@eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
let me be blunt: am never volunteering to FLOSS again after seeing cliques of developers walk away with millions while the rest of us got jack shit.
FLOSS IS UNPAID LABOR that usually benefits the OG coders and the rich patrons funding it. development is almost always geared to satisfy the needs of the biggest sponsors.
the legal & predatory landscape has changed dramatically since i went live with my first site in 1998
sites are now businesses. period.
1/2
@eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
it's the #1 reason why i've been hesitant about running an instance. I'VE DONE IT BEFORE. i ran my own identi.ca instance back in 2008. i made money as a blogger. i had my own community site.
and it bankrupted me.
and it almost broke me.
#1 thing i wished i had done differently? not incorporate but create a COOP. to actually include writers & users into the biz structure so the community persists in spite of me.
public goods need to be cooperative
2/2
@blogdiva@mastodon.social@eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
ps: am going to get a lot of shit for saying this, but fuckit:
mastodon cannot become the next drupal. it just cannot.
if you want to be true to the fediverse; then you need to make ALL LABOR, not just coding, as consequential to the project.
FLOSS is more than software. it's community; but
volunteer labor outside of coding cores is often treated as inconsequential.
don't be like that
reject digital sharecropping
embrace the cooperative model
@blogdiva @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan Hell yeah. I really believe we have this incredible chance to build something genuinely new here, and it can have implications for doing collective things beyond software.
@misc @blogdiva @eveiswurzig @tchambers @evan
I really appreciate the hard work my instance (Hachyderm) has done to figure out how to make a coop model work. The transparency and community orientation has been exemplary.
At the same time, it’s a cautionary tale: our founder quit the entire fediverse after a harassment campaign targeted her (unjustified imo) in retaliation for a moderation error. The demands placed on individuals in volunteer-based systems can so easily become untenable.
@inthehands @blogdiva @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan Absolutely. And FWIW I don’t think it’s just about co-ops. Very familiar with their limitations - still sore a couple decades after I was pretty cruelly and unfairly kicked out of one during a depression crisis - but I digress.
What excites me even more is finding ways for non-coders to contribute to the design, features, and roadmap. Including, hopefully, a teaching component.
@misc @blogdiva @eveiswurzig @tchambers @evan
100%. I am very interested in any and all models for success that bring an ever wider circle of people into community structures where they find genuine support, in tech and in general.
@inthehands @misc @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
"The demands placed on individuals in volunteer-based systems can so easily become untenable."
yup.
it's tied to the assumption unpaid work is not labor.
like housework.
btw: etymologically, family means domestic servitude/slavery/sharecropping
normalize speaking of domestic work and all forms of "volunteer" work as unpaid labor
@blogdiva @inthehands @misc @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan I worked at a few non-profits, and I remember the older organizers would always complain about how "young people just aren't interested in volunteering" while I'm looking around like... Um no? Young people can't AFFORD to give their time away for nothing when a dual-income barely covers necessities.
@eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
ps2: when i write this,
"#1 thing i wished i had done differently? not incorporate but create a COOP."
i mean, i wish i had not created a CORP but instead gone with a COOP.
but my lawyer at the time had no experience with either websites, online communities, nor coops. i just followed their advice (this was 2001, btw)
they did know with CORP i'd be somewhat shielded. but i didn't have $$$ for retainers
we need lawyers w/o retainers; or shared thru a coop
@blogdiva @eveiswurzig @tchambers @evan I spent several years on the board of a food co-op in Indiana. We didn’t get off the ground, but I’m familiar with the co-op business model. /1
@blogdiva @eveiswurzig @tchambers @evan How does what you’re envisioning align with traditional co-op models? (Definitions I’m familiar with: https://ncbaclusa.coop/resources/what-is-a-co-op/).
@wmjohnston06 @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
i've been ruminating on this all day. love the breakdown into types. i think we're looking at something hybrid. devs will be producers, end-users and consumers but consumers wouldn't necessarily be any of the other two.
just saw a tweet re: Apple paid $5 to FreeBSD? that's fucking OUTRAGEOUS. that's economic violence and that's what i feel the whole ActPub fediverse needs to avert thru a well defined cooperative structure.
1/ (need more coffee)
@wmjohnston06 @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
i received death & rape threats for years, as one of the most vocal & visible blatina bloggers. the problem with being the first one out, and POLITICAL at that, is that people don't know how to help or are afraid to do so.
DMCA, DDoS & death/rape threats are above all, the #1 reason i've been offline for 11 years. like back then, have yet to find a lawyer or practice that would represent me w/o me shelling thousands in retainers, because...
2/3
@wmjohnston06 @eveiswurzig@strangeobject.space @tchambers @evan
am working class. sure, i have college degrees, but i am not part of the "invisible" mutual aid networks of biz professionals we need to launch what to y'all is a just an instance but to everybody else, esp the US govt, is the biz of an online publication or a social network
have you been visited by the FBI for something you published?
i have.
treat co-op as shorthand for safety net. many of us need one. y'all too, as publishers.
3/3