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# United Federation of Instances Proposal
https://gitlab.com/ufoi/constitution
I tagged below everyone who asked me to tag them. I have now started a gitlab group and project where we can discuss the #UFoI proposal transparently and with a good recorded history.
Please start discussions by creating issues, and any edits you have to the proposal please edit on gitlab and submit as a merge request, which can then be discussed.
I will write the CI code to make sure the document gets compiled.
I will try to leave the mass-message like here just to the major developments as it feels a bit spammy. I will only send out one more notification once the by laws draft is up. Of course if anyone does not want to get notified let me know and ill leave you off from future discussions.
@timezoneless @floppy @ufi @ufoi @skanman @john @stevenclyman @robryk @ejg @dashrandom @Romaq @ichoran @AlanOutback @tsomof @aebrockwell @Ryle @tatzelbrumm @Gaythia @realcaseyrollins @stux@mstdn.social @stux@masto.ai @trinsec @khird @darnell @jq
Another FYI. Since everyone here helped give feedback for the document I'd like to add you all to the list of people who contributed (its a contributors file)...Few things
1) If anyone who asked to be a contributor doesnt want their handle listed, just let me know, thats not a problem (do it privately in DM, not here to reduce spam).
2) I will just add everyones fediverse handle by default, but if you want I am happy to replace it with some combination of your name, handle, or email.
3) Everyone who contributes in any way is allowed to get their name in the list, so dont be shy to reach out.
@timezoneless @floppy @ufoi @skanman @john @stevenclyman @robryk @ejg @dashrandom @Romaq @ichoran @AlanOutback @tsomof @aebrockwell @Ryle @tatzelbrumm @Gaythia @realcaseyrollins @stux@mstdn.social @stux@masto.ai @trinsec @khird @darnell @jq
lol I have no idea what all these very long posts are but good luck with your... *squints* fediverse UN and server rights court? : :ablobcatrave:
@frankiesaxx Thanks.. the idea is to make defederation evidence based rather than rumor based... it wont be a "court" for any instance outside of the federation. It will only govern the members who elect to join.
@freemo
there's definitely a place for compiling actual evidence and history of bad action so people can make educated decisions about defederation, sometimes it's pretty clear and easy like network hostile servers deliberately attacking other servers at a technical level like a couple years ago, other times it's less clear if it's something real or just some kind of interpersonal admin drama that's escalated to "I'm not speaking to you anymore!" "Yeah? Well *I'm* not speaking to *you* first!"
@frankiesaxx yea, the hope here is that interpersonal drama stays out, if it isnt evidence based, an an instance has proven to meet the mutually agreedupon ethics, then the interpersonal drama needs to go.
@freemo
I'm lucky as a user that my two main instances have a very light defederation policy, and the top admins are willing to stand up against defederation ultimatums and power games and that "Well if you keep talking to Sally's, I guess I can't talk to you anymore!" nonsense
@frankiesaxx perhaps they would want to be part of the UFoI, or at the very least might want to join the discussion about it... maybe you should ask them?
@freemo
I would say unlikely, neither tends to like to get into the social politics of fediverse.
I think part of the fedi conflicts come from different value priorities (and I don't include the bad actors). Some admins see what they're doing as providing a public service supporting and protecting network access, which is important bc the idea "you can just stand up your own instance" is correct in principle but not realistic for tons of ppl bc either technical knowledge or financial reasons
@frankiesaxx Never hurts to ask and see. Perhaps they have ideas that it could be constructed in a better way.
@freemo
You're free to invite them! I just don't think they'll probably be too interested in getting into those drama infested weeds
neither would be like "omg harrassment!!!!" if you contacted them via their listed info and asked if they'd be interested or anything, just wouldn't expect a yes
@frankiesaxx can you tell me their handle on mastodon, ill politely reach out, thanks.
@freemo
the other part of this is some admins really see their primary role as social moderation (and may not even be the person who is running the technical aspects of the server) and those people prioritize curating social interaction over facilitating it
I think every admin has to make choices that fall in a spectrum between providing a technical service and curating the social space, and they're both noble values, people will just land differently in which takes precedence in the grey areas
@frankiesaxx the UFoI is **purely** social. It has no technological components of any kind.
@freemo
one of the best things about the fediverse being distributed among different servers is that users who can't run their own have real choice in choosing a server whose values on that spectrum align with their own, unlike one size fits all corporate solutuons
@frankiesaxx yes, this unique rules for each server thing is partly what I wanted to preserve.
Keep in mind the code of ethics is intentionally incomplete. It only covers the minimum one would expect of a good-actor, the sort of traits most everyone could agree on if their trying to be decent... but each instance in the UFoI also have the option to create additional stricter rules for their instance.
@freemo @timezoneless @floppy @ufoi @skanman @john @stevenclyman @robryk @ejg @dashrandom @Romaq @ichoran @AlanOutback @tsomof @aebrockwell @Ryle @Gaythia @realcaseyrollins @stux@mstdn.social @stux@masto.ai @trinsec @khird @darnell @jq
I am rather impatiently looking forward to a link to an editable
$$\TeX$$
source (including style file).
In academic context, overleaf works suprisingly well.
@freemo
That said, where do I get
plex-sans.sty?
@tatzelbrumm no clue what style sheet that is off hand.
@freemo,
In TufteReport.cls,
just add a few %, like,
%\usepackage[sfdefault]{plex-sans} % Use IBM Plex Sans as the sans font and make it the default
%\usepackage{plex-serif} % Use IBM Plex Serif as the serif font
%\usepackage{plex-mono} % Use IBM Plex Mono as the mono font
and things compile well elsewhere
(after sorting out the BibTeX stuff)
Added benefit:
The font conforms to
the Potrzebie system of weights and measures.
https://polaris93.livejournal.com/2046896.html
@tatzelbrumm oh, all those packages should be installed as part of you tex install.. but you may need to pick a pretty aggressive install package.. most platforms have something like texlive-full that has everything you need.
The server itself will compile the pdf for you when you submit a change by the way.
@tatzelbrumm as we make changes on git it will automatically compile it and publish the new pdf here:
https://ufoi.gitlab.io/constitution/united_federation_of_instances_proposal.pdf
you can also run gitlab-runner locally on the project to compile it locally
@freemo
ok, I cloned the repository,
got rid of the IBM plex font directives, and can edit locally.
What's the procedure to push contributions?
Clone??
On bitbucket???
github????
gitlab.com?????
@tatzelbrumm create a topic-branch (once just for you), push it there, go to the web-ui create a merge request off of it... select the option to delete topic branch once merged.
@freemo
ok, so far I can't push from my local repository.
Do I need to create a fork on gitlab to be able to send a merge request?
Should I create one branch per merge request or will one branch for several pull/merge requests suffice?
@freemo what does "post unlisted" mean? From
"All accounts which engage in commercial activity as their primary purpose or posts explicitly intended to advertise must be posted unlisted."
Also I would probably word that in such a way that it doesn't also mean content creators, artists, musicians, looking to promote their work...
@battaglia01 content creators can not use this platform to advertise anymore than others... with that said its ok if they share their content so long as they dont try to sell it here (such as including purchase links).. We try to conside rit on a case by case basis but generally if your posting with the intent to make money, content creator or not, its a no go. but you can talk about things you make money off of indirectly.
Unlisted is one of the privacy options on a post (see the little globe, hit that when writing a post). It means that only people who go to the post and followers will see it. It wont show up in the local or federated timelines.
@Ryle Sorry I had a brain fart, I thought for a se3cond I was talking about QOTO and not the UFoI
I take back what I said and agree with @battaglia01 that an exception for content creators should be allowed in the UFoI's constitution. QOTO will remain non-commercial however.
Hey do you want to try to create a merge request with your proposed change (either of you can)... also add yourself to the contributors if you arent already there.
@freemo @Ryle yes I meant this "UFOI" thing. There are now a bunch of famous or quasi famous celebrities on Mastodon, including STEM people - if John Baez, Eugenia Cheng, Sabine Hossenfelder, George Takei, etc write a book I would want them to be allowed to post a link for me to buy it... They probably will anyway. Many of these people barely know how to use Mastodon and I doubt they even know what unlisted means or how to do it.
Of course QOTO can have its own rules for its own instance if you want it to be non-commercial, but I don't think it should be a federation wide rule, also for the reasons Ryle said above. I'm not sure if my suggestion would be just to get rid of that rule entirely, or if there is some way to reword it. Maybe I will leave that to Ryle as I am still pretty new here
Maybe we want to remove the whole "no-commercial" rule entierly.. youve convinced me of that personally.. Can you throw up an issue or merge request and ill be happy to back you up as we are in agreement.
I think most of the changes are good. I'd probably just ditch the commercial requirement entirely. If some individual instance wants to have that requirement then that's alright, but I don't think it should be a federation-wide rule. Like you were saying, there isn't much for artists on here to do except for promote their stuff, which should probably be encouraged if anything. Instances primarily for artists should be permitted to let their artists post w/o special tags if they want to. Same with STEM authors promoting books.
Just FYI, I now set it up so any changed to the document at the link in my last post, once accepted, will automatically compile to a PDF and update teh version hosted here automatically.
So you can follow this link if you want to see the latest version of the document at any time:
https://ufoi.gitlab.io/constitution/united_federation_of_instances_proposal.pdf
Im now working ont he more technical bylaws document. Which I will update everyone on soon.
@timezoneless
@floppy @ufoi @skanman @john @stevenclyman @robryk @ejg @dashrandom @Romaq @ichoran @AlanOutback @tsomof @aebrockwell @Ryle @tatzelbrumm @Gaythia @realcaseyrollins @stux@mstdn.social @stux@masto.ai @trinsec @khird @darnell @jq