[Trisquel-devel] Forum expansion / rules

[Michał Masłowski]

> 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).

These are some fictional discussions inspired by recent threads on the
English list:

- "how to watch videos at spamxandxeggsxvids34" moving into technical
  help and discussion about various free Flash replacements, and
  non-technical discussion why Flash, nonfree software and patented
  formats are bad

- alpha release announcement evolving into several unrelated discussions
  about software freedom

- "which email provider should I choose instead of Google?" with related
  technical and nontechnical freedom and privacy issues

- any FSDG-related discussions ("why package Y is not in Trisquel?"),
  it's about legal and ethical things with clearly technical
  consequences

These aren't clearly appropriate for "technical help and discussion" or
for "non-technical help and discussion" forums.

It would be very difficult for me to decide where should I post and if I
should reply to a thread posted on other forum.

> *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.

Good rule, although some examples would help.

> Secondly, we should assume there are children on this
> board so posting links to xxx-rated stuff is not on topic / related.

It's "on topic" for questions like "how to watch videos at
spamxandxeggsxvids34" and is useful for developers of
video-playing-without-Flash software.  We should recommend not posting
these links unless someone asks for them to be sent privately.

> 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.

We are discussing problems which haven't (yet) occurred on our forums?

> 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.

I wouldn't call harassment a free speech.

> *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.

A link to the FSDG would be useful (and to some resources explaining
common problems like "why AMD/Intel/... firmware is not included, these
are sometimes recommended on the forums).  "Content" is just for filling
space, "works" might be a better name.

There are more difficult cases, like links to PPAs for users to install
new Intel GPU drivers (when the same PPAs contain nonfree Radeon
firmware).  A question if a specific rarely used program is free and
what should be used instead would be difficult to answer without links
possibly violating this rule.

> The second part would be more of a legal protection.

It's rare to be the only user of Trisquel not having "permission to
distribute / copy" something, so some of the arguments to not recommend
nonfree software clearly apply also to this.  (Several programs under
the Artistic License are nonfree just because of copyright, without law
they would be free, so difference between programs and videos in need of
having source doesn't apply here.)

> 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.

Wouldn't it be too off-topic to be something imaginable here?  Except
for some unclear cases (mostly avoided by other rules to not link to
non-FSDG software), this rule probably won't cause problems.
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