I would like to run a channel for my friends and I. I know nothing about avoiding takeovers and I think it would be a problem as I had a falling out with another channel recently. So I'm thinking the only way to avoid a possible takeover situation is to run my own irc.customname.com server. What does it take to run one?

Also are there any servers like DALnet that have chanserv in place to avoid such issues, but other than DALnet? We would like to share files with each other and I heard DALnet no longer tolerates any form of file sharing.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks =)

Information on creating a server can be found in this thread.

Gamesnet also supports ChanServ I believe, it's the second largest network that does. There are other channel services on Undernet and Quakenet though, just a bit harder to register if you haven't got very many people. Further info on channel registration and maintenance can be found in the above thread.

If you have an eggdrop bot or a registered channel, channel takeovers shouldn't be much of an issue.

Regards,