After battling eviction for more than two years, a massive online community has finally been driven from its virtual home.

DALnet, one of the largest Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, networks and long the victim of torment by hackers, has finally succumbed to a series of denial-of-service attacks that began in August.

"We have had attacks before," said Emma Monks, a member of DALnet's exploits prevention team, "but they haven't been anything like what we're experiencing now."

DALnet administrators claim to be working with the FBI to prevent the attacks. However, agents at the National Infrastructure Protection Center and the San Francisco bureau denied any knowledge of the case.

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