If I wasn't a lazy idiot, I would've made something like this. Been fantasizing about it since forever. Can't wait to check it out!

While this is a POC, it 'works' in the sense that you can send and receive messages, join channels, and communicate in said channels.

(JOIN, PART, PRIVMSG, NOTICE, QUIT, NAMES are implemented)

All users are both clients and servers. Nobody owns the network. Names are authenticated against Handshake and so are TLS certificates and signatures.

Channels are owned by the person who owns said namespace - for example, if your name is bob, then you own bob and bob/*

Tl;dr:

This makes it impossible for anyone to take over your IRC.

Interesting! I'll try to find time to test it out.

Would it prevent what you did to freenode?

Nobody will own IRC once this is finished. :-)

Why not simply use Matrix chat?

Have you tried to install and maintain a Matrix homeserver? It's far from simple.

This was written and posted by the person who did a hostile takeover of Freenode.

Doesn't change the code and may even highlight why a decentralized IRC protocol is of great importance.

Display remorse for what you've done, or burn this identity and start a new one, if you want your ideas to be judged on their merits.

My ideas are judged on their merits. Unfortunately I’m not the one at fault for freenode - the blame goes to Christel who sold freenode behind the backs of the team as a last ditch effort before her team abandoned and moved to their own new network.

The plan to launch Libera started long before the “incident”.

Logical people who read the events come to this conclusion. I hope you will be able to do the same.

The only people who are taking your ideas seriously these days are sycophants and those who don't remember the past. Eventually, you will run out of both.

Keep telling yourself that. It might eventually come true!