[hpsdr] Why?

Thu May 14 04:34:24 PDT 2009

There's quite a lot of problems with that proposal I fear.  Who are 
"core" members for a start - easy to say for some, but others' status 
may be arguable.   I don't think there should ever be need for 
pro-active moderation. Wait till someone offends a large proportion of 
the list either by the quality or quantity of their contributions, then 
let whoever controls the list moderate by popular request, and, even 
better, put the rejected emails on a website somewhere (perhaps omitting 
libellous or profane parts as necessary).  Perhaps if the present 
quarrel had been more in the open, voices of moderation might have 
prevailed upon both parties to be reasonable.

Roger GW8BFO

In message <4A0BD08C.8090006 at alcor.co.uk>, Chris Down 
<Chris.Down at alcor.co.uk> writes
>***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>Bill,
>Thanks for answering my questions.
>
>Up until now the informal organisation has worked well. I am not 
>suggesting formalising it or putting rules in place. Perhaps just an 
>informal set of guidelines that would inform members how things work. 
>This could just evolve through the wiki once it gets started.
>
>As a starting point guidlines could be added for a procedure to define 
>what should happen if it is necessary for a list members emails to be 
>moderated.
>
>For example:
>The decision would require agreement between at least 2 (or more if 
>people felt this appropriate) core members.
>An email would be sent directly to the list member explaining why 
>he/she was being moderated.
>Defining a time period as to when this would be reviewed.
>Ensuring that all moderated mail is released, if appropriate, within x 
>hours. If it is not appropriate then email the list member to explain 
>why.
>
>
>I don't see this being used very often and it will involve extra work. 
>However if people are aware that it is not just one person decision 
>then they may feel more comfortable.
>
>Regards
>
>Chris G8MXW
>
>On 14/05/2009 05:45, Bill Tracey wrote:
>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>>
>> Answers to some queries in line.
>>
>> Bill (kd5tfd)
>>
>> At 03:34 AM 5/13/2009, Chris Down wrote:
>>> <...snip...>
>>> I have been passively following this project for a while and
>>> contemplating getting involved in the project, however after recent
>>> events I have some concerns.
>>
>> We're always happy to have folks that want to get involved and are
>> looking to make a contribution.
>>
>>
>>> Who makes the decisions on the direction of the project?
>>
>> Mostly those that do the work. There is no central HPSDR
>> planning/approval board - what gets designed and built is very much a
>> function of who is willing to invest time in getting a project done.
>> Many folks have proposed projects, some have managed to get them
>> designed and built or managed to assemble a team to do such.
>>
>> As to what TAPR offers and supports that's a decision TAPR makes. If a
>> project wishes to approach TAPR to get funding on alpha boards or to do
>> a production run then I believe they propose it to the TAPR board. If
>> someone wants to produce a project with someone other than TAPR I don't
>> think there's an issue with that either. Along as the licenses and
>> copyrights of the folks contributing to a project are followed I don't
>> think anyone really cares how something is produced.
>>
>>
>>> Do any of these people have any commercial interests that could
>>> influence the direction of the project? If so this should be stated
>>> publicly on the web site.
>>
>> Of the current and past contributors I know of only one that has
>> commercial interests in the amateur SDR market. I believe another
>> contributor works for/with a non SDR amateur radio manufacturer. I don't
>> believe anyone has ever hid their involvement in a commercial amateur
>> radio enterprise.
>>
>>
>>> Who owns and controls the domain name openhpsdr.org? Unfortuantely the
>>> owner as opted to protect the details by using a private registration
>>> proxy.
>>
>> At the moment I believe it is TAPR.
>>
>>
>>> What safeguards are in place to prevent a similar situation occurring
>>> in future?
>>
>> At the moment, none other then the good sense of whoever has the login
>> credentials for the DNS hosting account for the domain.
>>
>>
>>> How many people have administration rights to the wiki and website and
>>> who are these people?
>>
>> I believe Dave, KV0S admins the Wiki (and the website perhaps). A number
>> of people have editing capabilities on it. There are believe 2 people
>> that watch the mailing list, I don't recall their calls @ the moment.
>> Don AE5K provides web hosting and admins that although we'll have to
>> change that in the next few weeks since Don no longer wishes to provide
>> that service.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Do you intend to allow registered members to edit wiki pages?
>>
>> I would hope so. After the current bruhaha dies down perhaps we can
>> figure out how to do that in a fashion people are comfortable with.
>>
>>
>>> Perhaps the answers to the above should be documented as an overview
>>> of the project administration structure on a wiki page.
>>
>> If someone want to write it all down that would be fine. Perhaps we
>> organize as some sort of non profit entity and have bylaws and officers.
>> to prevent this from happening again. I hope it does not come to this --
>> this has always been a very informal organization with no formal rules,
>> no officers etc. I'd like to hope we can find someway to get comfortable
>> about not getting DNSjacked again without having to become a formal
>> organization.
>>
>>> <...snip...>
>>>
>>> Sorry to ask so many questions and I know we would all rather be
>>> dealing with technical issues. However I feel it is important to
>>> understand why this situation occurred and what we as a community can
>>> do to prevent it happening again and also prevent a split in the
>>> community.
>>
>> Hope I've answered some of your questions.
>
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-- 
Roger Hayter

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