OMg, but cant say I am suprised. I'd love to know the background to the split. I'd heard there was major conflict going on behind the scenes that couldnt be resolved but nobody seemed to be able to explain what the problem was. seems like the project has been crumbling at the core and new life struggling to emerge but being snuffed out. I hope the split resolves this once and for all but I wonder whether the damage caused can be healed at all.

The IP logging news isn't really news and apparently people had tried to tell the truth about it before. It is unforgiveable I think and totally irresponsible that those trusted with power have chosen to hide the fact from users for so long. I wonder if the new MIR site will continue to include IP logging features and whether the new site will also provide admins with such tools to monitor users. With so many cops and spy amoung us there is no excuse for retaining these feature on activist sites.

...but I can't say I'm either suprised or disappointed. The quality of layout, articles, news and comments on here has plummeted over the recent years, indicated by the the 9/11 fixation and similat rubbish that dominates here on occassion. As well as this a complete lack of political clarity (ie is it about anything alternative, or is it more focussed than that?) doesn't help.

I think it brings more into question than just IM, indeed for me it brings into doubt the whole idea of open publishing in this format. I think a better, more focussed news site is needed, with heavy moderation of lunatic posts and irrelevant news.

I'm not on Facebook or Twitter or similar things myself, but I think it may well prove to be more useful and timely for both organising and news than IM.

It is obvious to anyone who knows how websites work that the webserver has to have the IP addresses of visitors, at least for a short while, to know where to send the website request to, and just to set up a TCP connection in the first place.

It's also clear that anyone on the network route could be logging these IP addresses, e.g. the ISP.

Also, given the recent revelations, it wouldn't be unheard of for someone high up in Indymedia to be an infiltrator.

So it would be ludicrous for anyone to rely on the fact that Indymedia don't keep logs for their personal safety.

It is good if they don't, but never rely on a third party for security. Use a decentralised network proxy like Tor if necessary.

It is also clear that trolls, troublemakers and people with mental health issues often post junk to Indymedia. The admins can obviously see the messages coming in, so I think it was pretty obvious that they could block these people if they were using a consistent IP address.

I would be more worried if they WEREN'T tracking what was going on in this way. If they didn't, the newswire and the comments would be even more full of nonsense and trolling than they are now.

The national network is indeed splitting into two national projects. However:
-these two projects fulfil different roles and can complement each other
-all local indymedia collectives will continue to operate as usual

As for the IP logging scandal:
-I'm not going to try and justify it.
-Several of us within IMC UK argued strongly against deceiving our users in this way.
-Dysfunctional consensus decision making meant that the status quo continued, as others blocked proposals to either come clean about it or stop using IP logging.
-Maybe those of us against it should have done more about it, but it was difficult to see how to without splitting the UK network. Which has happened now anyway. Agh.

The above is obviously in a personal capacity, not on behalf of any particular IMC collective or network.