And one last request, unless you really have something to contribute, please don't reply to this on-list.
This is flamebait. Don't send crap to a huge list and you won't receive replies on it.
Secondly, let's not kid ourselves about where DoS comes from. If EFNet has earned one distinction, it is as the source of every major DoS currently in use against the internet. These programs don't write themselves, nor do people learn to use them effectively for no reason. By far the VAST majority of EVERY attack anyone on this list will EVER see *IS* related to IRC, and if you think "la de da I'm just an innocent little network who gets attacked for no reason" then you obviously don't know what your users are doing. The attacks against other targets like yahoo ebay etc are very rare and happen only as a result of packet kids building a network for use against their IRC targets and then realizing there is a whole world out there that doesn't see attacks like this on a regular basis.
How can you sit here and say this? That's right, these programs don't write themselves, YOU write them/have written them.
None of this changes the fundamental need to design networks which are resistant to malicious disruption, but let's at least try to deal with the reality of the situation.
How is anything in your email constructive/contributing? :)
One other comment I'll make for the people who take IRC so seriously as to get bent out of shape over these words: It's just IRC. Repeat that to yourself at least 10 times every night.
Yeah, like you didn't learn that the hard way. Is it just IRC? Has your involvement in what you call "just IRC" not made it hard for you to find work in any respectable institution?