There Was Always Too Much 'Crazy Stuff' Going on Around Freenode
netsplit.de currently sees about a quarter million IRC users across known (to netsplit.de) and tracked IRC networks (almost 500 of them). Some of these are duplicates because there are people who nest in several IRC networks at the same time. That includes me; I'm in about 10 networks right now.
OFTC and Libera.Chat grew at the expense of Freenode, which is still online, still owned by Andrew Lee, and and still holding steady at just under 10,000 users (including bots/bouncers). What many IRC users lost sight of:
"According to several confirmed reports, ATL rapper J Money aka Jermaine Miller, was shot and robbed while sitting in a Rolls Royce Phantom owned by Korean royalty Andrew Lee in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles," this report said. Another said: "He was transported to the hospital in critical condition." There have long been links between Korean-Americans and the US rap scene (even some contemporary K-Pop inherits elements of rap).
Regarding Cadillac Don & J-Money, one of them died the following month.
Andrew's brother used to be active in GNU/Linux circles with "Shells", but we've heard nothing about it for years already. We just assume it's defunct. █