If no one uses a channel on GeekShed for 60 days, it is dropped from the system. A channel can also be dropped, even if people are in it, if the person who registered it does not log in for 60 days or more. The server assumes that if someone has not logged or or a channel goes unused for 60 days, that person is abandoning any channels.

So how can you regain a lost channel if this happens to you? Once a channel has been dropped from the system, any registered user can claim and register the channel. The requirement is the same as it is for starting any new channel. If no one is in the channel, you can just join the channel and register it again (after registering your nick again if necessary).

If there are people in the channel, the situation is a bit more complicated. If someone in the channel has ops, you can ask that person to give you ops so that you can reregister the channel. If no one has ops in the channel, you need to ask everyone to leave so that you can rejoin first and get ops. Once you are an op in the channel, you can register it again.

We’re frequently asked if we can kick everyone out of a channel so that someone can reregister it. We cannot. Once a channel has dropped, it doesn’t belong to anyone anymore. The original owner no longer has any special claim on the channel. Everyone has an equal right to register it, and no one on the network staff will kick everyone or give the original owner ops in this situation.

Likewise, if someone else registered a channel that has been dropped, we will not take that channel away and restore ownership to the original owner. Channel registration is first come, first serve. Everyone has an equal right to register a channel, and no one on the network staff will give the original owner back a channel in this situation.

—posted by tengrrl/bunny