inactive as well. But I guess it doesn't hurt to mention them. - Sebastian
On Tue, 2018-08-07 at 22:07 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Will do, just realized looking at it. The Steering Council list, etc. has a list of names, but not email addresses (or PGP keys). I do not remember, was that intentional or not? Also I am not sure if the steering council email address is published anywhere, IIRC it was possible for anyone to send an email to it (OTOH, it would be nice to not catch spam there, so maybe it is fine to ask for the address first). - Sebastian
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 1:23 AM, Sebastian Berg <sebastian@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
I have a vague memory of that being intentional, but not sure. I don't mind making email addresses public; they can be found from git commit logs and mailing lists anyway, so why make life difficult for whomever wants to reach us.
Google's spam filters are pretty good. For the record, it is numpy-steering-council@googlegroups.com Cheers, Ralf
On Wed, 2018-08-08 at 08:55 -0700, Ralf Gommers wrote:
Yeah, well, I find PGP keys a good idea, even if they might outdate once in a while.... That means if someone wants to check you can easily sign an email and they can be pretty sure you can claim to have some sway in NumPy (right now freenode did it by seeing I have power on github, but it is not really quite ideal). On a general note about IRC, we have claimed #numpy now: If anyone wants anything #numpy related on IRC now (new channels, cloak namespaces, ...), please contact me or Matti (I assume you are happy with that role!). If someone is unhappy with us two being the main contact/people who have those right on freenode, also contact us so we can get it changed. - Sebastian
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 9:06 AM, Sebastian Berg <sebastian@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
Hmm, happy to add PGP keys (optionally), but it doesn't really replace an email address for me. E.g. I don't have PGP keys on all the machines I work on. It's just not worth the trouble syncing that for the few times a year I use a PGP key. How about adding both, optionally? If yes, then it would be nice to collect those in a single PR to limit the churn to the governance doc files. Cheers, Ralf
On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 9:06 AM, Sebastian Berg
If someone is unhappy with us two being the main contact/people who have those right on freenode,
On the contrary, thanks much for taking this on! -CHB -- Christopher Barker, Ph.D. Oceanographer Emergency Response Division NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception Chris.Barker@noaa.gov
participants (5)
-
Chris Barker -
Matti Picus -
Nathan Goldbaum -
Ralf Gommers -
Sebastian Berg