Initial temperature check for #Socialcoop members:

What would you think of enabling members to have [user].social.coop as their handles for Bluesky?

This would require no data storage or throughput from us, just a DNS record: https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial

• Love it, I would use it (16%, 2 votes)
• Fine, I guess (58%, 7 votes)
• I have reservations (reply below) (8%, 1 vote)
• Definitely not (16%, 2 votes)

#SocialCoop members, please be sure to vote in our first participatory budgeting process for our collective contributions to allied projects: https://www.loomio.com/p/IfnNLueo/please-allocate-funds-for-community-contributions-allocation-poll-from-fwg-

@SocialCoop could you post this as an announcement?

As @CaitlinWaddick writes here: https://www.loomio.com/d/16wSnmrt/fwg-organizing-circle-/15

We in the #SocialCoop Finance Working Group feel strongly that it is time to build out a serious Legal Working Group. This has been an ongoing discussion, but we need support on:

- Incorporation
- International membership
- Liability protections
- Emerging regs on social media

And this doesn't fall under the banner of any existing working group.

#SocialCoop I just made a simple change to the instance to make Mastodon multi-column mode "make sense" in https://social.coop, meaning use up all space instead of having weirdly narrow columns.

See before/after if interested, let me know if you have any issues! You can try it by enabling multi-column mode in your preferences.

h/t testman42@github.com for the workaround: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/8632#issuecomment-850335649

I've just created a script to auto-post #SocialCoop Loomio events to Mastodon. Is this something we want to add to @SocialCoop?

https://git.coop/social.coop/socialcoop-govfeed
https://git.coop/social.coop/tech/operations/-/issues/81

cc: @flancian @edsu @todrobbins

social.coop / socialcoop-govfeed · GitLab

Git hosting for Co-operators

^GitLab

YAY! Another CWG Ops Team Meeting! And this time with so many new, lovely faces (and voices!)

Here are the minutes: https://www.loomio.com/d/yh0aFRbU/community-working-group-ops-team-minutes/54

note: they are only available to those who are members of social.coop loomio members so if you can't see 'em it's because you haven't joined our governance platform!

They are long but JUICY. Read to the end for the latest goss on the spam wave ;)

Looking forward to collaborating with MORE lovely people moving forward!

#socialcoop

@Matt_Noyes I would love to support all those and have tried several times to initiate proposals in #Socialcoop to support cooperative tech.

Bluesky is gaining a lot of traction, and I think it is worth experimenting with how far we can take co-op control in that protocol. If nothing else to understand whether the federation they propose involves real control.

Hey #Socialcoop friends, a question: what would you think of us piloting a Personal Data Server for Bluesky under the co-op? No commitment, just an experiment.

Docs: https://atproto.com/guides/overview

Discussion with @robin @boris: https://bsky.app/profile/ntnsndr.in/post/3kl3hwzd5we2x

Protocol Overview | AT Protocol

An introduction to the AT Protocol.

^atproto.com

• Love it, propose it in Loomio! (46%, 7 votes)
• Meh I'm putting my concerns in the comments (53%, 8 votes)

Tagging @aeisenberg @rndeon @roland @evan who wanted to participate, please boost the above post and vote for meeting times.

@Matt_Noyes @ntnsndr please spread the word to #SocialCoop folks who would like to participate by boosting the post above this - everyone welcome!

#SocialCoop inline poll: should SocialCoop be one of the signatories of the [[Fedipact]] effort to *preemptively defederate* with Threads.net?

https://www.loomio.com/d/AZcJK6y2 is an ongoing Loomio discussion about this but I wanted to see some in-instance discussion ideally.

Discussion: Support the Anti-Meta Fedi Pact

For some time, there have been rumors that Meta (Facebook) has plans to impose itself on the Fediverse.

^Loomio

• yes (say why) (44%, 4 votes)
• no (say why) (55%, 5 votes)
• maybe (0%, 0 votes)

and while I saw lots of little pieces of the decision happen, I don't know the overall story arc.

I don't even know what the decision was, where it's recorded, nor the governance structure through which it emerged.

The analog of the "I'm just a bill..." song but not for U.S. legislation but for #socialcoop decisions.

I'm struggling to get into (i.e. understand ) #socialcoop governance. Not that I have tried very hard... I haven't seen an opportunity where it's clearly useful for me to dig in.

I could really use more stories.

Is there a good presentation (video recording) of the organization as a whole?

Is the origin story written down? The story of why the org was created and why it's growing.

#Socialcoop Loomio / recent discussions:

Explicit rules should be added to server "Rules": https://www.loomio.com/d/NVQsFHkU/explicit-rules-should-be-added-to-server-rules
Changes to the fiscal hosting arrangements for social.coop: https://www.loomio.com/d/bHO9Nizd/changes-to-the-fiscal-hosting-arrangements-for-social-coop
On-boarding Q&A for New Members!: https://www.loomio.com/d/weg1CJB5/on-boarding-q-a-for-new-members

More: https://loomio.org/socialcoop

Explicit rules should be added to server "Rules"

Right now, Social.coop only has two "Rules" in the admin settings:
As a cooperative, social.coop is based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity.
See the Social.

^Loomio

Reminder to #Socialcoop members from the Finance Working Group:

Today’s balance
£18,630.05 GBP

Total raised
£40,696.13 GBP

Total disbursed
£22,066.08 GBP

https://opencollective.com/socialcoop#category-BUDGET

That is:

- We have spent just over half of our total revenue, ever
- We are not nearly spending what we're contributing

Editorial part (from me):

- We should be more intentional about budgeting for and investing in our community and the broader fediverse ecosystem

social.coop - Open Collective

social.coop: a coop-run corner of the fediverse with a co-operative and transparent approach to operating a social platform

^{opencollective.com}

#SocialCoop members, please check out this important discussion about the future of our fiscal host relationship: https://www.loomio.com/d/bHO9Nizd/changes-to-the-fiscal-hosting-arrangements-for-social-coop

This is about the legal underpinning of our co-op, and I believe it is good news.

Changes to the fiscal hosting arrangements for social.coop

Providing this information by way of background/context, and to raise awareness, and stimulate discussion, with a view to one or two proposals:For the last couple of years or so social.coop has worked with Platform 6 Development Cooperative.

^Loomio

#SocialCoop members:

Loomio now allows custom poll templates: https://help.loomio.com/en/user_manual/polls/poll_templates/index.html

I've just created a poll template based on our bylaws here (click Poll and choose "Social.coop bylaws-compatible proposal"): https://www.loomio.com/p/new?group_id=56943

Not sure why custom templates only work for polls, not proposals, or if that matters. But I reached out to Loomio about this.

Thanks! Glad you're doing this, and please let me know if I can support you in participating in #SocialCoop governance.

What do you think is the best next step? Reformulate the proposal to address the concerns raised here?

#Socialcoop members, if you haven't yet, please participate in this important vote about defederating Meta's fediverse app preemptively: https://www.loomio.com/d/AZcJK6y2/proposal-to-support-the-anti-meta-fedi-pact/1

I voted no, but I'm glad to see healthy discussion on all sides. However we make this decision, it matters that it is *ours*.

CORRECTION: This is not a formal vote; it is an initial poll for a discussion that will continue to develop.

Proposal to support the Anti-Meta Fedi Pact

For some time, there have been rumors that Meta (Facebook) has plans to impose itself on the Fediverse.

^Loomio

MANY WORLDS, OR THE SIMULACRA https://radixmedia.org/product/many-worlds-or-the-simulacra/

New book of collective sci-fi, co-edited by #Socialcoop's own @cadwellsocialcoop!

MANY WORLDS, Or The Simulacra — Radix Media

Ten authors. Fourteen stories. An infinite multiverse. MANY WORLDS, OR THE SIMULACRA is a cooperative sci-fi anthology coming in June 2023.

^{Radix Media — Printing & Publishing}

#PSA for #Socialcoop: our wiki (https://wiki.social.coop) will be occasionally unavailable through this weekend as we move to our new Mediawiki instance, available for your preview at wiki-alpha.social.coop.

The content of the site available up to now at wiki.social.coop, including our registration form, remains available at https://join.social.coop.

My co-op people, DO NOT MISS this upcoming event on Thursday featuring the important new book on worker co-ops, "Cooperatives at Work": https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cooperatives-at-work-book-launch-tickets-619402177587

Featuring great #Socialcoop luminaries @Matt_Noyes @emi @GeorgeCheney!

"Cooperatives at Work" (book launch)

Cooperatives at Work presents a range of success stories in employee ownership and worker owned-and-governed cooperatives.

^Eventbrite