[imc-melbourne-work] Future of Melbourne Indymedia

Sat May 26 12:14:50 UTC 2007

Hi all,
I agree with And. It would have been ideal to get a
meeting together to decide on something like this.
However, I dont think it is going to happy any time
soon. As such I think we need to make a decision on
line to disable publishing at present given that there
has not been a feature in a month and that the site is
not be properly watched or admined. 

It seems there is certainly ideas and enthusiasm for
MIM to continue, but I think a first step is that we
need to disable publishing, and stop and take stock of
where we are at.

Harry

--- and <and at axxs.org> wrote:

> Hey,
> 
> On 17/05/2007, at 12:51 PM, harry tuttle wrote:
> 
> > Hi all,
> > Its good to read all the ideas floating around.
> Sorry,
> > but due to other life stuff I havent organised a
> > meeting. What about Saturday or Sunday the
> 26th/27th
> > maybe later in the afternoon. I guess we really
> need
> > to come  up with some kind of short term plan
> while we
> > work out the bigger picture/future of MIM.
> 
> Why not switch off publishing temporarily? That way
> there is space to  
> really stop and think about the project without
> having to spend time  
> managing trolls and dealing with other daily tasks.
> It would also  
> communicate to the community the extent of the
> crisis, especially if  
> it's explained on the front page, and be a mechanism
> for gathering  
> new people to get involved. If people think it will
> just keep  
> plodding along they won't be shaken out of their
> apathy, a rupture  
> needs to be created to break the current cycle and
> begin new ways of  
> thinking about the project, both for the collective
> and the site users.
> 
> And.
> 
> 
> 
> > Harry
> >
> >
> > --- musicman <datakid at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hola,
> >>
> >> I'm largely staying out of this debate because
> I'm
> >> incredibly busy as
> >> it is, but I would flag this interesting article
> by
> >> Cory Doctorow of
> >> boingboing fame:
> >>
> >>
> >
>
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?
> 
> > articleID=199600005
> >>
> >> "How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your
> >> Online Community
> >>
> >> Angry people looking for fights will inevitably
> try
> >> to poison
> >> successful Internet communities. Columnist Cory
> >> Doctorow looks at ways
> >> to remove the poison without killing the
> discussion
> >> too. "
> >>
> >> I like some of the ideas in here - especially if
> we
> >> could implement
> >> disemvowelling:
> >>
> >> "Troll whisperers aren't necessarily very good at
> >> hacking tools, so
> >> there's always an opportunity for geek synergy in
> >> helping them to
> >> automate their hand-crafted techniques, giving
> them
> >> a software
> >> force-multiplier for their good sense. For
> example,
> >> Teresa invented a
> >> technique called disemvowelling -- removing the
> >> vowels from some or
> >> all of a fiery message-board post. The advantage
> of
> >> this is that it
> >> leaves the words intact, but requires that you
> read
> >> them very slowly
> >> -- so slowly that it takes the sting out of them.
> >> And, as Teresa
> >> recently explained to me, disemvowelling part of
> a
> >> post lets the rest
> >> of the community know what kind of sentiment is
> and
> >> is not socially
> >> acceptable."
> >>
> >> L.
> >>
> >> On 5/17/07, Anna Helme <anna at engagemedia.org>
> wrote:
> >>> the other thing i would suggest is that if the
> >> collective wants new
> >>> software to do this:
> >>>
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>
> >>> ==Software==
> >>>
> >>> In terms of software, the Melbourne site really
> >> needs that upgrade.
> >>>
> >>> * We need Userids for identification of quality
> >> users.
> >>>
> >>> * We need an Option for users when they post an
> >> article to decide
> >>> whether they want a) no comments B) approved
> >> comments c) all comments
> >>>
> >>> * At least one newswire that is only for
> articles
> >> posted by "trusted
> >>> users" and that members of the editorial
> >> collective can move articles
> >>> to. Without this, we can not met the
> requirements
> >> of Google News and
> >>> we become just another opinionated blog.
> >>>
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>
> >>> (as takver has outlined) then MIM should use the
> >> money in the bank
> >>> - am i right in thinking it's about $1000? if
> not
> >> i'm sure it wouldn't
> >>> be too hard to get it up to that amount - to
> *pay*
> >> a developer to
> >>> do this. MIM seems to do OK when it comes to
> >> donations.
> >>>
> >>> you should be able to solve the major problem
> MIM
> >> is facing - the
> >>> software - if you pay a developer now, and know
> >> that you will have to
> >>> use donations to pay for regular maintenance.
> much
> >> more sustainable
> >>> i think - both for MIM and for the developers
> who
> >> may be so burnt out
> >>> from doing free activist stuff they leave it all
> >> behind and never
> >>> come back.
> >>>
> >>> if $1500 was spent on software development /
> >> maintenance a year,
> >>> perhaps everybody would be much happier...
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> imc-melbourne-work mailing list
> >>> imc-melbourne-work at indymedia.org.au
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
http://lists.indymedia.org.au/mailman/listinfo/imc-melbourne-work
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> ===================================
> >> Imagine a giant radish, like a planet sized
> radish.
> >> Now imagine that
> >> there's a bunny hopping to the radish, and it
> takes
> >> a bite out of it.
> >> But the bunny spits out that bite and kind of
> smears
> >> it back in place
> >> on the radish with a paw. Then it rains.
> >>
> >> That's the internet.
> >>
> >>
> >
>
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=232307&cid=18893125
> >> ===================================
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> imc-melbourne-work mailing list
> 
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