Buckle up. If you're not into IRC, this post probably isn't for you. You have been warned.
Nick Reboot (NReboot)
So, let's talk about Nick Reboot for a second. Besides the fact that their website takes hours to load (it's incredibly loaded with dynamic junk that attempts to make the site look perfect on a certain screen size and browser situation (such as not having flash)), their chat system gives me a headache.
- You are locked into using their website to chat
- You have to register on their site just to talk (no visiting)
- You automatically join the chat with no prior agreement to have your IP exposed to the underlying IRC network
- You don't agree to let that underlying network handle your information
And that's just the stuff I can think of, off the top of my head. I was recommended to check out "nreboot" by a newer community member on Techtronix, but I was quick to learn that their website doesn't welcome third party clients that much in the first place.
Monday, September 21st, 2015
3:24:18 PM <Techman> How do I get voice in #nreboot-help
3:24:19 PM <Techman> Er
3:24:22 PM <Techman> #nreboot
3:25:04 PM <%Radien> you stop asking?
3:25:26 PM <~Kin> Voice is for users that are on the website watching the stream. The channel is secret, and off-site chat clients are unwelcome without an invitation.
Even my friend tried to get voice in #nreboot, and he uses HexChat. I use IRCCloud, if you folks previously didn't know.
Monday, September 21st, 2015
10:23:16 PM → V and PikachuInTheShower joined ⇐ Aech quit
10:31:14 PM <V> om
10:31:22 PM <PikachuInTheShower> Can someone help me? I can't register my nickname.
10:32:38 PM <V> PikachuInTheShower: go to #help
10:33:08 PM ← V left (~urhnvzqoj@idlehost-99211065.ri.ri.cox.net)
10:33:54 PM <@lewismarien> are you doing the register nickname command for IRC?
10:34:59 PM <@lewismarien> For what it's worth, the name might already be registered by someone else
10:36:24 PM <PikachuInTheShower> Oh, I got it now.
10:36:32 PM <@lewismarien> Great!
10:36:32 PM <PikachuInTheShower> Thanks, though!
10:36:39 PM <@lewismarien> You're welcome
10:44:31 PM <PikachuInTheShower> @v, I've registered my nickname on the site, but I can't get voice in #nreboot
10:45:14 PM <@lewismarien> He's not in this chat
10:45:35 PM <PikachuInTheShower> Sorry about that.
10:45:49 PM <@lewismarien> No prob haha, he was here when you first needed help
10:45:55 PM <@lewismarien> But he dipped out right after that
10:46:05 PM <PikachuInTheShower> But yeah, I registered my nickname.
10:46:17 PM <@lewismarien> I think you need to register on the site too, I know you're registered on the idlechat network
10:46:25 PM <@lewismarien> Like you can use your same name
10:46:33 PM <PikachuInTheShower> I did register on nreboot
10:47:04 PM <%Radien> did you reload the chat?
10:47:14 PM <PikachuInTheShower> I'm using hexchat
10:48:02 PM ⇐ @SatsuiRevivedRedux quit (~bkheehrke@idlehost-2F4E8BE6.res.bhn.net) Ping timeout: 326 seconds
10:49:56 PM <PikachuInTheShower> But I left the channel and came back
10:52:55 PM → SatsuiRevivedRedux joined (~bkheehrke@idlehost-2F4E8BE6.res.bhn.net)
10:52:55 PM <limeaway> with a vvvvvuuuuh vuh vuh
10:52:55 PM mode: @SatsuiRevivedRedux (opped) ↔ @lewismarien (opped) nipped out
10:55:41 PM <@lewismarien> PikachuInTheShower: Hey, hope you got everything squared away. I see you have voice now. I had a sudden restart on my laptop so sorry I couldn't help =)
10:57:58 PM <PikachuInTheShower> Yay :) Thanks !
10:58:46 PM <@lewismarien> No problem at all! And glad to see another Hexchat user
11:00:27 PM <PikachuInTheShower> It's easy to use ;D
11:01:36 PM <@lewismarien> It sure is, IRC clients in general are just nice to check all chat rooms at once on a network
11:01:51 PM <@lewismarien> Of course some have different learning curves
11:02:45 PM <PikachuInTheShower> It's not too bad. Writing a irc client is a different story :/
11:04:46 PM <@lewismarien> Mhm. Alright, well enjoy the site and if you ever have any questions feel free to ask and one of the top dogs in here will do their best to help
This reminds me a bit of what a user by the name of "Leonylyner" did with his chat a few months ago. He attempted to move his channel to Techtronix, but he tried his best to restrict the chat down to just his very, very restricted configuration of the lightIRC flash-based IRC client. I rejected his community for this reason.
Oh, and here is some extra stuff.
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015
3:41:37 PM ← You were kicked by Kin (~Kin@idlechat.net): Your question has been answered
4:36:05 PM → Techman joined • Channel mode: +ntrSCTfj [1c#C10,1k#K10,6t]:5 2:12
4:36:11 PM <Techman> Kin: Really man?
4:36:19 PM <Techman> I have been idle in #nreboot because I don't have voice
4:47:47 PM <%Coyote`> to remedy the voice, all you had to do was register your nick
(...)
5:18:45 PM ← You were kicked by Kin (~Kin@idlechat.net): has been idle 42mins
9:11:15 PM → Techman joined • Channel mode: +ntrSCTfj [1c#C10,1k#K10,6t]:5 2:12
9:11:30 PM <Techman> Alright, so I registered on nreboot.com and I registered my nick on IdleChat
9:11:36 PM <Techman> What do I have to do now to get voice in the chat
9:11:57 PM <~Kin> Be a friend to the community.
9:12:23 PM <Techman> Can you elaborate?
9:28:50 PM <%Amyashi> Don't be an a-hole?
9:29:40 PM ⇐ @KaityDid quit (~hdydiugkt@idlehost-FD144090.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit: nreboot.com Flash IRC Client
9:31:24 PM <Techman> Alright, thanks
9:31:32 PM ← Techman left (sid11863@idlehost-3ABD8FC2.irccloud.com)
As you can see, even though I registered on the website, I still didn't get access to speak in the channel (voice). So I guess their own help staff are lying to me.
IdleChat & co
Now let's talk more about what has happened recently regarding #nreboot. So, after sitting idle in #nreboot for days due to not having voice, I get kicked from the channel. Or so I thought.
Tuesday, September 29th, 2015
3:56:01 PM ← You were kicked by GLaDOS (GLaDOS@Aperature.Science.edu): Techman has been idle 95hrs 23mins 33secs
I tried rejoining the channel and perhaps talking to the Nick Reboot staff again, but then I was met with the server-provided message alert telling me that I have been banned. Upon further inspection, it turns out that "Kin" is in fact the person who banned me, after inspecting the ban list using a different IP address.
| Ban Mask | Added By | Date Added |
|---|---|---|
| *!*sid11863@*.irccloud.com | Kin | 09/30/2015 |
Above is the relevant parts of the channel ban list. I've formatted it into a nice table for easy viewing. So what happened was Kin banned me without me actually being joined to the channel. I find that to be rather underhanded and slimy, among other things.
Let it be known that Kin and some other members of Nick Reboot actually own and control IdleChat. The reason why this is particularly important is because there's nothing stopping them from treating you this way on other parts of the network. This is exactly what happened.
A few days prior to the events mentioned above, I was actually forcefully kicked from a channel by a network staff that didn't have access to do so, in that channel. Effective abuse of administrative powers that I think needs to be demonstrated. Too many IRC networks on the internet treat their users like meaningless servants basically, and I believe this needs to stop. Any network that treats their users like this will always be shamed by me.
Let it be known that Kin and some other members of Nick Reboot actually own and control IdleChat. The reason why this is particularly important is because there's nothing stopping them from treating you this way on other parts of the network. This is exactly what happened.
A few days prior to the events mentioned above, I was actually forcefully kicked from a channel by a network staff that didn't have access to do so, in that channel. Effective abuse of administrative powers that I think needs to be demonstrated. Too many IRC networks on the internet treat their users like meaningless servants basically, and I believe this needs to stop. Any network that treats their users like this will always be shamed by me.
Misc
To be honest, I don't even know how something like Nick Reboot even exists, or how it even is legal. But I will say, no matter how good your product or end service is, if your attitude is poor, it won't get you anywhere. I'm sure Viacom loves to know that Nick Reboot runs around treating their users like crap.
Because Nick Reboot has behaved this way towards me for no apparent reasoning beyond what has been provided, I'll be contacting Viacom to see how these people even exist anyways. I believe they need to learn how to treat people. The internet shouldn't be some safety screen to make sure that you can do things to folks without consequences.
Just another thing. This post is all my personal opinion and findings. This in no way represents an official statement from Techtronix or the like.
Update
It seems like whoever at IdleChat (probably Kin) didn't like this post that I made. Soon after this post was published, I was banned from IdleChat with rather amusing quit message. I guess they can't take criticism?
Thursday, October 1st, 2015
1:49:40 PM *** You are banned from idlechat (Before :you post something to the internet you should make sure your facts are correct, http://www.techmansworld.com/2015/10/name-shame-idlechat-nreboot.html Also if you feel like you've been banned unfairly don't bother appealing it)
1:49:40 PM Closing Link: Techman[charlton.irccloud.com] (User has been banned from idlechat (Before :you post something to the internet you should make sure your facts are correct, http://www.techmansworld.com/2015/10/name-shame-idlechat-nreboot.html Also if you feel like you've been banned unfairly don't bother appealing it))
Everything I've mentioned is accurate, and I do have logs to confirm what I've been saying. The only thing I could see them point a finger on is the oper abuse, but if they really want to nag on about that, I can post that incident too, but I didn't because it's unrelated to the topic at hand.
