We've Done It - We Are Now a Completely Independent Site !!!

We've Done It

After almost 2 years and a lot of hard work by many people, we have finally achieved what we set out to do. On Wednesday, the Linode servers were decommissioned, and the site is now completely independent and running on its own hardware. All the site data and the domains belong to the community - yes, you own this site.

It could not have been possible without the dedication of quite a few people - some of whom have not made it to today. It wasn't pleasant and it wasn't easy. There were numerous meetings to create a new set of Bylaws. That in itself took many months of often acrimonious debate. Everyone wanted the same end, but they were not happy with how it was being achieved. In the end, as is always the case, it required a lot of compromise, and it meant we needed to say goodbye to the old way of doing things. So to all of those who participated in those meetings: mechanicjay, AudioGuy, Deucalion, Fnord666, MartyB, Separatrix, cmn32480, kolie, hubie, mrpg, requerdanos, fab23, chromas, fliptop, dx3bydt3, tedious, cosurgi, Runaway1956, and even aristarchus, and many that I have probably missed out, a huge thank you from me. And if I have missed you out then that is entirely my fault and I apologise!

The Bylaws dictate how the business will be managed. They do not contain any rules about how the site will be used, or what is permitted in submissions or discussions and what is not, or any of those things that tend to interest the community. But there are some unique differences in our Bylaws from those previously. The Board (which I will get to in a moment) manage this site on your behalf. While they handle routine matters as appropriate to their post, many actions require them to seek the agreement of the community. You will have a say in major decisions. After all, you own the site. The data cannot be used for any purpose other than maintaining this site without a majority decision of the community.

So having created the Bylaws, we could apply to create a company. This was necessary so that the new company (Soylent Phoenix) could receive whatever assets the original company (SoylentNews PBC) was prepared to transfer. For legal reasons, the Board members cannot be anonymous; they have to sign various pieces of legal documentation to create the company. So I asked for volunteers from the community. More than we needed stepped forward and so the business was created. The Chairman of the Board is OregonJohn (6105), the Treasurer is Dale (539) (and he is actually a qualified accountant!), and the Secretary is holeinone (17639). They have also been working hard on your behalf setting up the company, creating Stripe accounts, managing the current funds, and filling in the paperwork that is associated with a business. Technically the Board is a temporary one because they do not yet have the approval of the community. But that is built into the Bylaws, and it allows us to keep moving forward until their posts are confirmed by the community, or challenged by someone else who believes they should be allowed to do the job.

Next came the transfer of assets. Like all things this did not go as smoothly as everyone had hoped it would. Quite understandably, it was necessary for everything to be accountable and legal, and to look after everyone's interests. Again, it was only by having some tough discussions and making compromises on both sides that anything has actually been achieved. So another thank-you to NCommander and Matt Angel. I think we have a solution which, while not meeting all of our initial dreams, is one that we can live with for the future. The site never squandered money and there is nothing to suggest that your donations have been misused.

You will probably now all be aware that two people have donated hardware and a data connection at no cost to the site. Those people are kolie and fliptop, and they have my sincere thanks. Kolie's server is the one that you are using at the moment to read this Meta. In fact, it is handling all of the site including email, IRC, DNS, Varnish, the database, etc. etc. Fliptop's server is currently an off-site backup for our data but will probably require a bit of expansion before it will cope with the full Docker installation. You will also be aware that, over the recent weeks and months, kolie has built the entire software infrastructure into Docker containers, moving each function one by one from the Linode servers and incrementally adding it to our own hardware. He has put many man hours into this task and I for one have enjoyed working with him - although my contribution has been considerably less than his! Again, I offer my grateful thanks.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without the community being tolerant and understanding as we have encountered each unexpected obstacle. The community has, in fact, grown slightly in the last 2 years, but it remains at roughly 10% of what it once was. I thank you all for making this possible. Welcome to your site.

And now for something completely different....

Community Representatives

To provide the community with more visibility regarding the actions of staff and the reason and justification for those actions, we have created 3 posts which will act as Community Representatives. Their prime role is to provide the community with the assurance that management is behaving responsibly and within the rules governing the site, and for the community to have a focus when they have concerns regarding what is going on behind the 'curtains'. They will act as your voice in discussions and decisions. They will have full access to staff discussions but will only have limited access, and then only when absolutely necessary, to the data stored in the database. We have had 3 volunteers for these posts for many months, but I will provide more details once I have confirmed that they are still volunteering for the role, and when we have hammered out the working procedures that must be adopted for this system to function correctly.

TOR

We now have TOR up and running again - we had it quite a few years ago and then it disappeared. Eventually, the link will be in the SoylentNews side panel on your screen, but for now it is cut and paste:

http://soylentqarvi3ikkzpp7fn4m5pxeeonbv6kr4akgkczqethjfhmalhid.onion

Elections

As I mentioned earlier, technically the current board is temporary. If you wish to stand for a post then you may do so. We will be asking for nominations in the near future. However, remember that you cannot remain anonymous as your name has to be recorded on the official business records.

We will provide you with a Meta page should you wish to explain to the community why you believe that they should vote for you. The method of voting will be 1 vote per active account, which must be in good standing (i.e. meet a minimum karma level and not be currently banned). The software that will be used is still under consideration as the original voting software was written and operated by audioguy who is not currently taking an active part in the site management.

You cannot nominate someone else for a post. They have to put themselves forward as a candidate. You can of course vote for them should they do so.

realDonaldTrump Account

Accounts that have been dormant for over 5 years quickly attract attention when they suddenly re-appear. In recent years we have seen attempts to resurrect old accounts, sometimes by people other than the original owner. There is an option built in to Rehash which is named "Force User to Verify Account" (FUVA) and it appears on the user's administration page. It simply resets the password and sends the new password to the email address that we hold for that account in the database. The account holder can then reset the password to something of their own choosing and everything works as it should. Currently, it is invoked automatically after the 5-year point if the account becomes active again. About a week ago the "realDonaldTrump" (rDT) account suddenly sprang back into life, having been dormant since 2019, and for the most part it was welcomed by the community. However, by making a comment the FUVA triggered.

I think that the account holder has either forgotten how to access his email or the email address has lapsed for some other reason. So the account is now stuck in limbo. Without a working email contact we cannot send the new password to the account holder. I do NOT want to know who the account owner is. However, they must provide a working email address, which can be a temporary or throw-away address, and they must provide sufficient detail about the account to prove that they are the true account owners. The site can be reactivated as a parody account which will have specific restrictions associated with it.

Community Involvement

Although the site is now independent and 'under new management' there is still much that remains to be done.

• For the present the rules that we have inherited will remain in force, but they will have to be rewritten and approved by the community to take us into the future.
• We will need people to assist with the sys-admin role - which is more Docker management than anything else. Interested people do not have to currently know or use Docker, I am sure that we can provide guidance on acquiring those skills and then explaining the current site structure. It is much simpler than it once was.
• We are investigating how to create a separate environment for both testing code before it is integrated into the main site and as a training facility.
• As ever, we need your support by providing submissions and by participating in the discussions. There are 23 submissions in the queue but 17 of them by one of our 2 submission bots which many people dislike.

Potential Return of Anonymous Cowards to the Full Site

Over the last week or two the level of spamming and abuse has significantly reduced. However, the reasons for this are unclear, and it might not indicate a permanent or even long-lasting change. If the low level continues for a significant period (certainly into the New Year) then it might be possible to re-admit ACs to the whole site again. This is something that is we all want to see, and it would be a welcome enhancement to the site. However, it depends entirely on those few individuals who account for the vast majority of the spam and abuse.

If ACs are allowed back onto the full site then any permanent return is entirely dependent on the spamming remaining at a very low level, and for personal attacks to be rare events.

Withdrawn - It didn't even last until we got this Meta out. JR

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