When do accounts and nicks expire

First, please keep in mind that accounts and IRC nicknames are two different entities, while it is possible to register IRC nicknames to your DareNET account.

That said, we do not expire accounts. However, we do consider IRC nicknames expired after 60 days without use. Nicknames which are at least two weeks old, and which were last used less than two hours after their creation may also be considered expired. These limits do not apply to staff-reserved nicknames, which are allocated and dropped as needed. Also, if the nickname you want to register is the same as someone's account name, or someone's alternate nickname, and it's the only alternate nickname they have, we may be reluctant to drop it, even if it's expired.

How do you know the last time an IRC nickname was used?

We know this only as a result of your authenticating/identifying to N when you connect to the network. If you don't identify, we'll have no way to know that your nickname is in use, and it will eventually expire.

How can I take over a registered nickname that hasn't been used in a long time?

Nicknames which are considered expired are not dropped automatically on a regular basis. We do drop them when we notice them and, if you ask a support agent in #support, we'll be happy to manually drop the one you want so that you can re-register it.

I registered my nickname and now someone else has it. Did someone steal it? How do I get it back?

To keep your registered nickname, you must continue to use it. If you don't sign onto the network for at least 60 days, or you don't identify to N for at least 60 days, the nickname is considered expired, and someone can ask to have it dropped. When a nickname has been dropped and picked up by some other user, we can't take it back from them. That would be unfair to the user who picked it up.