Rew, how long have you been acting as an operator on undernet and how long have you been using the network ?

I've been using UnderNet since '93 or '94 I think.. As for being an oper, I think that was in '98.

At any point do you think the future of the Undernet network was at risk ? Or where the attacks simply a nusiance to the day to day running and performance.

The attacks didn't threaten UnderNet as a whole. They did as we now know cause some servers to delink, but there were others who were dedicated to staying and helping Undernet rebuild.

The server you OPER is owned by a large company and it's actually hosted for free, at any point did they feel the need to pull the service to protect their own network and it's security ?

I can't really comment on that one. I can say however, that each company that donates the necessary bandwidth for a server has a different tolerance level for the performance of the server.

Your server, Newbrunswick still seem to be going strong. Some other servers tho, like Manhattan, dissapeared from the Undernet, will they return?

I think once things have died down, that some may return. It won't be the same network as it was before though.

How does this fact affect the servers that are still operating?

Less servers mean more users on the servers that are still connected. Some can handle the increased user load, some can't.

The loss of several servers obviously affects the number of users that can connect to Undernet. Are there any measurements taken to compensate for this loss?

There are always applications to link servers being submitted. I'm sure routing-commitee is reviewing these as we speak. For now, like I said above, the servers still connected need to accomidate the users.

Users of the Undernet have seen some new "hidden" servers coming. Is the Undernet commitee working on new technoly in server hard- and software that will be much harder to be affected in a attack like the DoS attacks we have seen recently?

To properly have firewall a server takes a lot of $$$. The coders are always working on ways to protect the network via software.

Being one of the older Internet protocols, how do you see the future of Undernet and IRC in general?

I think with the influx of new to pc users, things like Yahoo! Chat will probably gain some users, but the people who've been around will always be true to IRC.

To end this interview, what would you like to say to the many users of Undernet?

Thanks for all your patience during the attacks. We're trying to do the best we can to make UnderNet a fun, safe place to chat. Thanks to all who have taken a minute to thank an oper too, we appreciate it. (we do it for you)

latex,

rew