[mynameisvlad]

Very good points. I had read your other comment saying the same and it makes a lot of sense; the service databases likely are the "true" network since everything else can be changed around it.

> The staff apparently didn't think they could just take a backup of the data and move it over to the new network.

I doubt we'll ever find out if it's because they believed freenode ltd owned the data or just didn't want to deal with the inevitable legal battle that would certainly ensue. Sad that often times it's just the person with the stronger legal team that wins in these situations.