[Theforum] ballot not complete

[mccreath]

I'm sorry to drag this stupid topic out so long, but if there is to be a
vote, I need some clarification. I'm not a frequent user of IRC and in the
end, I don't really care which way it goes, but if I'm going to vote ...

Martin, I think your ballot is a good start, but ...

>1) Does evolt have an IRC channel? If so:
>Option A:
>     The channel is a public evolt channel called #evolt which follows
>     the same rules as the rest of evolt's public spaces, which is to
>     say, the same standard of behaviour and the same public archiving[1].
>     If the only way to archive this is with a bot, the bot will be
>     clearly identified as such, and will not respond to other users on
>     the channel. No other bots will be permitted in this channel.
>     No previous archives held by bot owners may be made public.
>     Standards of behaviour will be maintained by a number of ops in
>     a range of timezones[2].
>Option B:
>     All other evolt public spaces join #evolt in being unarchived,
>     including thelist, thechat, thesite, thetips, theforum and Admin.

I don't think these are the only two valid options. Yes, all of evolt's
current online public spaces are archived and available to anyone who wants
them. But clearly, there are several people on this list who feel that it
would be valid to keep #evolt unarchived. In fairness to them, and to have a
complete vote we need:

Option C:
     The channel is a public evolt channel called #evolt which follows
     the same rules as the rest of evolt's public spaces, which is to
     say, the same standard of behaviour.
     This forum will not be archived unless it is used for an official
     meeting of the evolt.org Board of Directors, in which case it will
     be archived an made publicly available on www.evolt.org.
     No previous archives held by bot owners may be made public.

I also feel like this should be a separate voting item.

4) Standards of behaviour will be maintained by a number of ops in
   a range of timezones[2].

If it is clear to users that #evolt has the same standards of behavior as
thelist and thesite, I think it will police itself pretty well. Sure, it may
be helpful to have an op in there on a regular basis, but really, as long as
somebody is in there who knows what kind of language is acceptable and what
isn't, then they can take the roll of defusing it, just like anyone can on
thelist.

>2) Evolt members who want a private discussion can start one or more
>   private channels where they can have their own privacy and their own
>   standards of behaviour and archiving rules. The only evolt interest
>   in this is that it is not labelled with a name which associates it
>   with evolt.

We can certainly request that they not label their channels with evolt, but
how would we enforce it? We had a brief and fruitless discussion on Admin
about asking people not to subscribe to list with "evolt@****.***" because
we thought it might be construed as an official evolt.org email, but we
can't control that either. (Actually we *could* control that, but it's not
worth it.) We can't do anything if somebody sets up #evoltsux or
#evolthappyfunslandercorner.

I think a more effective way to achieve what your aiming at is to define the
evolt IRC channels that are sanctioned and make it clear that anything other
than #evolt with an op on OpenProjects.net, or some other set of qualifiers.
The point is that I can log onto any IRC server I want to and start an
#evolt, so let's control what we can and let the rest fall out where it may.

>[1]
>Archiving background: Evolt has a policy of being open, and this openness
>is generally agreed to by all. This was the reason why Admin and theforum
>are both archived. All other evolt spaces which anyone can join are also
>archived.

Not addressed in any of this voting:
Where will the archives be stored?
Who will maintain them?
How will their existence be publicized?

<disclaimer>
I was one of the Admins who argued strenuously against opening the Admin
archive, believing that there is a reason for private, but archived
conversation among the decision makers of an organization.

I also think you'd be nuts to have a private conversation on an IRC channel
that anyone could drop in on. ;)
</disclaimer>

Thanks,
David