We are going to make the #tor-internal and #cakeorpie "invite-only" (mode +i in IRC) and bridge them with the Matrix side.

This requires a slight configuration change in IRC clients to automatically send a command (e.g. INVITE #tor-internal) when connecting to the server. In irssi, for example, it's the following:

chatnets = {
  OFTC = {
    type = "IRC";
    autosendcmd = "^msg ChanServ invite #tor-internal; ^msg ChanServ invite #cakeorpie ; wait 100";
  };

Further documentation on how to do this for other clients will be published in the TPA IRC documentation at the precise moment anyone will require it for their particular client. Your help in coming up with such examples so precisely for all possible IRC clients in its ~40 year of history is of course already welcome.

Users of the bouncer on chives.torproject.org will be exempted from this through an "invite-only exception" (a +I mode). More exceptions can be granted for other servers used by multiple users and other special cases.

Matrix users will also be exempted from this through another +I mode covering the IP addresses used by the Matrix bridge. On the Matrix side, we implemented a mechanism (a private space) where we grant access to users on a need-to basis, similar to how the @tor-tpomember group operates on IRC.

Approval and timeline

Those changes will be deployed on Monday April 14th. This has already been reviewed internally between various IRC/Matrix stakeholders (namely micah and ahf) and TPA.

It's not really open for blockers at this point, considering the tight timeline we're under with the bridge migration. We do welcome constructive feedback but encourage you to catch up with the numerous experiments and approaches we've looked in tpo/tpa/team#42053.

Background

The internal IRC channels #tor-internal and #cakeorpie are currently protected from the public through a mechanism called RESTRICTED mode, which "bans" users that are not explicitly allowed in the channel (the @tor-tpomember group). This can be confusing and scary for new users as they often get banned when trying to join Tor, for example.

All other (non-internal) channels are currently bridged with Matrix and function properly. But Matrix users, to join internal channels, need to register through NickServ. This has been a huge barrier for entry to many people who simply can't join our internal channels at the moment. This is blocking on-boarding of new users, which is de facto happening over Matrix nowadays.

Because of this, we believe an "invite-only" (+i) mode is going to be easier to use for both Matrix and IRC users.

We're hoping this will make the journey of our Matrix users more pleasant and boost collaboration between IRC and Matrix users. Right now there's a huge divide between old-school IRC users and new-school Matrix users, and we want to help those two groups collaborate better.

Finally, it should be noted that this was triggered by the upcoming retirement of the old Matrix.org IRC bridge. We've been working hard at switching to another bridge, and this is the last piece of the puzzle we need to deploy to finish this transition smoothly. Without this, there are Matrix users currently in the internal channels that will be kicked out when the old Matrix bridge is retired because the new bridge doesn't allow "portaled rooms" to be federated.

If you do not know what that means, don't worry about it: just know that this is part of a larger plan we need to execute pretty quickly. Details are in tpo/tpa/team#42053.