why does atlanta block IRC

Because the datacenter is operated by bad people.

Come on honeycat, I was asking a serious question.

Risk mitigation.

hoopycat is correct; the datacenter is the one imposing the restriction, not Linode. If they think they're mitigating risk that way, they probably also ban silver cars from the premises on the basis that it is the most frequent color of car used for car bombings.

@shentino:

I'm just curious why atlanta blocks IRC ports.
shentino,

Open a support ticket and ask them if the Atlanta data center is blocking IRC ports, and if so what other Linode users do to address/bypass this situation. They'd probably be your best source of information and suggestions in this situation.

MSJ

@Main Street James:

@shentino:

I'm just curious why atlanta blocks IRC ports.
shentino,

Open a support ticket and ask them if the Atlanta data center is blocking IRC ports, and if so what other Linode users do to address/bypass this situation. They'd probably be your best source of information and suggestions in this situation.

MSJ
It's not a question of if the Atlanta DC is blocking IRC ports, shentino is rather wondering why they're blocking the IRC ports. The fact that the Atlanta DC is blocking IRC ports has been a known issue ever since Linode opened up in the Atlanta DC.

https://www.linode.com/faq.cfm#can-i-ru … -my-linode">https://www.linode.com/faq.cfm#can-i-run-an-IRC-server-on-my-linode

But yes, shentino might get a better answer from Linode as for the reasons in a support ticket.

You can just run IRC on another port than the default IRC ports.

Speculation here but this is probably the correct reason:

There are a lot of jerks on IRC and many servers/users on IRC networks end up getting hit with denial of service attacks because some stupid kid is mad that he got banned for talking about how he did your mother last night.

By blocking the common IRC ports it really cuts down on the probability that their DC will get hit with attacks that are initiated because of this.

GNAX refused to answer.

By the way, the FAQ is out-of-date. Atlanta does not allow IRC, even on different ports. It's technically possible, of course, but it's against the rules.