Freenode IRC resign en masse after takeover by Korea’s crown prince

Freenode has been the world's largest IRC network since 2013, with roughly three times as many users as its closest competitor, IRCnet. Last week, the massive IRC network was taken over by Korean Crown Prince Andrew Lee—a move that the network's staff has apparently unanimously classified as a "hostile takeover," although Lee himself claims these are only "rumors" and "simply untrue."

At first blush, it's tempting for an outside observer—someone who isn't already familiar with the history of the network's ownership and management—to shrug and say "well, who knows." Lee lays out several hundred words of explanation in a blog post currently featured on Freenode's front page—most of which sounds reasonable.

But the one question Lee never addresses—let alone answers—is why at least 14 separate staff members would quit en masse, all disagreeing with the story he tells. In 2017, Christel Dahlskjaer—who was, at the time, head of Freenode staff—created a corporation, Freenode Ltd., which she immediately sold to Lee. Dahlskjaer and Lee told Freenode staff and users that the incorporation was only done as necessary paperwork in order to sponsor a conference and that day-to-day operations would remain unchanged.