[tor-bugs] #30717 [Community]: Consider exempting Matrix.org users from OFTC registered nick requirement

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#30717: Consider exempting Matrix.org users from OFTC registered nick requirement
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 Reporter:  JeremyRand   |          Owner:  alison
     Type:  enhancement  |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium       |      Component:  Community
  Version:               |       Severity:  Normal
 Keywords:               |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:               |         Points:
 Reviewer:               |        Sponsor:
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 The Matrix.org relay is the most straightforward way to access OFTC over
 Tor.  Users who are accessing OFTC via the Matrix.org relay are not
 considered by OFTC to be "registered" by default, since their registration
 is with Matrix.org infrastructure rather than OFTC infrastructure.  This
 produces a problem because Tor's OFTC channels are configured to disallow
 any user from joining if they are not registered on OFTC infrastructure.
 (I tested #tor-dev; I assume the others are similar.)

 Usually, this kind of policy is intended to mitigate spam attacks.
 However, historically none of the spam attacks against IRC networks have
 been routed via Matrix.org infrastructure.  This may be because Matrix.org
 has its own rate-limiting mechanisms for account registration (e.g. a
 reCAPTCHA test for each new registration), and it may also be because
 Matrix.org is new enough that spammers haven't paid attention to it.  In
 any event, I think it's highly unlikely that you'll see spam from
 Matrix.org infrastructure if you permit Matrix.org users to access your
 OFTC channels.

 Documentation on exempting Matrix.org users from the registered nick
 requirement is at https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-appservice-irc/wiki
 /End-user-FAQ#user-content-i-am-a-chanop-and-have-a-spam-problem-how-can-i
 -fix-it-without-affecting-matrix-users .  Any chance you could do this?

 PS: I'm not sure if Community is the right component for this ticket; feel
 free to reassign to another component if you like.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/30717>
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