EFnet
EFnet or Eris Free network (also written EFNet) is a major IRC network, with over 100,000 users.
Initially, most IRC servers formed a single network, to which new servers could join without restriction, but this was soon abused by people who set up servers to sabotage other users, channels or servers. When, in August 1990, server eris.berkeley.edu remained the only one to allow anyone to connect servers, IRC server operator Greg Lindahl broke away to start EFnet. The resulting argument split the IRC community of admins into EFnet and A-net, but A-net soon vanished, leaving EFnet as the only IRC network.
Continuing problems with performance and abuse eventually led to the rise of another major IRC network, Undernet, which split off in October 1992.
In July 1996, disagreement on policy caused EFnet to break in two: the slightly larger European half (including Australia and Japan) formed IRCnet, while the American servers continued as EFnet.
EFnet is probably the least "unified" IRC network, with large variations in server rules and policy between different servers. It has no central administration authority, although there are US- and EU-specific routing committees.
IRC clients can connect to EFnet via irc.efnet.org or any number of other servers.
