Hey all
Today, I am thrilled to share two significant developments with you that will determine our shared future.
Firstly, the issue of donations. Since the inception of this instance, your most frequent request has been the ability to make contributions to support my initiative. While initially, I had never intended to accept donations, I’ve come to realize the value this brings in ensuring our platform’s sustainability. In response to your requests, within the next week, I will be introducing several options for those of you who wish to donate. I want to emphasize that these donations are entirely optional and will directly support our instance’s operational necessities - dedicated hardware, colocation fees, email services, and more.
The second announcement needs a full disclosure: it could be an extraordinary idea or potentially not so. Since the beginning of this instance, I’ve seen a number of insightful posts, recommendations, and ideas that the community has put forward, often superior to what I could have conceptualized myself. Even our instance’s name was born from one of your suggestions.
Frequently, I’m approached by users seeking clarity on our rules and guidelines or expressing their thoughts on existing rules. In reflecting upon this, it became clear to me that I’ve been attempting to determine what’s best for the community. But who am I to make these decisions? Just two weeks ago, I was a user among you all. Hence, I’m moving away from the traditional role of decision-making.
Instead, I want to hand over the reins of decision-making to you - the community. I’m excited to announce the creation of a community called agora where you can express your desires for the future of this instance. It’s up to you to come together, discuss, and reach a consensus. If you wish to add, remove, or modify a rule, make a post, garner support from other members, and I’ll implement the change. This invitation extends beyond our immediate community - I welcome input from everyone across the fediverse. Again to be clear, I gave an example of modifying rules but this applies to anything that I have the ability to do on this instance.
As the instance owner, I only have one caveat to add - any decisions made should not jeopardize the instance’s existence or result in legal complications. Aside from that, I’m eager to see where this new direction takes us.
Thank you for your ongoing support, creativity, and engagement.
I think this is a well-intentioned but horrible idea. I’d much rather have a benevolent dictator who is willing to listen to suggestions than someone who is controlled by whatever majority of users is voting today.
I signed up like 39 seconds ago and this is the 2nd post I read and first comment I am making (in other i have no idea what I am doing here) but I tend to agree with this. On this type of platform I feel like this could easily result in policy being driven by a loud minority and not actually reflective of the community desires.
It’s up to you to come together, discuss, and reach a consensus. If you wish to add, remove, or modify a rule, make a post, garner support from other members, and I’ll implement the change. This invitation extends beyond our immediate community - I welcome input from everyone across the fediverse. Again to be clear, I gave an example of modifying rules but this applies to anything that I have the ability to do on this instance.
@TheDude@sh.itjust.works what constitutes “consensus”? A majority, a supermajority? 100% buy-in on most important topics is simply not on the table, and setting a bar too high for action is tantamount to predetermining that action will not be taken.
(I have no problem with the tyranny of the admin, either, as long as it’s clear what direction the site is headed in so I know whether to stick around or not.)
We’re going to end up with sexy John Oliver posts, aren’t we?
All kidding aside, I think this is a great idea. I would put in another caveat though, that only users from this instance can vote for rule changes. But we should definitely invite ideas from everyone across the fediverse.
Also, Part of why I joined this instance was of the chill direction if the mod admin team, I hope they continue that work and that this doesn’t result in a deterioration of user experience because they gave up and handed it over to all of us.
woooooooooooooooo
Any updates on donations? I want to give you my money!!
I very much appreciate you guys keeping pushing me on this. There is more involved than I had originally anticipated in being able to accept donations. We are currently waiting for a fiscal host on opencollective.org to approve our application which was submitted in June. Once it’s been approved this instance will be accepting donations!
