[Trisquel-devel] Forum expansion / rules

[Grant H.]

Hello,

I would like to  comment on some of the discussion over in the English
forum / mailing list.  Some of the members were talking about possible
changes that some users think are good ideas for the mailing list /
forums.  I would like to bring these topics to the devel-list to get
people's opinions.

1) Expanding forums to have different topics.  Currently we have 3
forums based only on language.  As the community continues to grow it
might be a good idea to expand this.  Each language could be split into
multiple categories.  Right now the English list is called "user help
and discussion".  It may be better to eventually split this into two
different forums.  One technical where users can seek help or discuss
only technical issues relating to Trisquel and another solely for
discussion (e.g. Free software politics).

2) Basic forum rules.  While I am all for Free Speech as the community
grows again rules may have to be put in place.  I have come up with a
few ideas of my own and you can feel free to critique or comment on them
(don't worry I won't be offended).

These are just rough draft rules:
*Don't bite the new people - I see this happen once in a while where a
user has been registered for two days and may ask something like "How do
I install adobe flash?" or use the term "linux" vs GNU/Linux  then 3
people pounce on them slamming the uesr for asking a question /
statement like that making them feel unwelcome.  We should treat new
users with care and educate them rather then turn them off.

*Keep discussion PG-rated.  Again I'm all for Free Speech but this is a
private website where we should have slight moderation of content.
Threats and harassment shouldn't be tolerated (they can do it elsewhere
but not here).   Secondly, we should assume there are children on this
board so posting links to xxx-rated stuff is not on topic / related.
While currently this doesn't seem to be a problem (I haven't seen
anything bad personally) it could become a issue down the road as the
community grows.  Another reason this is an issue Free Software
unfortunately kind of seems like a boys club and even things like sexist
jokes can turn women (who are very much needed) away.  Again I will
justify myself here.  I am in favor of Free Speech but anything that is
R-rated or above or threatening/harassment/inappropriate doesn't belong
on the Trisquel forums / mailing list because it simply isn't relevant.
 It belongs elsewhere.  Free Software is about community and this hurts
our community IMO.

*Don't post links to Non-Free software or copyrighted content that you
don't have permission to distribute / copy.  The first one is obvious
because it is part of the Free Distribution guidelines.  But this goes
back to the first point where sometimes new users don't know so
education would be important here.  The second part would be more of a
legal protection.  I know that many in the Free Software community know
that (sharing || copying) != stealing.  However, posting links to the
latest Hollywood movie may introduce legal problems that the project.
Again while discussions on copyright law are totally valid and we may
disagree with copyright law for the most part the truth is distributing
copyrighted content (which you don't have permission to share) is
illegal in most countries.  So posting links where you can go download
the latest transformers movie may put us at legal risk.

Well those are my ideas.  Feel free to rip them to shreds or support
them.  Let me know what you think.
-- 
*Grant H.
*Email: SirGrant at member.fsf.org
*Ask me for my GPG key
*I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!