Hacktivism List Proposal 2.0

[Chuck0 <chuck@tao.ca>]

[: hacktivism :]

We're forwarding the current hacktivism list proposal to the list for
review and comments. We'd like to close the comment period by 1200 GMT
this Sunday. 

- Chuck0


================= 

Hacktivism List Proposal 2.0
 
 After a fair bit of on list discussions, off list musings, and a look
at
 survey results, several of us that are pretty active in the TAO project
 have come up with a set of guidelines for a moderated hacktivism list.
 We talked quite a bit about setting up new lists, but reached consensus
 that those lists aren't needed at this time.
 
 Currently there are three list-workers for the hacktivism
 list (Chuck, Grugnog and Megan). We have been following
 the discussion on the future of the list, and have been
 discussing our own ideas.
 
 We think it is important that the list becomes a
 positive, productive place for *all* its users, so,
 bearing that in mind, we have come up with the following
 proposal. We are happy to listen to the hacktivism list
 and modify this with your ideas (reply to the list, or
 direct to us).
 
 We think it is important that we get things moving, so we
 have set a deadline of 1200 GMT this Sunday to draw a
 conclusion and start implementing the changes.
 We have no formal decision making structure, so we will
 try and draw a consensus from the comments raised. If it
 looks controversial we will setup a web-based vote.
 Thanks for you time, we hope you think the proposal is
 worth supporting!
 
 Hacktivism list-workers
 Megan <megan@tao.ca>
 Grugnog <grugnog@tao.ca>
 Chuck <chuck@tao.ca>
 
 The problem:
 Many people (nearly 500) on list, leading to:
  * Off topic messages
  * Tendency for list to be dominated by relatively
    few people
  * It is a daunting place to post for some people
  * Lots of chatty 'me too' type messages, with little
    structured comment or opinion
 Fast growing list, leading to:
  * Restricted development of a positive list culture
  * Newbies detracting from the list culture already
    developed by posing without lurking long enough to
    see what the list is about
 Single, conglomerated list, leading to:
  * People getting discussion when they mainly want news
  * People getting news when they mainly want discussion
 Lack of list decision making structure, leading to:
  * No chance for the list to control what they want on
    the list
  * No chance for the above problems to be alleviated
 
 A solution must:
 * Setup a structure which will work for - and be open
   to - the list and can make decisions
 * Begin to improve the perceived signal to noise ratio by
   using moderation to facilitate an informative and fair list.
 * Facilitate the creation of a productive list culture
   through moderation and education of people with
   less well developed net-etiquette
 * Reduce the number of off-topic and chatty 'me too'
   messages through moderation, which will improve
   the accessibility of the list
 * Do all of the above without censoring list content or
   creating inflexible, unfair, unaccountable or
   uninclusive structures
 
 The proposed solution:
 
 Create a list-workers group
  * This will be responsible for reading all the posts
    submitted, and, using/modifying the new list
    guidelines, determine if they are within those
    guidelines and, if so, post the messages to the list.
 
 In detail:
 
 hacktivism@tao.ca
 
 This would become a (moderated) "forum for discussion,
 debates, opinion and analysis of hacktivism is, both as a
 word and in a tactical, ethical or practical sense".
 Occasional news articles relating to the current or
 possible future discussion could be posted to keep the
 list active.
 
 The list-workers group
 
 This would be a group of active TAO workers who would moderate the
 hactivism list. This group would implement the list guidelines,
maintain
 the FAQ, and handle list administration. It will discuss borderline
 posts, making decisions based on the consensus of the group. Members of
the   list-workers group who repeatedly post posts clearly in violation
of the  guidelines can be removed from the list-workers group by simple
majority. If   they think this is not fair they can take the matter to
the hacktivism@tao.ca  list and open a web-based vote on the matter.
 
 If members of the list-workers group speak to the media or any other
 organisation, they should not claim (and should actively deny) that
they
 speak for 'the hacktivism list' or tao, unless this has been agreed
with
 the group and the list or tao respectively.
 
 Members of the list-workers group are actively encouraged to agree on
and
 post messages to the lists, regarding the running of the list or the
 matters being discussed within the list-workers group. 
 
 If any posts are rejected by the moderating mechanism the group should
 (time allowing) reply to the person with a copy of the list
 guidelines/FAQ, preferably pointing out the problem. Disputes should be
 discussed with the person, being taken to the hacktivism@tao.ca list
 (and eventually a web-based vote) if no agreement can be made.
 
 New suggested list guidelines:
 (to be used to update the list FAQ)
 
 What should not be posted?
 * Spam - unsolicited commercial e-mail, postings intended
   only to further the interests of an single individual
   or organisation, or rapidly repeated postings of identical
   or highly similar content. You can announce your website, but don't
   tell us about it more than once in any given month.
 * Off topic posts (see 'What is off topic')
 * Sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist or ageist comments
   (in no particular order) should not be posted, because
   of both the politics of the list host (TAO), and because
   people affected by these will not be able to reply
   according to the off-topic guidelines.
 * Material which will attract unnecessary attention to
   yourself, others or the list providers, from the authorities,
   such as specific hacking techniques, or details of illegal
   project organisation. This is also not a forum to solicit for
hackers.
 * Flames: try and keep debate reasonably calm, please
   don't start flame wars! If you do, please consider take
   taking them off list! If you want to play with fire, please burn
   yourself, not us.
 * Messages people can't read. Try and avoid messages in
   HTML or messages with attachments. Plain text rules!
   Badly formatted messages should be edited before they
   are posted. Subscribers who use Microsoft Outlook Express should pay
   careful attention to this, because that program has a default that
   sends messages that are too wide.
 * Non-major messages regarding a particular campaign or
   project (see 'What about my project')
 
 What is off topic?
 
 * Opinion, analysis or announcements:
   Postings which do not discuss hacktivism or issues
   directly relating to hacktivism. This means that if
   hacktivism if not mentioned in the posting, the issue must be
   shown to threaten or support hacktivism in a substantial way.
 * News
   Any news posted to hacktivism@tao.co should either be
   relevant to a current topic of discussion, or be topical
   and conveying a discussable idea or issue that has not
   been encountered previously by the list. Please assume that many of
the
   list members regularly read hacker and tech news websites, so you may
   think that breaking story about encryption is newsworthy, but don't
forward it    to the list unless it pertains to hacktivism (however that
is
   defined today)
 
 
 What about my project?
 
 Some hacktivism projects can create enormous media interest. Although
it
 would be nice to post all the reports it is important that people
 organising a particular project or campaign create their own space
(such
 as a mailing list, on tao, onelist or elsewhere) to organise their
 project and distribute updates. Hence it
 is easiest if only the 'main' messages for projects are posted.
 Announcements and some major reports are OK but it is not fair for one
 project to take over the whole list - all projects, however much media
 attention they create, should get a fair but equal share of the list
 bandwidth.
 
 We recommend that you archive the news coverage on your website and
 provide hacktivism list with the URL
 
 Hacktivism-digest

 The list-workers group shal set up a digest version of the hacktivism
list.

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