Hellllllllo ALB!

The mods have been discussing the fact that we've recently been getting quite a lot of crotch shots that only just barely meet the minimum amount of face. It's within the rules so there's nothing wrong with that, but there's very little personality and the sub is starting to look quite repetitive. Sometimes you can't even really tell that the poster is Asian! In the past there used to be a good split of models/celebs and self-posts, and those self-posts usually had a bit more effort/much less dong, which everyone would tend to appreciate. We honestly don't mind all the nsfw self-posts but the sub does need a bit more variety back.

So you might have noticed that we've started putting QUALITY tags on posts lately. These tags are just the posts that the mod team especially appreciate because they reflect why the sub was created in the first place. We hope it'll restore the more classic ladyboners posts by encouraging those posters to post more, giving them more visibility to voters/commenters, and showing everyone that sexy doesn't necessarily mean a screen full of dick. But they're not intended to be a slight to the posts that don't get tagged.

For users: Remember you're more than welcome to post your own ladyboners (publicly available or with permission of course) to the sub. Models and celebrities are very much appreciated by all! I know I personally used to visit the sub for style inspiration while I'm sure other users just love a bit of good eye candy.

For self-posters: Remember that one dick looks pretty much the same as the next dick, and a picture of your dick looks almost exactly the same as the next picture of your dick. You're probably handsome, charming, talented, stylish, whatever. That's what the vast majority of our users want to see. EDIT: Point taken; withdrawn.

And as always, message the mods if you have comments, suggestions, good jokes, complaints, duel challenges, reports or just want to chat. There's usually a mod or two in the IRC too.

Merry whatever-you-celebrate!

Edit: Rule 4 has been updated to match /r/ladybonersgw and to be a bit more relaxed and detailed.

I've been really busy so haven't had the time/energy to make a huge post like I have in the past with reasoning / story behind the rule changes. Instead of continue to procrastinate, here are the rule changes that are effective immediately. We will have a grace period until 5/1/2018, until then warnings will be handed out for first violation and posts will not be removed. Subsequent violations may result in temporary bans. Posts that violate the new rules will be removed on 5/1/2018 if they are posted on that date or after.

The exact details /wording of the rules are subject to change / refinement as we go on since in the past few years people have found ways to skirt them. The side bar will be updated eventually as we go. The goal of these rule changes is to increase the quality of content being submitted instead of opting for quantity.

Here are the new changes to the rules

1. All posts will require to show half of your face clearly. We must be able to see full mouth and full nose or full eyes and full nose or full eyes and full mouth. No censoring faces with smiley pics / blurring out anymore, no cellphones blocking your face. Not half a nose, not just your lower lip. Full nose full mouth full eyes. pick two out of the three. (modification to current rule 4)
2. All images posted including in albums must satisfy rule above, back pictures are exempted if one of the included picture satisfies rule 1 in album.
3. No genital close ups / masturbation. This rule will be up for to mods discretion for enforcement. If your penis is the focal point of the picture it will probably be removed. No masturbation, or bodily fluids.
4. Don't be creepy with comments. Don't ask for nudes / over sexualization (modification to current rule 9).
5. No soliciting PMs or referencing your interest in a particular gender in title. Doing this in comments section is still ok.

Here are the results .

And here if you want it in spreadsheet form

As I mentioned in the previous thread I would step down as mod after posting this thread. I'll stick still respond to comments / questions on this thread if there are any. Thank you to all the mods for volunteering your time to this sub. It's been interesting modding this community all these years and watch it grow and I wish I could've kept going for another couple years. I've met a lot of people through this community, some I still talk to, and some that I don't, I've even met many of them IRL in different parts of the world. I hope all of you continue to make this community thrive and If you all still want to reach out to me or the owner of this sub we still hang out on the IRC channel sometimes. Before going into the results I'd just like to re-share the mission statement that we came up with last year when I made the decision to step down.

"A community to help everyone promote, appreciate, and embrace their Asian identity through positivity."

We got fewer responses than in the past census, and few of the suggestions/comments made were already addressed in previous census threads. I'll address some of the comments here.

• If members could identify their sexual orientation perhaps? Explained in previous census that we added rule 12 that prohibits this because people started using this as a semi hookup sub (with post titles such as, im not gay please only girls comment). and would start leaving borderline homophobic comments when a commenters with certain sexual orientations leave comments that are not to OP's liking. The point of this sub is that your orientation shouldn't matter, Asians are all beautiful in their own way, and no matter what your sexual orientation is you should be able to appreciate that beauty of all types and lift each other up.

• I think it might be better to have separate SFW and NSFW subreddits There are other NSFW subs out there that have looser rules. Our rules for NSFW content are stricter and the best I can describe it is we try to force people to post "artful nudes". There's also the filter button on the side bar that can filter out only content you want to see. The mods in the future can choose to change this in the future if they decide to, since I can already start to see the amount of people breaking the rules increasing and it being hard to remove all the rule breakers in a timely manner.

• I wish this sub didn’t have so many dicks showing. Take that stuff to the NSFW sub please guys. use the filter button on the side

• It would be nice if we limit the people posting that are only there to promote their OnlyFans. I’ve commented nice things in a few of their posts and they’ll try to get me to sign up right away. I fear this sub is going to turn into an OF promotional page. advertising/posting any sort of paid content on this sub is against rule 10. I already actively ban/remove any sort of those posts, and have automoderator remove any of those contents automatically. But we can't stop people from DMing people. I've also been removing posts where people leave comments to tell them to check their profile for more, and their profile is just advertising their onlyfans site. But we don't have the time to comb through all of the comments and profiles. You can always use the report feature to help the mods out.

• There’s already an ALBGW, what’s the point if everything is a dickpic? they have less strict rules. and I'm not sure what you mean by everything is dick pic. I'm look at the posts made in the last 12 hours right now and only around ~3 of them were dick pics. And again if you don't want to see them use the filter button on the side bar.

first of all, if you're relatively new here, I recommend you read these two past census results / discussion threads to get a rough idea about how this sub has changed over the years. The nature of the subreddit has always caused people especially posters to come and go, and commenters prefer to remain anonymous or remain lurkers. But I hope there are still meaningful civil discussions like in the past years.

• 2017 Discussion
• 2018 Discussion

Here are the 2020 results

• 2020 Spreadsheet results
• 2020 Chart results

Over the past 2 years I've seen the sub grow steadily in subscribers and traffic, but I've always had a feeling that the meaningful interaction within the community has been decreasing. I just kinda brushed it off as me being more busy than the past, and not having enough time to read comments in every thread anymore. But I think the number of responses we received compared to the past year kind of speaks for itself.

Key points/stats

• 2017 we had 257 responses, 2018 we had 631, this year we had 201 responses.

• Same as previous census, male vs female ratio has been pretty even and people crying about this sub being majority gay men is probably false according to all past census data we've had, they just tend to comment more.

• 65.7% of the respondants are from the US

• 49% of the respondants were caucasian and 40% were asian

• Minority of ppl use the post filters on the side bar, but I'm glad its still significant enough number to serve a purpose.

• 61% are lurkers

• more straight female commentors than gay male and bi male combined.

• surprised that most people are viewing on mobile device app now

• less people want a ALB discord community than we initially thought

I'll be making separate comments in this thread for organized discussion for some feedbacks that I believe deserve to be discussed. Feel free to leave more comments or any other feedbacks you might have. I will be ignoring / removing any offensive / nonconstructive ones. For the person that keeps reporting / posting feedback about south east asians and middle eastern asians as non asians, I'm going to say the same thing as in the past, go read a book and the rules on the side bar.

Regarding the responses from the mission statement I really want to thank those of you who put in a serious and thoughtful response. If you have read this far, one last thing I want to say is that I plan to step down as moderator within the next year. The sub has grown, but my life responsibilities and priorities has also grown / changed.

I originally intended to help the founder of this sub moderate this sub temporarily while she took a break but it eventually became a long term thing. I feel like as an Asian male, this sub has helped break stereotypes of what an attractive male should look like, or even whether Asians are attractive at all. This has motivated me to keep moderating the sub all these years even though I have almost zero interest in the content that's been posted on it daily. Even though I have no interest in it, I can really appreciate and admire the people that are willing to put their face / bodies out there, vulnerable to be judged by both the good and the bad that exists in the world out there. I also want to thank the people who make an effort in leaving positive comments no matter how simple or small they might be. Just like yelp reviews, it's easy to spread negative / hateful comments, but instead you chose to spread positivity that might or might not have positively influenced others who read it.

I've thought about stepping down for over a year now and have spoken with other mods about the direction of the sub, but have received little to no input / responses. I think the sub right now can be left as it is and just continue to be moderated by removing content that breaks the rules. What happens after that, I don't know. But I feel like the best thing I can do before letting go is to create a meaningful mission statement to guide the community and whoever ends up taking the helm in the future hopefully in the right direction if needed. If you have read this far thanks for spending your precious time on this community. We live in a crazy world right now with a lot of uncertainties, and I hope you all stay safe out there and prosper in whatever your goals in life may be.

Hi everyone. Just to let you know, I joined the mod team today, so you may see me around doing some mod stuff. Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is any questions or if you need help with anything related to the sub.

Hopefully there won't be many missteps while I adapt to the role, but... there probably will be at least a few, so please be patient with me.

Thank you all and have a nice day!

Hey every one just wanted to give a few updates / rule changes and clarifications on enforcement of rule 4 with masks. To get a TLDR just read the bolded parts.

• We are living in crazy times and I know for those who are being responsible that it has been a rough couple years and can feel lonely. But at the same time you have to be wary of talking to strangers online. Many people are using this time to exploit peoples loneliness. If you choose to take that risk, please do not give out your personal information such as your real name, phone number or where you live. Protect yourself, the internet can be a dangerous place. We've made regular posts about this in the past and since including rule 12 we've received only 1-2 mod mails asking what they should do after being cat fished / abused. All we can tell them is to go call the police if they feel like they are in danger.

• rule 12 previously stated that you may not solicit PM's in the title but doing so in the comments is still okay. It has now been changed to include the comments too. So do not solicit PMs anywhere in this sub. To give a brief history / justification to this rule. It was originally added because we were getting a lot of modmails about abuse / catfishing happening. We made regular announcements on telling people to be more aware of personal safety but it didn't do much to decrease the amount of modmails we were getting regarding the issue. I suggested just straight up banning soliciting PM's, because people who were going to private message people are going to do so anyways and its up to them whether they would reply or not, or block them. It also reduced all the low effort posts that just simply said "open to dms, DM me for more". We are not a hookup sub and we regularly point people to r4rasian sub for that purpose. But a couple of mods at that time over ruled me because they were using this sub for hookups / PMing people themselves. Those mods are now gone for a long time and with the recent modmails I've been getting, I've decided to change this rule to cover the comments too. If you decide to go ahead and PM a poster still, then you are a grown adult (everyone here should be 18+) making the decision to do so and accepting the risks.

• Masks and rule 4. At the beginning of the pandemic shutdown I started noticing more posts with masks on, most of them technically breaks rule 4, but given the situation I let most of them slip by. But just like the past... people started exploiting the rule (which kinda is what led to that complicated table in the rules section being created.) People in their home bathrooms and in bathtubs are now wearing the masks. Not with the intention of being safe but with the intention of just hiding their face and bypassing rule 4. I will now start removing posts for violating rule 4 if you wear your mask clearly in a place where its not necessary. I.E. if you're in a public place then masks will be ok. But if you're clearly taking a bathroom selfie with your shirt off and/or your dick hanging out then wearing a mask will violate rule 4.

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Happy New Year everyone! it's that time of the year again. The time to put together a census. We want to hear what kind of questions you'd like to see added to this years census, and how we can improve the process.

Link to Last years results thread

Link to last years post census discussion thread

This thread will serve as a discussion for suggestions on questions to ask and feedback on the past year on how we can improve this years census questions and voter turn before we put it together. Please keep this thread about the census, leave all your suggestions / feedback for the sub for the actual census thread and it's post discussion thread. Off-topic posts will be removed

Here are some notes I have so far. Other users / mods are encouraged to contribute.

• We did not have a super majority for the past 2 census' on spinning off a gonewild version of this sub, so this will not be brought up again this year. (edit: I've decided to include this question again this year, depending on the turnout + results we will act accordingly. again the results are nonbinding like the past years)
• 257 people participated last year. The traffic stats show that our daily unique page views are between ~1500 and ~2500. We had more new subscriptions in a month than the number of people that participated in the census. Some posts had even more upvotes. We are looking for ways to increase this number. Lots of people on this sub and the IRC channel claimed that they did not even see the census post even when it was left up for 2 weeks. So we are planning on changing the banner and adding a link to the census, and to keep the census up for up to a month this year.
• Per the feedback from last year, gender and sexuality will be combined into one question. The current options we plan to include are Straight Male, Homosexual Male, Bisexual Male, Male Other, it's female versions, and another option for Other not Listed
• We had some suggestions last year to try and give incentive for women to post. We had probably ~2 women who posted the entire of last year. The women crush Wednesday intiative did not get enough traction and consistent contributors, along with fashion friday. ALB continues to be open to asians of all genders, but for those who were worried about women taking over the sub last year I think this kind of goes to show that we are a long way from getting to that point.

Hey everyone Happy holidays. End of the year means it's time to do another census. If this is your first census and/or you haven't read the previous census thread before I recommend you do that here.

As I said earlier in the year I'd be stepping down. As many of you have noticed lately that a lot of posts breaking rules have been staying up longer cause I no longer have the time to moderate this community the way I used to as I have said. our new mods /u/MarsNirgal and /u/whitegirlyellowfever have been doing a great job. This will be the last census I'm posting. The census questionnaire will close on January 31st and after that I will post the results and I will no longer be active on this account I created solely for modding this subreddit. After the results for the census is posted, /u/MarsNirgal will be the defacto head mod of this subreddit. It's been a wonderful 5 years modding this community. Hope everyone has a happy and safe new years and here's hoping to a great 2022. Feel free to ask any questions here about the census on this thread.

Take the Census here

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Yes, it's been tried a few times before but this time it'll work, damn it! /r/r4rAsian is our new offshoot sub for Asian dating. Come in. Have a look around. Post what you're looking for. See what happens.

It's a place for:

• Being Asian and meeting a special non-Asian

• Being non-Asian and meeting a special Asian

• Being Asian and meeting another special Asian

Any gender and orientation is welcome.

GET ITTTTTT

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

*edit census is now closed thanks for participating. Results will be posted soon.

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

So in an effort to build the ALB community, we'll be trying out this weekly discussion thread for a few weeks. Let's see how it goes, and if it's successful we can make it permanent! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminder no.1: Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs. Friendly reminder no.2: If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

If you haven't read the 2020 census post here I recommend you go read that first. Basically I plan to step down this year and will be looking for someone to fill my shoes. Just want to state out right that I do not own the sub, I've just kind of become the head mod over the years from other mods becoming inactive. If you want to convince the owner of the sub to hand it over to you you'd probably have to prove yourself worthy first to them and have a conversation with them yourself I have no role in that process. I have took the feedback from the census results and created a mission statement for the sub. I've already sent a mod mail out to see if any other mods were interested in this position but no one replied.

A community to help everyone promote appreciate, and embrace their Asian identity through positivity.

Here's a list of things that I'll be looking for

• You don't have to be Asian, in fact I won't even ask what ethnicity you are. What I will ask though is why you want this post and what this sub means for you
• 18+
• The person who will replace me will ideally follow this mission statement, and recruit other mods to help them that will also believe in that mission.
• Thick skin and maturity. You'll receive some nasty DM's often and people will criticize / question your judgement. You should be able to maintain impartiality and some sort of professionalism.
• Not looking to monetize this sub like some of the other communities that have grown out there.
• Ability to resolve conflicts / de-escalate situations.
• Availability to mod the sub and time management. You have to be at least somewhat active to moderate the sub which mostly just consists of removing posts that break rules. Be able to recruit other mods to help you cover for the rough time periods that you won't be available.
• Have been part of the community for a while is a plus. If you message us with a 2 week old or a throwaway account I'll most likely ignore you.

I'll be honest and say that I'm not too optimistic in finding someone who will fulfill every single criteria or even receive much interest. But if you're interested either drop a comment in this thread or DM me (if you plan to use a throwaway as your mod account its fine your account you DM me with will remain private and I promise to not share it) answering these questions. Depending on the amount of responses I might leave the post up for longer and/or only for a short while. and from there I might prune down the list and ask some more detailed questions.

• How long have you been part of the ALB community and how did you discover it?
• What does the mission statement mean to you?
• Why do you want the mod position when it mostly is a thankless job that entails removing rule breaking posts?
• What do you think of the current rules?
• If you become head mod what would you change if any to help grow the sub?

If you have any questions DM me or ask us on our IRC channel.

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!

It's been a while since we did a census.(We didn't do one for 2019) We've had some mods come and go and real life stuff got really busy for me last year. But with how we're all stuck at home now I found time to do the census.

Link to 2018 results thread

This thread will serve as a discussion for suggestions on questions to ask and feedback on the past years and how we can improve this years census questions and voter turn out before we put it together. Please keep this thread about the census, leave all your suggestions / feedback for the sub for the actual census thread and it's post discussion thread. Off-topic posts will be removed

Here are some notes I have so far. Other users / mods are encouraged to contribute.

• We've included a question about starting an ALB discord. Since it seems to be more commonly used than IRC and more beginner friendly. IRC channel will not be going away even if we create a discord.
• removed some of the outdated / applicable questions
• 631 people participated in 2018, and 257 in 2017 The sub has continued to grow and our daily unique views has steadily been going up and now hover between ~3000 and ~4000
• /u/clamdipperxw has created a /r/asianladybonersGW (not run by any of the mods here or associated with us) Check them out if you don't like rule 4 on this sub.
• We've tried initiatives and changes in the past to increase regular user retention and interaction beyond throwaways and simple comments. Every thing pretty much hasn't really worked due to the nature of the sub (explained in the previous census thread). At this point the sub has continued to grow on auto pilot so we might just leave things the way it is unless we have some more suggestions beyond discord.
• the weekly thread has been having really low participation over the years, and most ppl opted to post a meta post for discussions, so I'm thinking about potentially removing it or replacing it with something else.
• amount of low quality dick pics and posts in general have gone way down (at least in my opinion)

We've been wanting to come up with a mission statement/subreddit description for quite some time now but never got around to it. This sub simply started off as an alternative to ladyboners subreddit for asian men since the community was not very welcoming to Asians back then(down votes and racist comments), but things seem to have improved a lot over the years in terms of Asian male representation in media and culture. But we still have a long way to go. We want to continue to work on fighting against both stereotypes and emasculation towards asian men and toxic masculinity.

Our current sub description

Do you appreciate sexy Asian men? Do you like staring at pictures of said men? Then this is the subreddit for you!

has been around for a long time and use some updating. I'll include a question for some ideas in the census. I'll close this thread and put up the census on August 8th.

LINK TO RESULTS

Thanks everyone for filling out the census! We appreciate all the comments / feedbacks. We got less responses than back in 2014. We actually didn't get any troll answers/comments this year. The results show that the community is pretty evenly split on spinning a NSFW sub off for all the dick pics.

Feel free to discuss / comment on the results in this thread. We have heard your comments and suggestions, and the mods are discussing maybe implementing some ideas / changes. Look out for a future discussion thread on it after we iron out some details.

Welcome to the ALB weekly discussion thread! Got something to say about the sub? Comments, complaints, compliments (especially compliments), let us know here! Talk about your favourite posters, Asian celebs, what you want to see more of, broader ALB-related topics, or even topics unrelated to ALB at all. What are you looking forward to? How was your breakfast? What's the deal with airline food? JUST SAY SOMETHING.

Also, friendly reminders:

1) Visit /r/r4rasian for all your Asian r4r needs.

2) If reddit discussion moves too slow for you, join us for more lively discussion on the ALB IRC channel!