The past and the future of this forum

Dear all,
this forum originally started as the liminal village forum.
As people who never visited the village started to flow into it, we decided to make it a public good, where information could be shared by every participating hubs and people within the network. We rebranded it to the “hack-along” forum.
Later on, the community has moved on into the discord hack-along server, but slowly detached from its original purpose and intention, becoming a name-free membrane mainly focusing on organizing unconferences and gatherings around equinoxes.

During these years liminal villages has kept paying the hosting fee for this (dead) forum.
We are now asking anyone who stills receives updates or is interested in keeping this forum alive to come forward.

If there are no counterproposals within 15 days time, we propose to bring this forum back to its original home and purpose of sharing patterns and projects updates in alignment with the lunar phases, rebranding it into “lunations forum”

Aye, while I respect Roberto for paying hosting fees over the years I feel this proposal makes several false claims about the truth (namely origins) and consequentially feels rather provocative and territorial.

Having put a fair bit of energy in to catalyse it without much help (in parallel to the Discord as an sync/async combo) as well as sharing many bespoke designs here I’m somewhat offended by the lack of consideration and direct outreach.

While the server has kindly been paid for by Roberto I object to the proposal on the grounds that I perceive it as a form of data colonisation; reverting from public goods to private goods is, in my eyes, a form of capture and colonisation which is antithetical to the spirit in which this community was founded. With that said, Roberto should not be obliged pay for infrastructure that he doesn’t wish to pay for or steward it indefinably if he does not wish to take that responsibility; that would be a rather unfair expectation.

My counter proposal is that you share a backup of all data to those that wish for a copy before wiping the site clean before discontinuation or reuse of the infrastructure. You cannot convert data shared to the commons to private.

My felt sense is that this ‘proposal’ a great example of terrible governance; its a pretty major transparency fail for one as the poster takes no accountability for their agenda while obfuscating the truth with a dodgy narrative; please name yourself or post under your own account name.

Warmest regards,
josh

Hello Josh,
While your response contains strong sentiments and certain accusations, I appreciate your willingness to voice your concerns openly.

Regarding the origin story, it’s not a false narrative, though I can understand why it may seem that way to you. You might not recall the first link you used to write on the forum, nor the task of manually altering database links to reflect the hackalong domain when it was moved over. Nevertheless, the crux of this proposal isn’t centered around these historical details.

I sent this proposal here so that the forum’s people can participate in the conversation rather than the enlarged community in discord which has long detached from both lunar cycles and the name/meme of hackalong

This proposal is not about closing or privatizing data. Instead, its objective is to identify any individuals who might be interested in sustaining and invigorating this forum. Only If such interest is lacking, then the proposal is to secure the forum’s future by relocating it to a new(/old) home, while the forum’s purpose/ethos/vibes remains unchanged.

Your counter proposal of sharing the forum data seem to point to the latter … am I getting it right?

Roberto
(ps: FYI names and surnames are visible if you click on the usernames)

Heya Roberto,

It seems your narrative is contentious at best and feels like there’s some untangling to do here as you may or may not remember discussions about communication structures for “hackalong” during our first retreat at liminal?

To my recollections I remember really having to stoke the fires for this forum to be created and actually met a lot of resistance. A few days later you’d indeed gotten a discourse up for the group of wandering visitors and had branded it “Liminal Village”. We then discussed whole/part relationships for some time in relation to the physical digital dichotomy and you agreed the digital forum should transcend the physical boundaries of Liminal Village - changing the links that evening.

With those corrections to the history made, I’m glad that they are not the crux of your proposal and I’m certainly glad you wish to reinvigorate the forum. Perhaps you can help with this by getting the ball rolling with some new content and asking for thoughts and contributions?

Only If such interest is lacking, then the proposal is to secure the forum’s future by relocating it to a new(/old) home, while the forum’s purpose/ethos/vibes remains unchanged. Your counter proposal of sharing the forum data seem to point to the latter … am I getting it right?

I’d consider contributing again if a good example was set by yourself and/or others. I’ve not defected from the group so much as gone dormant due to the weight of maintaining its wholeness. You seem more responsible and mature these days which is great; I can see this in the spirit of your reply (despite the rebuttal) but the question stands if you can fly under a collective brand without trying to make it your own? I hesitate to contribute until this is proven.

With a warm heart and lots of love,
josh