We're thinking about bringing back file/image sharing for the IRC network, done properly this time. Before anyone writes a line of code, I want your thoughts on how it should work for you, the people actually using it.
Do feel free to suggest things, tell us if the limits feel wrong, etc.
The short version
If you're a registered user (identified to NickServ), you'll be able to share images and text snippets through a link. No account on some third-party site, it's hosted on our own hardware, same as everything else here.
How you'd use it
You send an !upload command to our service bot (privately or in a public channel)
The bot DMs you a private link, good for 15 minutes.
You open it in your browser, upload your image or text.
You get a share link back. Paste it into the channel, a DM, wherever.
After 3 (or up to 24) hours the link expires and the file is deleted from the server.
That's it. Works in any IRC client, because it's just a web page the bot sends you. You don't need a special client or a plugin.
What you can share
Images and plain text, as that covers the "check out this ant" and "I saw a cool rock today" use cases, which is honestly 90% of what people want this for (I hope).
Why registered users only, and why it matters
The last paste site we ran was fully anonymous and end-to-end encrypted, which meant we couldn't see anything and couldn't act when it got abused. That's exactly why we had to take it down in the end.
This time, every upload is tied to your registered NickServ account. Not your nick (anyone can wear a nick), your actual account. The reason for that:
It's the only way to have any accountability. If something gets uploaded that shouldn't, there's a record of which account did it. It stops someone uploading something nasty "as you" by just typing your nickname. The system confirms it's genuinely you, identified, before it'll let you upload. The proof is handled behind the scenes by your identified connection, so there's no password to type into a website and no way for someone else to forge it as you.
I think tying uploads to a real account is the thing that keeps this from going the way the old one did, while still keeping it private from the outside world. Nobody outside the network is browsing your uploads, and the links die after a few hours.
Why it disappears so fast
The expiry is intentional. Most of what gets shared here is in-the-moment stuff that doesn't need to live forever. Short lifetimes keep our storage bounded and discourage anyone from trying to use us as permanent hosting for things that shouldn't be permanently hosted.
Things I'd want your opinion on
Is 3 hours the right link lifetime, or do you want longer (say 24h)?
Reasonable max file size for images? For text?
Anything about the !upload-then-click-a-link flow that feels clunky and could be smoother?
Any use case we're missing by cutting audio/video/markdown?
To be straight here - tying uploads to your account is for accountability, not surveillance. We're not scanning or analysing what you upload.
The account link exists so that if this gets abused the way the old one presumably did, we can actually respond, rather than being forced to pull the whole thing down again. Privacy from the outside world, accountability on the inside. That's the balance I'm aiming for.
Oh, and it will of course be fully open source on our Git, so anyone can audit the code.
Looking forward to your thoughs and feedback 
