TwistedNET 2026

The backbone of any IRC network is its infrastructure, and we have invested heavily in ours over the past twelve months. Our primary hub server was migrated to new hardware in late 2025, moving from aging dual Xeon E5s to modern AMD EPYC processors with NVMe storage. The result is noticeably faster server-to-server linking, quicker NickServ and ChanServ response times, and significantly more headroom for traffic spikes.

We have also expanded our DDoS mitigation capabilities. IRC networks have always been targets for volumetric attacks, and TwistedNET is no exception. Our new filtering setup sits upstream of our IRC servers and can absorb multi-gigabit attacks without affecting user connections. In the past six months, we have mitigated over a dozen significant attacks with zero downtime visible to users. If you did not notice, that is exactly the point.

On the connectivity front, all of our server nodes now fully support IPv6 dual-stack connections. If your ISP supports IPv6, you can connect to TwistedNET over it natively. This has been a long-requested feature, and we are glad to finally deliver it across the entire network rather than on just a subset of servers.

Security has always been a core pillar of TwistedNET. Our zero-logging policy has not changed and never will. But we have made several improvements to the security of connections to the network.

The biggest change is the enforcement of TLS 1.3 as the minimum protocol version for SSL connections. TLS 1.2 is still supported for client compatibility during a transition period, but we plan to deprecate it by mid-2026. TLS 1.3 provides faster handshakes (one round-trip instead of two), stronger cipher suites, and improved forward secrecy. If your IRC client supports it, you are already benefiting from this upgrade.

We have also updated our UnrealIRCd installation to the latest stable release, which includes numerous security patches, improved flood protection, and better handling of malformed client data. The update also brings support for the latest IRCv3 capabilities, including message tags and labeled responses, which modern clients can use for a richer experience.

# Verify your TLS version when connecting:
/whois YourNick

# Look for this line in the output:
YourNick is using a secure connection (TLSv1.3, TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384)

# Connect to TwistedNET with SSL on port 6697:
/server irc.twistednet.org 6697

Additionally, we have implemented stricter rate limiting on connection attempts, authentication failures, and CTCP requests. These measures reduce the effectiveness of brute-force attacks and scanner bots that probe IRC networks. Legitimate users should not notice any difference, but attackers will find TwistedNET a much harder target in 2026.

Numbers do not tell the whole story, but they do tell part of it. In 2025, TwistedNET saw a steady increase in both registered nicknames and daily active users. Our peak concurrent connection count hit new highs several times during the year, and we now consistently see higher activity during evening hours across multiple time zones, suggesting our community is genuinely global.

Some of this growth is organic, people discovering IRC through blog posts, Reddit threads, or word of mouth. Some of it is a reaction to the ongoing centralized platform fatigue that is driving tech-savvy users back to open protocols. Whatever the reason, we are glad to have each and every one of you here.

The new channels that have emerged organically deserve special mention. #security has become a genuinely active hub for infosec discussions. #homelab has turned into a space where people share their self-hosting setups. #music continues to be one of the most active social channels on the network. These community-driven channels are exactly what IRC is about: people forming groups around shared interests, without a corporation dictating the rules.

If you are reading this, you have already seen the biggest visible change we have made: a complete redesign of the TwistedNET website. The old site served us well for years, but it was showing its age. The new design is built from the ground up with a focus on speed, accessibility, and providing genuinely useful content for both newcomers and experienced IRC users.

Every page has been rewritten to be more informative and SEO-friendly, so that people searching for information about IRC, IRC commands, or alternatives to Discord can find TwistedNET. We believe that one of the best things we can do for the IRC community is to make it discoverable. Too many potential IRC users never find out that IRC exists because the information is buried in outdated wikis and forum posts from 2008.

Our WebIRC client has also received attention. It remains the easiest way to connect to TwistedNET without installing any software. Just open the page and you are chatting. We have also continued maintaining our The Lounge instance, which provides a persistent, always-connected IRC experience through your browser, similar to what platforms like Slack offer but without the privacy trade-offs.

A network is only as good as its community, and TwistedNET's community continues to impress us. Here are some highlights from the past year:

We do not make promises lightly. Everything on this list is something we are actively working on or have concrete plans to implement. Here is what you can expect from TwistedNET in 2026:

TwistedNET is a volunteer-run network. Nobody here gets paid. The servers are funded out of pocket by the admin team. The time spent maintaining infrastructure, moderating channels, helping users, and writing content like this article is all donated freely. We do it because we believe in what IRC represents: open, private, human communication without corporate interference.

But we would not keep doing it without you. Every user who connects, every conversation that happens in our channels, every new person who discovers IRC through TwistedNET, that is what makes the late-night server maintenance and the DDoS-mitigation headaches worthwhile. You are not just users of a service. You are members of a community that has been building something meaningful for almost two decades.

So thank you. Thank you for choosing an open protocol over a walled garden. Thank you for valuing privacy over convenience. Thank you for being part of TwistedNET. Here is to nineteen years and many more to come.