Forums Feature Suggestions IPv6 should be enabled by default

I think your definition of "enabled" is moreso a definition of "capable". My definition of "enabled" implies connectivity, since as of 2010 connectivity is not implicit to someone with an IPv6 capable device.

Certainly you agree that the vast majority of users have IPv6 capable devices/OS's but no IPv6 connectivity. This step is important, since it's often an explicit one (using a tunnel broker, talking to your ISP, enabling Teredo). ISPs might provide capable routers to new users now, but the existing customer base (aka. most of the internet population at this point) will still be using old hardware until their current setups breaks. Most "regular" users are like this. They will have to expressly ask for an IPv6 capable device. This isn't a small chunk of people. Certainly adding 2 characters to a /server command isn't much of an extra hassle.

With the exception of a very small number of users, no machine I know of with an out of the box setup can connect to an IPv6 site. At the very minimum they would have to go into their control panel to enable Teredo. This may be extremely easy, but it's not "seamless". Certainly adding 2 characters to a /server command is equally easy, if not easier.

I think it's a great thing that there is growing interest from ISPs. I'm looking forward to IPv6 as much as you are. I use IPv6 on IRC. But we're not there yet. The real benefits of IPv6 addressing are not yet here. Those benefits don't even benefit IRC at all, so IPv6+IRC doesn't even mean anything, but I guess that's besides the point. When IPv6 is a real part of the internet, mIRC will adjust itself and simply drop the -6. That time will come. I don't see why you see this as such a dire scenario.

Of the "99%" of the regular users on the internet, maybe 1% use IRC. Of that 1% of the internet, maybe 1% of those users use/want IPv6. This feature targets a really small demographic. Maybe your intention is to change that statistic, but IMO it's not going to come from an IRC client, it's going to come from ISPs, backbones, and most specifically, IRC servers turning on IPv6 and eventually turning *off* IPv4. Until IPv4 is off, IPv6 is just vanity for your hostname, at least when it comes to IRC.

edit:
A specific note about Teredo: older routers (specifically the routers that most "regular users" own) don't all work out of the box with Teredo. This is something I know because I own one of these older routers, and I had to jump through hoops to enable it. In the case where you have an older router you have to enable it with the following cmd command:


So as stated, it might have gone off without a hitch for you, but in reality it's not nearly as seamless as it seems.