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+---
+author: christel
+date: 2018-02-05 23:19:48+00:00
+slug: foss-month
+title: Celebrating FOSS, and twenty years of Open Source
+category: community
+category: general
+category: freenode
+category: foss
+category: open source
+---
+
+For the last few days I (and several of the freenode volunteers) have had the absolute pleasure of spending time with a wide range of 
+freenode users over at [FOSDEM](https://fosdem.org/2018/) in Brussels. FOSDEM has always provided us with an excellent opportunity to catch up, not only with one 
+another but also with sponsors, group contacts and others. 
+
+I would like to extent heartfelt thanks to the incredible organisers and volunteers, speakers and attendees who make FOSDEM (and other 
+such events) possible, and I would also like to thank those of you who took the time to speak with us, provide feedback, thoughts and 
+words of appreciation. It is nice to be reminded that you appreciate the freenode project, and that you feel it adds some value. 
+
+We often find that a large proportion of our time is spent dealing with spam or other problematic behaviour, and
+it is all too easy to forget that the incredibly small minority of users that create issues are just that, a minority, and that the vast
+proportion of our userbase consists of amazing human-beings who collaborate on exciting, important and curious projects. And perhaps we
+also sometimes forget to show our appreciation of the incredible work you all undertake within the FOSS and peer-directed project spaces. 
+
+On Saturday, I joined [Laura Czajkowski](https://twitter.com/Czajkowski), [Leslie Hawthorn](https://twitter.com/lhawthorn), [Deb Nicholson](https://twitter.com/baconandcoconut), [VM Brasseur](https://twitter.com/vmbrasseur) and many others in 
+song as we came together to sing Happy Birthday to Open Source to mark that it had been 20 years since the term was first coined. It felt 
+fitting that this should take place not only during FOSDEM, but also during [Free and Open Source Software Month](https://nationaldaycalendar.com/free-and-open-source-month-february/). So once more, Happy Birthday
+Open Source! 
+
+To celebrate Free and Open Source Software Month, [Private Internet Access](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com) is running a promotion this month, offering a 62% discount on 
+annual subscriptions taken out [here](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/foss-month). 
+
+We'd love to hear about, and help highlight any other similar promotions run by other companies that are doing something similar to celebrat 
+FOSS month! Please do let us know (support@freenode.net) or via IRC if you are doing something cool, and would like us to share it with our
+community!