Update to GNU and FSF's plan to move IRC channels to Libera.Chat

[Amin Bandali]

This announcement also on the Free Software Foundation's website:
https://www.fsf.org/news/update-to-the-fsf-and-gnus-plan-to-move-irc-channels-to-libera.chat

                                 * * *

Following our [announcement][1] of a planned gradual switch from the
Freenode IRC network to Libera.Chat, Freenode staff, with no notice,
seized control of the #gnu and #fsf channels away from GNU volunteers
and FSF staff during the early hours of Sunday morning (EDT).
This happened despite members of Freenode staff participating in
the [community meeting][2], as well as reassuring us publicly and
privately that they would respect and support the resulting review and
our decision.  These channels were seized without informing the GNU or
FSF representatives of any disagreements Freenode staff had with our
plan, whether by means of the group contact system or otherwise.
Adding to the situation's instability was their switch to a new IRC
daemon late last night, also without notice, which dropped all
existing nicks and channels from the database.

[1]: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2021-06/msg00005.html
[2]: 
https://www.fsf.org/events/community-meeting-on-the-future-of-our-irc-presence

This has forced us to adjust our plans for the transition, a move that
was already necessary due to an abrupt change in Freenode policy that
occurred shortly after our announcement, which eliminated the
distinction between # and ## channels that we planned to use to pass
ownership of the #gnu and #fsf channels over to the wider free
software community.

After several additional meetings of the working group GNU and FSF
formed to investigate this issue, we announce the following changes:

. The #gnu and #fsf channels on the Freenode network are to be
  considered unofficial and will not be moderated by GNU volunteers
  or FSF staff.

. So as not to mislead users, who might otherwise think that the #gnu
  and #fsf channels on Freenode are the official channels for our
  organizations, the irc.gnu.org alias is being retired effective
  immediately.  Instead, it is now pointed at a server of ours that
  will give notice of our migration to the Libera.Chat network to IRC
  clients that attempt to connect to it.

In light of these events, we would like to reiterate our call for
GNU maintainers to move their channels away from the Freenode network,
whether to a self-hosted server, alternate IRC networks such as
Hackint or Libera.Chat, or other networks that fit the [criteria][1]
we devised for our decision.  Once again, GNU maintainers who have any
concerns about their channels are encouraged to email
<maintainers@gnu.org> with their questions.