Since there has been no activity in forgefriends in a long while and there is at least some interest in reviving it, I’d like to propose a change to the governance that requires a concrete participation from everyone.
This is a rather unique barrier to entry but it is mitigated by the fact that a concrete participation can be as simple as explaining in the first person a use case.
In practice it won’t change much of anything, except for people who have no intention of participating in any concrete way, such as trolls. Or people who are only interested in discussing, even if they have no malicious intent.
A person is a community member only when they contribute in a concrete way.
It is worth a try, bringing Forgefriends closer to the idea of a do-ocracy and reducing the impact of trolls. Reading back the manifesto, the introduction already has a strong stance on “working” and “create”: that does not need to be amended or explained differently.
Forgefriends is a community of individuals working on software forges with a focus on federation. It has no hierarchy: anyone can do what they want as long as they respect others. Differences, divergences and disagreements are encouraged: they are a source of diversity and creativity. Although most of the work is focused on finding innovative methods and create original software, it also is necessary to spend significant time listening to others and improve communication: this is what fuels a healthy community where everyone can feel safe and appreciated.
- A person is a community member only when they contribute in a concrete way
- Community members are expected to behave according to the Code of Conduct
- An action that has no impact on others can be carried out unilaterally
- An action impacting others is advertised in advance and carried out if there is a consensus (or a simple majority vote if there is no consensus)
- Any member of the community impacted by an action is entitled to call for a vote
- Community members respect consensus and vote results
- Community members with access to an exclusive resource are listed publicly and share that access with other community members when asked to
- There is no hierarchy
- There is no spokesperson
Over time, this manifesto is interpreted as summarized in a forum article updated on a regular basis.
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I’ll propose a pull request with that change.
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