SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
You will all now be aware that there are changes afoot to the management and structure of SoylentNews. Many of you are pleased to see that some action is being taken, and in many ways I also support that concept. But it is obvious to me that many of you don't understand the possible implications of what is currently happening. I would like to discuss this further. First, it is necessary to have some background.
The Board
The Board of SoylentNews was created very early on in the site's life and originally comprised of 3 people. NCommander, Matt Angel, and mrcoolbp (aka Ben Prentice). Ben stepped down many years ago from his post as Board Secretary, which was a role that covered many different things. So for at least 6 years, the Board has comprised of only 2 people. Matt Angel does not, as far as I know, have a nickname on this site. He is the Board Treasurer; a job he has done quietly and efficiently in the background. NCommander you should all know well by now.
You may think that the Board is there to look after your interests, but nowhere in the founding documents or bye-laws does it say any such thing. One of its primary duties is to look after the interests of the shareholders. They do not have to consult the community, or inform them of any decisions that they make, nor are they accountable to any other external authority or individual. They do not have to provide you with written records. They should provide direction to the site but not be involved in any aspect of how that is achieved or managed. There are 2 shareholders - NCommander and Matt Angel. You can read into that anything you wish. I am not telling you what to think, I am simply telling you something that many of us only learned relatively recently.
The Board can, however, wind up the site without any consultation or prior warning. That is entirely within their powers and legal rights.
The Hardware
Since the site began it has been hosted on Linode (now part of Akamai) hardware. It is not the cheapest around but you get what you pay for. The hardware has been managed by the sysops team, the names of whom you will also know and you have seen them commenting on the site recently. There were multiple people who had need of access to the hardware starting at the top with NCommander. Ideally, the sysops team would all have individual specialities and areas of responsibility, but that is simply not possible for a small team such as we have had for several years. Therefore they all contribute where they can to address whatever issues they must attend to.
There are some advantages to this arrangement. There are checks and balances that what is being implemented is sensible and will not adversely affect other areas of the system. If it does, they can each be aware of the problem areas and they can be addressed logically and systematically to bring the work to a conclusion. This requires communication, trust and access to the hardware.
The Data
The data I am referring to is the database which, in addition to your individual personal and account data, contains every story, journal, moderation, comment etc. The most valuable asset that this site has is its community. Without it there is simply no site. And the most important asset from the community's point of view is the data that has been accumulated. It is so valuable that we have alway pledged to protect it to the fullest extent possible. We have successfully done this for over 9 years.
The Third Person
Kolie approached, or was approached by, the Board to be contracted to provide new hardware to host a containerised site. He is for the moment a contractor. He has been generous in providing the hardware that has been gathered so far for free. Nobody other than the Board or kolie himself knows what exactly is in that contract. They are not obliged to reveal it to us, and this is perfectly normal and legal. I am not suggesting that anything otherwise.
Kolie is the CTO of several companies, the one that he has discussed most of all is Ennwise (ennwise.com) but there is also an Ennwise consulting company too, and probably others. The hardware that he is currently using is located in Ennwise company facilities (Freemont, CA, FMT2 facility. Linux OS on a iSCSI array.) but it is being moved later on this month. I do not know where to. He describes the company as "Ennwise is more accurately a consulting, custom software, and MSP/ISP" and "[...] ennwise mostly does vCIO work for businesses in the 1-10B range". He describes himself as "I'm in vc, tech, construction verticals so it's basically a product of lessons learned in focusing on your product and not managing servers." He therefore has an abundance of relevant experience and seems to have made a successful career out of it.
Some Missing Pieces
This site has always been entirely open in its dealings with the community. Many of us know each other at an almost personal level. We do not usually hide what we have done or are planning to do - in fact we often consult with the community beforehand to get a majority approval. There are some things that must be kept private - handling you personal data is one of them. I make no apologies for having withheld personal data belonging to one person from others who do not need to know it. Some time back I was given a copy of our policy document from 2014 after somebody managed to recover it before it was lost for ever. It was published in the site Wiki and was there for everyone to read. I am proud to say that I do not know of any contraventions to the policy decisions stated in it. The privacy passage in particular has never be contravened.
As a contractor kolie is perfectly entitled to keep the details of his contract private. He does no have to share it with anyone. But to be a valid contract I believe that there must be a payment of some kind - either monetary or in kind. Otherwise it is not a contract but an obligation or promise. If it is monetary then it might have been paid for by your subscriptions. Although that places no obligation on the Board I would have hoped that, being the community that we are, somebody would have at least mentioned it. They do not have to seek your approval for a payment but it would seem to be a reasonable action to be made aware of it. This is purely a personal view. If it is not monetary, then what is it? What reward will kolie receive for the expensive hardware that is being procured to run the site? I have acknowledged that so far it appears to be costing us nothing but that does not guarantee it will always be that way in the future. I will return to this point later.
kolie has told us that there are 'milestones' built within the contract that trigger the next stage of activity, and presumably a partial payment. Again this is simply a guess because I am not party to exactly what the contract says. None of us are.
The Potential Problem
At the moment the entire future of this site rests in the hands of the Board, and in particular NCommander. I understand exactly where he is coming from in wanting to see his work move forward into the future. But during the last month or so that future has been uncertain with statements from 'I am closing the site down' to 'the site will continue and I am planning for the next 5 to 10 years'. And with each change we do not have to be consulted, your views do not matter, and it is causing a lot of damage to our community. I have been criticised for even raising some issues that I think have been obvious from the start but are unappreciated or simply not understood by many. I ask blunt questions and time is very short I expect to receive more criticism for this journal entry. The place were we are supposed to be able to raise topics that interest us personally.
I have no crystal ball. I cannot say what will happen in the future. I know that the first 'milestone' occurs towards the end of this month. That is only a few weeks away. And most people are sat back just waiting for it to happen. Let me tell you what could happen:
1. At the end of the month the new hardware is stood up and the site switches over to it. We don't know where that hardware will be, how secure an environment it will be in, what is the expected up-time, and how much it will cost to run it.
2. The 'milestone' reward might be that kolie will receive a seat on the Board for it. He has said that he gets a seat at some point but it is not clear when that might be. He is immediately elevated from contractor to Board Management. You do not have to approve that action or even be told about it taking place.
3. One person, now a Board member, has total control over the hardware. But unlike in the past where the access has been shared between the sysops team, which resulted in checks and balances, there is no indication that such access will be granted. We have been told by NCommander that there will be NO shell access to the new hardware. If the cost of access to the hardware for the community increases - perhaps a form of compulsory subscription fee - then there is little more you can do except to pay up or leave.
4. Your data, which we have protected for over 9 years, has also moved completely under the same person's control. We cannot copy it, you cannot change it, you have simply lost the right to control your data. In the EU this is already illegal, and it doesn't matter where the data is held. If it contains the data of EU people there are already existing laws in place. Once that data is gone, this site can never be recreated.
I repeat, I haven't got a crystal ball and cannot say what will happen. But I can say that once it has happened you have already lost everything. How that data is used will be for the Board to decide, not you. If they want to monetize it they can do so providing that they do not break US law in doing so. If they want the site to be covered in advertising they may do so. If they want to invite other 'investors' to join the Board they can do so. Unless community members are on the board then it is all over.
I have no reason to doubt koli's sincerity today, but I also never imagined that NCommander would just shut the site down as he intended to do. If koli's interests are rather more monetary than community spirited, then he may view things differently in the years ahead. Today he is working hard to create a site, and giving generously of his time and money, but it might not be the site you imagined it would be.
This is what some of you are enthusiastically cheering for. This is what I am trying to prevent. If it looks like it will happen then I cannot guarantee the safety of your data or influence what the site will become. This might be the most important time ever for you to say what you want to happen - even if they are not listening.
I don't care whether you think this journal is the right thing to do or not, or whether you think it is sour grapes or just stirring the pot - as long as you are no longer running blindly into the unknown then it will have served its purpose.
This is my community too.
(Score: 5, Informative) by dalek on Monday June 12, @01:44PM (3 children)
This was said in #soylent on June 7, 2023:
Where is it?
Also from #soylent on June 7, 2023:
What secrets must be kept that require an NDA so strict that even database schema can't be shared?
EXTERMINATE
(Score: 4, Funny) by chromas on Tuesday June 13, @12:18AM (1 child)
Perhaps there's a new column called I♥️Beta.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:21AM
I've since gotten blanket approval from NC to provide these kinds of things outside of the very very generic basic bog standard NDA which excluded everything.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:34AM
The NDA is a blanket NDA covering everything. It's a legalzoom template for a contractor and a business entity.
IT basically says and tech, trade secrets, any info/data/discussions at all that aren't public - none of it can be disclosed.
In normal applications, if I want to create software for a company, they tell me about their operations, they tell me about their business, I take that, I write them code, I give it to them. If a third party asks for code - technically - the NDA forbids it. IT also forbids the contractor from leaking shit - like customer data - with no repercussion. It's a CYA document for the PBC giving an unknown party access to a bunch of shit. If I leaked it before, shame on them. If I leak it now, I have a binding signed contract that can be used against me.
The NDA isn't fully appropriate to the situation. I'd be happy to post it in full. I've since gotten written permission to talk about everything of substance with the work that I am doing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fab23 on Monday June 12, @06:50PM (3 children)
I am kind of wondering about the person who may take over the sites operations (and so also all its data), who does not have a consistent way in communicating with the community. The last messages in this thread [soylentnews.org] is an indication to that:
So at least it may be some kind of consistent, as with only one comment from replic8tor [soylentnews.org] before the current drama started. And idling with a different nickname in IRC and only changing it when needed, does also feed such concerns.
I am just connecting the dots, which makes it difficult to build some kind of trust.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:22AM (2 children)
I've had the email replic8tor@gmail.com since the early early early days of gmail. I go by kolie everywhere else.
(Score: 2) by fab23 on Thursday June 15, @05:39PM (1 child)
That is not what I had in mind, I do not care about your nickname or email address history. If you prefer kolie [soylentnews.org], then it seems to be still available on the site, at least as of this writing. You will get a fresh new high number user ID. :-) Or I guess if you would have requested it, it may even have been possible to change the existing nickname.
My comment was about your unknown history to the SN community. From my point of view it looks like that you appeared out of nowhere.
According to my own IRC logs you showed up the first time on 23rd of May. Also the search engine of my least distrust does not find any mention of kolie [duckduckgo.com] on the site before this date. That is what I see as unknown history.
(Score: 2) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @08:26PM
I still go to slashdot every day. And I comment every day. But damn if you looked at my account there you would think I deaded
https://slashdot.org/~Kolie [slashdot.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Monday June 12, @10:35PM (2 children)
Here's hoping the Board realizes that the community is only here because we like things the way they are: if they go too far another way the community will no longer exist (might as well go back to /. or whatever. Pipedot?)
As for copyright issues, I'm sure Canadian law has things to say as well.
Thanks for all you do Janrinok, dalek, etc.
Thanks ahead of time for when you end up doing GOOD things, nc, kolie, mattyb: the community is watching. dalek is watching: you don't want dalek mad... he can fly now.....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:29AM (1 child)
I like the way things are. That's why I wont let NC shut it down. I want this fucking place to be here. I like soylentnews.org. As it is.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Thursday June 15, @01:13PM
I spank you.
I spank you very much.
I spank you so much it hurts.
;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by nostyle on Monday June 12, @11:25PM (2 children)
Unregistered AC dropped a comment [soylentnews.org] in my journal in reply to this journal of yours. Thought it might interest you and be more useful appearing here.
(Score: 5, Touché) by janrinok on Tuesday June 13, @04:35AM
I am not here to pussyfoot around while wondering whether somebody's feelings might be hurt. I am asking the same questions here as I have been asking for the last month or so. I don't really care whether you approve or not, and I do not agree with your assessment. My journal was neutral, but my comments now that you have invited them will not be.
I do not have use 'soft skills' if I do not wish to. This site belongs to the community much more than it does to the Board, or any individual. The future plan is a major shift from the current site - where any control is to be taken away from the community. This is not just a possibility - it has already happened. The sysops team is locked out of BOTH systems - the old and the new. Surely Kolie has some authority on who accesses his own hardware? Is he forbidden to work on his own servers because of the existence of an NDA?
How can I install my management software (e.g. sock puppet detection and blocking etc) if I cannot have access to the machines I am trying to protect? It is what I had started to do in November when all of a sudden things changed. My software does some things automatically, but others have to be managed each day. How does anyone manage it if they cannot access it, or access the data that it is protecting? Currently it is running on my own personal server at my expense, as it has been for getting on for a year now. I have to do some work on that computer and it will have to be switched off at some point. Kolie has stated that it is a "30 minute script" - well he can go ahead and write one then, because my software was written to enable me to manage a problem. It isn't designed to be moved to another system without significant work involved - measured in at least days not minutes. Kolie has been given plenty of time to write a replacement but he has again made one excuse after another for not doing so. Apparently, it is my fault and I am not a team player...
How can we investigate bugs and faults without direct and full access to the database? How do we run SQL queries to provide the statistics and other data that we publish from time to time if we cannot have shell access?
But it seems that I am wasting my time. The redirected comment that I am replying to does not provide a single answer to one of the many questions that I posed over a week ago. It is all designed, in my opinion, to waste time until it becomes a fait accompli. At which point it is too late.
In line with Kolie's salesman patter ("I'm in vc, tech, construction verticals") I am now a vEditor and I'm in story verticals. As for each member of the community, you and your comments are seen as being the product: ("basically [...] lessons learned in focusing on your product and not managing servers.") Welcome to the new world. I cannot be part of something which we all despise and have worked so hard against. It is the very reason that this site was created. And now people don't seem to care any more.
So no matter how much it may sadden me, when that new dawn arrives I will make the appropriate personal decision.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday June 13, @04:37AM
Thank you nostyle - my response is to his comment, not yours.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Common Joe on Tuesday June 13, @02:40AM (1 child)
Thank you for the update.
Correction: Thank you for the multitude of updates you've given the past few weeks including this one.
I don't normally like dirty laundry being aired, but... sometimes it is necessary. Especially for a community like this. As others have pointed out recently, SoylentNews exists because the community voices in Slashdot (with some really good suggestions) were ignored.
Even before this comment, the lack of a solid plan moving forward has made me very nervous. The most recent examples where a lack of plans to involve the community are called Twitter and Reddit. Instead, they just sort of waved their hands, and made money spontaneously appear at the cost of community imploding. Same thing happened at Slashdot.
You have raised some points in public that I would like to see solidly addressed by NCommander and Matt Angel in public. You raised many of these points weeks ago and I have yet to see a good response. This is all heart breaking to me. I know it is to you as well.
I'm mostly quiet because I don't have the time to donate. Thank you for speaking many things that are on my mind. I greatly appreciate it.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:27AM
I've responded to these issues and others and continue to do so in IRC. All of them have been answered. Whether janrinok accepts them in earnest or not is at his discretion of course. If you have questions either respond to my journals or post up in IRC.
I'm very active and happy to discuss any details or questions at length and openly and candidly. None of this is happening in the dark - and everything I am doing, everything I'm thinking about doing, and anything I've done I've been vocal and public about in the aforementioned places.
I have no dog in this fight other than A) SN sticks around B) it's largely what it is today. I got nothing to hide because everything I am, who I am, and my intentions is out in the open and I will gladly address anything asked of me directly and as succinctly as possible. If my answers have been not what some expected - it's only because I am being specific in what and how I am responding for direct clarity not to be backed into the corner of a loaded or misinformed question. I'm just answering how it is in my head / view. 100% no bull.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday June 13, @04:48AM (10 children)
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=55864&page=1&cid=1311214#commentwrap
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday June 13, @05:14AM (9 children)
My own view is that perhaps both sides know exactly what is going on - they simply do not want the community to know. They do not need your approval - but they do need a community. This is Dice by the backdoor.
I speculate that perhaps NCommander and Matt Angel would like to get a return on, or at least recover, their seed money. And kolie has a variety of unconnected businesses, this is just another opportunity to make a profit for himself. They have both mentioned a 2nd money stream from the site - you can interpret that as you wish. The new servers are currently using his own business' assets. So what will the bill eventually be?
I could be wrong in my speculation, or I can read their silence as indicating something else entirely.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Tuesday June 13, @05:35PM (7 children)
Yea it's literally the terms on my NDA so [...]
NDAs are always a sign that the larger group is going to get fucked over by the two or three involved in signing the NDA. I don't have any constructive advice about how to fight such a hostile takeover but transparency is needed on the part of Kolie and NCommander about what they have been planning or, as the very presence of an NDA suggests, scheming. An NDA is a kick in the nads.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday June 13, @07:41PM (5 children)
It is just so alien to they way we have operated for over 9 years. Now it seems it is all secrets behind closed doors.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Common Joe on Wednesday June 14, @03:01AM (3 children)
Yeah. I didn't mention anything about the NDA earlier, but red flags popped up at the mention of one. There should be nothing at SoylentNews which requires an NDA. Quite the opposite, in fact. Except for a a small bit of personal data and perhaps a couple of SPAM / troll fighting techniques, everything should be completely open. I only visited the IRC a couple of times, but I'm glad it was there so that anyone at anytime could go and participate in discussions about the running of the site. Nothing was hidden. But now... :(
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:20AM (2 children)
So giving an outside unknown contractor complete access to systems without any legally binding framework of that interaction is reasonable for you? What kind of liability would that expose the PBC/SN too? You are smoking wayy to much crazy grass.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Thursday June 15, @07:07PM (1 child)
While I ate dinner and washed dishes, I thought about how to reply to your comment.
I would like to start by saying thank you for your generosity to financially help SoylentNews. None of us (including you) fully knows what that entails yet, but we all know it can and probably will be pricey. So, thank you for helping out no matter what amount you give.
Do you go by replic8tor or Kolie? It's pretty rare for us to use our real names. Not unheard of, but rare. It doesn't matter actually other than it makes you a little different than most of us (which ties in to what I'm to explain).
You said I am smoking way too much crazy grass. I take offense at that. Normally, I'd just roll my eyes, ignore the troll like behavior, and just go about my business. However, I hope you're trying to do something really good, and this may be just a little hiccup from you in a stressful situation, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
With that said, you don't strike me as a person who typically lurks on SoylentNews, much less try to save it with money from your own pocket. Of course, anyone is welcome here (with one documented exception), but allow me to explain where I'm coming from.
Most of us here on SoylentNews have a highly honed bullshit detector. A lot of managers don't realize it, but there are a higher percentage of geeks / nerds who have a good detector. It comes from years of debugging programs, diagnosing faulty hardware, and dodging management bullshit while trying to do our job. My bullshit detector is going off with your replies. Maybe it's justified and maybe it ain't. I'm willing to keep an open mind because I'm not perfect.
janrinok says you are (currently?) the CTO of multiple companies. Specifically:
First, being CTO of multiple companies at the same time raises a flag. These must be small companies or, if they are large companies, you can't give your love appropriately to each one. Or maybe janrinok misspoke. It's easy enough to do. I'll assume you're the CTO of one small company. Thus, flag raised, but with a note that this flag could be incorrect.
Secondly, if you're the chief technical officer of a small company (or multiple small companies) who visits SoylentNews regularly, I would expect you know how to use <blockquote>. In your journal [soylentnews.org], you don't use <blockquote>. Instead, you use ### to reply to people. This breaks the culture which we have here. Small firm CTOs can usually do this simple thing and you said you've been lurking here for a while so this should be no secret to you. This is another flag.
And for reasons I can't put my finger on, you talk like a suit. You don't talk like a nerd. I'm reading your words, but I'm hearing management speak. This is a major red flag.
Next, we've never heard from you until a few weeks ago. Granted, a lot of people lurk and that's cool, so no problem there. But if you lurk, where do you lurk? On the front pages or in IRC? I would assume the front pages, but in your comment here [soylentnews.org], you state you conduct your business primarily in IRC instead of addressing things in journal. Yes, the business end of SoylentNews is in IRC, so that is probably where you want to mainly be right now. Great. But if you want to communicate to people like me, I am only found on the front pages. I don't even typically read anyone's journals. (I'm making exceptions right now because of the extraordinary reasons.) NCommander posted front page "SoylentNews is Shutting Down". If you want to address what that started, you have to be front page too. With all due respect, you've been too damn quiet. And until the past few hours, I have not seen you address any of the hair raising concerns that janrinok raised. That's a major red flag.
I mentioned NCommander. He's causing a lot of drama. "SoylentNews is going to die!" "I'm here to save the day and keep it open!" "I'm worried about people wiping all the data!" Mixed in with this drama are janrinok's accusations of NCommander not allowing the certain people access to help the site -- people who I have seen for years working their asses off keeping this site running. And you aligned yourself with NCommander. That's a red flag, but not as major as some of the others. I understand that things aren't going well and tempers are flaring, and NCommander has worked his ass off too.
Now, let's address the NDA. I've never heard anyone talk about an NDA on SoylentNews before. Maybe you're right. Maybe we need one. Maybe the manager in you is trying to save our collective asses. If that's the case, then thank you. However, I have enough flags raised which sets off my bullshit detector. With mention of the NDA not being explained at all, I most definitely agreed with janrinok's comment. From that perspective, it's over the top.
No, it's not reasonable, but then a lot of shit going on here is not reasonable. I've tried to be reasonable and from my limited perspective, janrinok has been pretty reasonable. (In fact, as I writing this reply, he came to defend you [soylentnews.org].) NCommander has (from my non-IRC perspective) not been reasonable.
But, you're here to help, so I'll give you some advice: be very open with us about what you're doing. And I mean very transparent. Yeah, I'm just one person, but if you've truly lurked here, you'll know I'm one of the easy-to-get-along-with people on here. I assure the bullshit detectors are going off for a lot of people right now -- and rightlyfully so. You're starting in negative territory. You will need to work very hard to earn our trust. If you're the real deal, you'll succeed.
But if you're lying to us, we will know.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Friday June 16, @03:45AM
In case anyone read this wall of text besides replic8tor, I'd like to add a followup.
Replic8tor reached out to me personally and replied. I don't have time to address everything he said, and he shared some personal things and I don't want him doxxed, so I'll limit to which parts I say in public. I wish he had answered in public, but I also appreciate not wanting to keep the negativity stuff going while directly addressing some of my concerns.
First, he addressed the crazy grass comment.
He sounds like a person who occasionally speaks from the cuff and he was just trying to be personable. It sometimes backfires when you do it in public with a person you don't know. I know it's happened to me too often which is why I'm often so terse in my responses. In short, this was a simple misunderstanding between us.
As for the blockquote thing, he had an interesting bit to say:
I can respect that. Most of us here are about efficiency and not polish.
The NDA thing: based on what he said, it's sounds like it's standard operating procedure for him. I can appreciate that.
He's CTO of one company.
I accused him of being suit. His reply:
Well, that sounds like a nerd to me. He listed a couple of other things, but I don't know how much he's said about his personal life in public and this list is pretty good on its own. Certainly more than I can do. Summarizing what he told me personally, he sounds talented in hardware, software, and business. It's a potent combination that I can't match. (Which is fine because I'm, well, I'm just a common Joe.)
Although he addressed my concerns (which I listed above in this reply), the main focus of his private reply to me were his goals. He reiterated that he's trying to cut through the communications mess and stand SoylentNews back up on its feet. I get the feeling his favorite place is not out front (which is partly where he is now), but propping the front people up. (It's definitely where I prefer to be.) The details he shared make it clear he has a hard road ahead of him.
So, I want to say think you to replic8tor in public for his personal response and I hope he accomplishes what he sets out to do.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:31AM
Shuting down wasn't exactly business as usual either. I took measures I felt to keep the place around. I want to return to business as usual here ASAP. And make sure this shit can't happen down the road.
It's really fucked but I'm making the best I can from the situation.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:18AM
I'd be happy to post the NDA. It's a CYA for the PBC giving an outside contractor access to a system containing data. I wont disclose the data which otherwise would be a liability for the PBC because of the NDA. Pretty simple.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:19AM
Free in perpetuity. No contract or anything needed. I will run the space out of my own pocket for SN's use and I will sign paperwork to that effect without any other involvement from myself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday June 14, @03:24AM (4 children)
This is not acceptable. From the beginning I got "the ick" from this Kolie character and everything I see here and on Dalek's journal is only confirming it.
Let me spell this out for all y'all: the profit motive is parameterized sociopathy. Kolie does not give the proverbial pair of fetid dingo's kidneys about the community, the userbase, or our purpose or mission. This is another opportunity to extract value from a vulnerable entity until it withers and dies, then toss the corpse in the meatgrinder and sell the slurry for pennies. "VC" (venture capital) is a red flag the size of the Chrysler Building.
It is better that SN should cease to exist than to exist on these terms, for the same reason it's better to die than be an undead zombie slave. As Janrinok said, this is Dice by the backdoor.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Thursday June 15, @03:10AM (2 children)
What I don't get is the contract which probably means money. I mean, yeah, I get it, we need a little to operate. But beyond that? Where is the kind of money to hire someone going to come from? (I mean, let's face it. They aren't going to be paid in vacation days.)
There are two things SoylentNews tangibly has: money and data. And quite frankly, we don't have a lot of either. Most of us don't even use our real names. (I know this will come as a shock to everyone, but my real first name isn't "Common".) And our data isn't really valuable to anyone except those who frequent the site. It's not even valuable to AI. (Although, if they did train an AI on the arguments between you and Runaway1956, the result would probably be something everyone could eat popcorn over.)
I didn't have the "ick" feeling right at the beginning. I wanted to give whatever this is a fair shake, but I do have it now.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Thursday June 15, @03:19AM
I just read Dalek's journal as suggested. That was really well written. And I 100% agree with it.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:16AM
Hi - you have news and community - and I want that to continue.
I don't need the money - I will foot the bills for SN to exist.
I don't think raising money for a programmer is necessary. I will volunteer my coding skills and I think there are others in the community that will do so to.
SN is fully self sufficient and unless something drastically changes it will continue to be. No need to change that.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:15AM
no money is involved.
Don't want profit.
SN will never be a vehicle for profit.
Read my response to this post for my motives.
(Score: 1) by replic8tor on Thursday June 15, @05:14AM
Hi full response here:
https://soylentnews.org/~replic8tor/journal/14848 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday June 15, @05:49PM (1 child)
kolie / kolie2 / relic8tor are all the same person?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday June 15, @06:11PM