EsperNet has announced it plans to, for all intents and purposes, cease operations on March 25th.
We are already making plans to move the IRC to a new server, more information will be included here in the near future.
EDIT: Should Espernet die off, the current contingency plan is to more to irc.sorcery.net, the channels will remain the same. Though apparently there is a push being made to try to save Esper. More details to come.
Edit 2: EsperNet's death has been delayed for he time being. We'll keep this open but it will be moved to a simple announcement in the coming days until such is needed again.