Copying from Social Coding matrix channel:
How I envision the concept of “forge friends”:
- We [The People] are dedicated to the Commons, and we want to strengthen and evolve it.
- We ‘forge friend[ships]’ all across the online world, and in real-life too, to dedicate to that.
- Our online Commons are supported by free software projects we create together.
- FOSS is created by communities in a complex free software development lifecycle.
- One very important tool is the Code Forge where much of FOSS collaboration happens.
- Being a Friend of Code Forges entails opening them up to all communities in the Commons.
- Being a Forge Friend means considering the entire free software development lifecycle and fit the tool of Code Forges into that seamlessly.
- And part of that process works best by adding federation support and integrating with the Social Fabric of the Fediverse.
Note that I deliberately do not mention Github and walled gardens here. That they exist is irrelevant to the concept of “forge friends” which stands on its own. If they are closed, vendor lock-in platform they are just not that much of true forge friends, no matter how many features they cram into their UI.
The vision of Forge Friends is hence a beautiful one, void of the negative sentiments that always come along when saying “we must fight big tech, we must build alternatives, etc etc”. It is important objective, but not central to the Vision.