New to Irc, why does everyone use a VPN? Should I worry about not
using one?
reddit / irc

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MillenniumFalc0n · 2015-03-07 01:18

People use vpns to conceal their ip addresses, though many networks
offer vhosts or other forms of hostmasking

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thatonederpface · 2015-03-07 07:29

I don't know too much about most people, but I use hostmasks plus a
ZNC bouncer. Any WHOIS should show them the bouncer's IP, not mine, if
my hostmask isn't working. The reasons I use them are privacy, cause I
don't like people knowing what city I'm in, and also trolls. Some
people seem to be rather mean-spirited, and have bots that will DDOS
others. There was one in one of Freenode's Bitcoin-related channels
fairly recently, DDOSing anyone who entered without a proper hostmask.
So my bouncer was temporarily offline, but I could still access the
internet because my bouncer is hosted in California, rather than my
own home. If I hadn't been using one, I would not have been able to
use the internet until the attack stopped.

TL;DR: Use something to conceal your IP so people don't know where you
live and so you can keep using the internet.