On Fri, Jan 24, 2025 at 11:26:53AM +0100, Raphael Hertzog wrote: > I have been asked to join the discussion since I was involved in setting > up some of the twitter accounts in the past. Same. I sent a private reply to the publicity team. I was also one of the folks who helped with @debian. I did not want to reply because I was worried about inflaming an already pretty active thread. Raphaël posting this means I should as well, and underscore places where I agree, since we're speaking with the same hat on. > I recon this has the potential to become a highly political discussion. To > avoid framing it too much in that way, I'd suggest to consider the > question from the point of view of our shared values, the social contract > and the code of conduct. I agree. > We have typically been relatively open to relay our news on proprietary > platforms because the message that we are spreading is worth to be read > by everybody, and if we can embark people in a free software journey > because we are posting there, then it's still a net win for our cause > (even if we also bring a few users to those platforms). I agree. I believe nonfree platforms are useful to be active in, meeting new users where they are rather than requiring a full monastic devotion to free software ideals in order to try us out. We ought to have a robust an active presense on platforms where our users are where able. I know this hasn't been a historically popular opinion but it's mine :) > That said this was based on the assumption that those platforms were > "safe"[1] both for the users and for the Debian contributors that would administrate > the accounts there. If there are no sanctions for people behaving badly > on those platforms, if mis-information cannot be stopped, then those > platforms are no longer safe and should be avoided. Very much agree. As I put it in my private email to the publicity thread after being solicited for thoughts: | Twitter is a place where people I care about don't feel like they can be | without ongoing harassment, so I don't particularly want to be there, | even if I don't get harassed. > We should IMO: > > - not drop the account, but simply keep a statement that we no longer want > to be on those platforms due to the unsafe nature of the platform, but > that we keep the account open so that nobody can pretend to be us and > post on our behalf, and point people to more safe spaces > - not relay our news there > - not reply to any notification / request received there FWIW I agree with this course of action. I stopped using Twitter in any way on April of 2022, moving mostly to Mastodon, and sometimes bsky (mostly read-only). I am functionally unable to help with the @debian twitter account any more. I was one of the three(?) four(?) folks who helped with @debian, but I haven't been onto twitter since 2022. Especially these days. Relatedly, I've dropped my name from the wiki, in any matter. > I don't know that we need a vote for this, Debian has typically been > a do-o-cracy and if the publicity/press delegates can stand behind a > statement like the one I'm suggesting, then it's just a matter of > announcing it and implementing it. I agree. From the delegation email[1] of the publicity team: | * The publicity team moderate news and announcements in all the Debian | official resources: | | - mailing lists of general interest, such as debian-announce and | debian-news (but not the the localized -news-$lang mailing lists) | | - the official blog of the Debian project, "Bits from Debian" | | - any official social media of the project | | - and any other channels where Debian gets an official online | presence. This is clearly within the scope of the delegation. I believe the DPL delegated publicity team members are fully within their delegation to make such a decision, and to act as they see fit. The project has the option to override via a GR. I think such a GR would be a waste of the project's time. Not speaking for Raphaël, or the other current/former folks who helped with @debian on twitter, but it sounds like at least 2/4 (I really can't remember the count, so sorry if I've excluded anyone) of the folks who historically handled that account are in favor of going dark on twitter. I am very much in favor of letting the delegates make a decision on what's in the best interest for the project. paultag [1]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2023/11/msg00006.html -- ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ Paul Tagliamonte <paultag> ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ https://people.debian.org/~paultag | https://pault.ag/ ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋ Debian, the universal operating system. ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀ 4096R / FEF2 EB20 16E6 A856 B98C E820 2DCD 6B5D E858 ADF3
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