About the Network

You've reached freenode, a service of Peer-Directed Projects Center (PDPC). freenode provides discussion facilities for the Free and Open Source Software communities, for not-for-profit organizations and for related communities and organizations. In 1998, the network had about 200 users and less than 20 channels. Ten years down the line the network currently peaks at just over 50,000 users, freenode provides facilities to a variety of groups and organizations.

Our 2008 "Fundraising for Charity Status" target is to raise a minimum of £5,000.00 which will enable us to apply for Charitable Status through the UK Charity Commission! The blog has more information and updates! The chart on the left shows you where we're at currently.

Massive Thanks to everyone who has helped us reach previous fundraising goals, and all those who are helping us try reach the 2008 fundraising goal!

Peer-Directed Projects Center is a not-for-profit organisation, limited by guarantee and incorporated in England and Wales. Your donations help keep us running.

If you're interested in looking around the network, please find a server and come see us, or have a look at our network policies and project news and philosophy.

freenode is run entirely by volunteers hailing from the wider FOSS communities which we serve. Our combined network staff and development base is made up of around 30 dedicated men and women. We can all be found in #freenode on the network, staff are all voiced and happy to help, or just have a chat with you about what we do and why we do it!

While we're not currently actively recruiting for network staff -- we constantly keep an eye out for people who may be suitable additions to the team, and for those curious about volunteering we would urge you to keep an eye on the blog as well as the Volunteering section of this website as details of any openings will be posted there.

Call for Testers: We are currently in the process of testing our next-generation irc daemon, ircd-seven. The test network is currently running on testnet.freenode.net, port 9002 for normal connections or 9003 for SSL connections. This is a new server, sharing no code with the current software and all aspects of it need thorough testing. You can find us in #freenode on the testnet if interested in helping out! In addition to testers, we are also looking to expand our development team(s), if interested please do get in touch!

Welcome to freenode!