Hey,
On 18 September 2012 11:26, MJ Ray mjr@phonecoop.coop wrote:
I don't see much about free software on there. Some free software is mentioned briefly, under "No Class Yet".
Promoting the freedom of the users takes more than simply promoting Free Software. Some people will inevitably use non-free software and environments for the user base or features not available elsewhere. If they can easily understand what they actually get, then it is an invaluable service. If one makes an informed decision to give up one's freedom, then there is not much we can do. But we can make sure that the decision is informed, and hope that most people will not give up their freedom.
The site itself claims to be free software (I have my doubts because it looks like a derived work of other peoples' terms of service, so wouldn't it be covered by their licences too? Which would probably be AGPL-incompatible, leaving an undistributable mess), but doesn't it mainly promote use of non-free software like Twitter at the moment?
The software powering the site is licensed under AGPL. The content need not be. Furthermore, the set of facts contained in the referenced Terms of Services is not copyrightable. Only the specific tangible expression is. Thus, no derivative work issues arise. Furthermore, if they did, it would almost certainly be fair use. As you can read in the footer, some of the content is also licensed under CC licences.
"Hire someone" or "pay part-time and full-time expert curators". What's the business model? Where will the money go?
If they reach the 10k (euros or dollars - it varies depending where you look), that's a basic living wage for about 33 people-weeks. Even that's ignoring the costs of hiring people. So say they pay 3 curators, where one is full-time and two are 0.5-time. That's 16 weeks at most - and then what happens? Another begging bowl?
It's a great project in some ways, but I'd like to know there's a plan beyond burning 10k in maybe three months, else I feel there are better projects for the money.
Hugo Roy can probably give a better answer (I have cc-ed him), but, to me, it seems that the crucial part is giving the site some momentum by covering major services. Once that will be done, it will probably take relatively little maintenance. Of course, if it generated sufficient interest to attract future donors, then it would be possible to pay some people for full-time work on keeping the site updated and expanding the coverage.
Cheers,