[IMC-Tech] Fwd: URGEND need < mailinglists > need URGEND
Jay
jay at tao.ca
Tue, 23 Jan 2001 06:55:21 -0500
--=====================_21875838==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi IMC-Tech,
Just making sure you all got this -- I think they may have sent it to the wrong
address (see the cc). I've been communicating with a few of these German
indymediacs for a bit and they seem to be quite on the ball. Did you receive
their "official application" for Indymedia membership? It had a mission
statement, an editorial policy and everything. :) I'd recommend opening up a
couple mailing lists to them as a starter. I think they're going to be a great
group.
Jay
>X-Apparently-To: jaypsand@yahoo.com via web1611
>Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:43:44 +0100
>From: "IMC-de-mail" <imc@squat.net>
>To: Jay <jay@tao.ca>
>CC: tech@indymedia.org
>Subject: URGEND need < mailinglists > need URGEND
>X-Mailer: NeoMail 1.20pre4
>
>Hi Jay, Hi Arthur, Hi indymedia tech folks,
>thanks for your quick answer Jay.
>This weekend we had a our first germanwide meeting, with over 40
>activists from differend alternativ, non- comercial media prodjects and
>other grassroot organisations. The discussions were as exiting as
>difficuld and in a way successfull. Most we focused on essential indy-
>characters, our proposed editorial policy and the first “event“,we
>want to start with. It seems we are in a good process and it could turn
>out to be a very nice network. We plan to introduce oureself personally
>into the communication and process lists to parcitipate continually the
>international discussions, and we want to help to develop the indy
>software, since we have some good resorces here.
>!!!NOW!!! there is a verry importandd question:
>For a better communication and coordination for our working groups we
>NEED to have 6 mailing lists. We would love to get them at indymedia
>domain, like:
>1. germany@indymedia.org
>2. action-germany@indymedia.org
>3. tech-germany@indymedia.org
>4. video-germany@indimedia.org
>5. audio-germany@indymedia.org
>6. public-german@indymedia.org
>Is this posible???
>and how long will it take to get them running?
>We rearly need a very soon answer. If there are problems or if it takes
>too long time, we need to put our lists at nadir.org what we rearly do
>not want, because it will cause confusion!
>
>Sorry I realy don’t want to stress you!
>Hope to hear from you soooooon!
>
>Ciao
>daniel
>
>
>
>Jay wroad:
>> Hi Germany IMC,
>>
>> Thanks for the application! Did you send it to imc-
>tech@indymedia.org as
>> well? If not, let me know and I'll forward it, but I assume you
>did. You've
>> obviously put a lot of thought into all levels of this process, which
>is
>> great. Personally, I think your editorial policy is a good
>compromise between
>> moderated and open publishing. One of the reasons people are so
>excited about
>> Indymedia is because they can post an article, push "refresh" on
>their browser,
>> and it'll pop up at the top of the newswire. (Be sure to let them
>know,
>> through your "publish" form, the URL of the newswire where it will
>appear, and
>> that it won't show up immediately on the top of the newswire on the
>front page,
>> just in case they're publishing from the main page and the go back
>there
>> looking for their article.) One of the many processes around
>Indymedia that's
>> fuzzy right now is the process for allotting new IMC domains. I'm
>not sure
>> techincally if imc-tech does that, or if imc-process or some other
>list has to
>> okay it first. If you don't hear back from imc-tech let me know. I
>posted
>> your message to the process list and if there's no quick response
>I'll try to
>> get things rolling there.
>>
>> I hope you had a fun meeting this weekend,
>>
>> Jay
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >Hello everyone at indymedia,
>> >
>> >This is by way of an official application for IMC status for the
>> >German indymedia group. Since there's been lots of discussion on
>the
>> >communication list lately about new IMC's, we thought it made sense
>> >to copy this to you all (sorry, we know people are trying to keep
>the
>> >traffic down on the lists, but it seemed relevant and important).
>> >
>> >Our group has been meeting weekly in Berlin since November, and this
>> >weekend (Jan. 20-21) we're holding a big nationwide gathering in
>> >Hamburg. After that we'll start meeting regularly in various cities
>> >all over Germany. There is LOTS of interest in an IMC here, and we
>> >have representatives from a good percentage of the alternative media
>> >initiatives already around in Germany. We're pretty confident that
>> >an IMC-Germany will constitute a major co-ordination of these
>> >projects.
>> >
>> >For the time being, we plan to concentrate on big political
>campaigns
>> >and demos (sort of on the model of prague.indy, back when it started
>> >out). We're working towards a major effort in March, to cover the
>> >"Castortransporte" of atomic waste. This is one of the most
>> >important left-radical events in Germany, and we're psyched about
>it.
>> >We've begun to form technical, editorial and media-specific
>> >collectives and things are getting rolling.
>> >
>> >Because the clock is ticking on all this, we're hoping that we can
>> >get official status as soon as possible. We've been monitoring most
>> >of the central indy lists, and we know there's some concern right
>now
>> >about formulating criteria for new IMC's. We just want to plead
>with
>> >you not to delay too long on our case. We have a lot of momentum
>> >going now, and we don't want to lose it; and it's especially
>> >important that we have the site up and running RIGHT, before the
>> >Castor events in March.
>> >
>> >It's been great working with you so far, and we're itching to REALLY
>> >start making our own contributions.
>> >
>> > Below are two texts, a mission statement and an editorial policy,
>> >that sum up our discussions so far. The latter is particular
>> >relevant, since it discusses our position towards open posting,
>which
>> >we know has been somewhat controversial. After much discussion, and
>> >some helpful input from Jay, we've come to a compromise decision.
>> >We've also put some technical details (contacts, etc) way down at
>the
>> >bottom.
>> >
>> >Peace and love,
>> >
>> >Indy-germany
>> >
>> >-------------------------------------
>> >
>> >Mission Statement for IMC-germany
>> >
>> >IndyMedia Germany is a network of independent, alternative media
>> >activists and organizations, offering grassroots, non-corporate,
>> >non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.
>We
>> >work together with, and inspired by, activists here and worldwide,
>> >whose struggles for justice are systematically passed over and
>> >distorted by the corporate media.
>> >
>> >The massive consolidation of the corporate media since the end of
>the
>> >cold war has been met by a corresponding explosion of independent
>> >media outlets. Groups all over the world have created their own
>> >channels of information and distribution in order to bypass the
>> >mainstream media - underground journals, pirate radio and TV,
>> >independent film and video. When information is distributed through
>> >these unconventional channels, the effect goes beyond correcting
>> >corporate bias. At its best, independent media work erases the
>> >distinction between producer and consumer of information,
>effectively
>> >democratizing the media and instantiating in its own workings the
>> >more just society towards which we struggle.
>> >
>> >Digitalization provides an opportunity to co-ordinate this massive
>> >outpouring of information, regardless of medium. The internet
>offers
>> >many alternative news and info sites, from radical enterprises like
>> >a-infos or Nadir-org, to more establishment services like
>> >oneworld.net or newsforchange.org.
>> >
>> >IndyMedia exploded onto this scene in November 1999, during the
>> >Seattle WTO protests which sparked the latest round of actions
>> >against global capitalism. The IMC site provided a clearinghouse
>for
>> >up-to-the-minute coverage of events there, and also a forum for
>> >in-depth treatment of the issues at stake there. Since then IMC's
>> >have blossomed in dozens of cities in America and numerous other
>> >countries. Many of these sites arise in the context of specific
>> >demonstrations, and then outlive those demonstrations themselves -
>> >for example, www.praha.indymedia.org, massively successful during
>the
>> >anti-IMF/WB protests of October 2000, and still providing an
>> >alternative news outlet in the Czech Republic.
>> >
>> >IndyMedia Germany was inspired by our sister IMC's. We aim, not to
>> >replace a-infos or nadir.org, but , first, to help co-ordinate
>> >existing work by media activists, and second, to fill a gap in the
>> >landscape of German media activism. We are neither an events
>> >calendar nor an outlet for prepared statements by established
>groups.
>> >Instead, we work together with activists to provide massive,
>> >radically democratic multimedia coverage of demonstrations and
>> >political events, while simultaneously presenting a forum for
>> >engaged background reporting. Neither "objective" nor uncritical,
>> >our best moments offer impassioned attempts at truthtelling.
>> >
>> >
>> >-------------------------------------
>> >
>> >Editorial policy for a german-language IMC (germany.indymedia.org):
>> >
>> >Germany.indymedia.org is an independent, non-corporate network of
>> >media activists. Our goal is to bring information about political
>> >campaigns and movements to a wide public, through engaged, critical
>> >journalism conceived as a collaborative effort with political
>> >activists.
>> >
>> >Both the indymedia collective and the indymedia site are open to
>all,
>> >and like other indymedia sites, we place a high value on openness
>and
>> >freedom of expression. Nevertheless, the experience of other German
>> >sites has led us to conclude that some moderation will be necessary.
>> >We aim to make this moderation process as transparent and democratic
>> >as possible. To this end we have formulated the following policy.
>> >
>> >"Filtering" (Censorship) Guidelines and Open Posting
>> >
>> > Open posting (OP) - the system under which there are no
>> >restrictions on who may post a story to the site - is a crucial part
>> >of the indymedia conception. This is partly for ideological reasons
>> >- OP is radically democratic and helps break down the distinction
>> >between producer and consumer of information - and partly for the
>> >emotional connection OP builds between users and indymedia. We
>> >recognize and sincerely appreciate both of these arguments.
>> >Nonetheless, OP has the disadvantage of laying IMC open to abuse,
>> >especially by right-wing groups. The recent (Dec. 2000) experience
>> >of the Davos IMC, together with the long-term problems encountered
>at
>> >nadir.org, suggest that European, especially German-language, sites
>> >are more likely to be targeted this way than American sites.
>> >
>> >Weighing these concerns, the IMC-Germany collective has decided on a
>> >mixed policy. Under our plan, the "newswire" (right-hand column)
>> >will not operate under pure OP, but will instead be moderated. This
>> >means that (1) there will be a delay of indeterminate length before
>> >any story makes it onto the front-page newswire, and (2) certain
>> >stories will never make it there. Despite this, there will be an
>> >open-posting channel on the site, probably with a link from the
>front
>> >page. This channel will operate in realtime, like the classic
>> >www.indy newswire. Even this channel will be monitored, though, and
>> >postings that meet certain strict criteria will be removed after the
>> >fact (our impression is that this level of censorship occurs at all
>> >indymedia sites, e.g. to filter out pure corporate spam).
>> >
>> >We hope that this policy will make the site a less attractive target
>> >for right-wing groups (since it takes a certain amount of work to
>> >reach the OP channel), but also preserve - at least partly - the
>> >advantages of pure OP. Obviously the very immediate bond between
>the
>> >site and the person posting will be diluted somewhat, but we hope
>> >that we can make up for that by being very clear about our criteria
>> >for censorship. We have two of them:
>> >
>> >1. The political criterion. Unmitigated and irredeemable racist,
>> >sexist, or fascist sentiments have no place on our site, and will be
>> >removed as fast as possible. Let's be very clear about this. We're
>> >not just talking about political opinions we don't agree with. We
>> >want to create a very broad, open space for discussion and debate,
>> >and we are open to a wide range of political opinion. But debating
>> >with fascists only gives them a kind of legitimacy by proxy, and we
>> >are unwilling to provide them with that kind of forum. We define
>> >political unacceptability as narrowly as we can, but certain areas
>> >are, and must be, off-limits for IMC-Germany.
>> >
>> >2. The bullshit criterion. Postings with no political or news
>> >content at all will also be removed. For an internet site,
>> >spam-generators are almost as dangerous as the right wing! It's
>> >important that our primary function as an independent news outlet be
>> >preserved, and we can't let ourselves be swamped by pure smog.
>> >
>> >Moderation Collective
>> >
>> >Those criteria sound good, but there's always a danger that
>> >moderators can abuse their privilege. We think it's important that
>> >moderation be done by collective, on a rotating basis, and that the
>> >membership of the moderation collective be drawn at frequent
>> >intervals from the whole indymedia collective.
>> >
>> >The moderation collective is in principle independent from the
>> >editorial collective that manages the center column, though there's
>> >no reason they can't overlap.
>> >
>> >-------------------------------------
>> >
>> >Technical Details (Mostly repeats stuff from the "New IMC" form)
>> >
>> >
>> >Contact: Matt Price/ Daniel Dietrich
>> > IMC
>> > c/o Meringhof
>> > Gneisenaustr. 2a
>> > 10961 Berlin
>> > Cell Phone: 0049-(0)179-3111212
>> > Email: imc-moderation@gmx.net
>> >
>> >Technical Contact: Anna and Arthur
>> > IMC
>> > c/o M99
>> > Manteuffelstr. 99
>> > 10997 Berlin
>> > Cell Phone: 0049-(0)179-3111214
>> > Email: imc-technix@gmx.net
>> >
>> >Supporting Groups:
>> > nadir.org
>> > AK-Kraak
>> > lotec.squat.net
>> > squat.net
>> >
>> >Proposed name: germany.indymedia.org
>> >
>> >General Comments: We plan to run things a little bit differently
>from
>> >most IMC's, we hope that's ok.
>> >
>> >We have our own software - developed and maintained
>> >by nadir.org, runs on java. The technical team thinks the softwar
>has
>> >certain advantages over active (mostly having to do with saving
>server-
>> >power -> no scripts running on main server).
>> >So we were planning to have the "production server"
>> >over here in Europe. "look and feel" would be ported over to our
>> >software, but the engine is different.
>> >
>> >Our main problem is bandwidth - we don't have much, it's expensive
>> >here, and as yet we don't have any funds - so we were hoping to use
>> >some indy server space for a "publication server", to which the
>static
>> >html pages produced on our server would be copied.
>> >
>> >So the dynamic side is on our server, the static is on yours,
>> >and gets updated whenever there's a change.
>> >
>> >Resources to Contribute: For now, translation; when we get clear on
>> >fundraising, hopefully some cash.
>> >
>> >Looking forward to hear from you.
>> >
>> >Love and peace
>> >some german indymedi@s
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>--
--=====================_21875838==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
<html>
<font size=3>Hi IMC-Tech,<br>
<br>
Just making sure you all got this -- I think they may have sent it to the
wrong address (see the cc). I've been communicating with a few of
these German indymediacs for a bit and they seem to be quite on the
ball. Did you receive their "official application" for
Indymedia membership? It had a mission statement, an editorial
policy and everything. :) I'd recommend opening up a couple mailing
lists to them as a starter. I think they're going to be a great
group.<br>
<br>
Jay<br>
<br>
>X-Apparently-To: jaypsand@yahoo.com via web1611<br>
>Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:43:44 +0100<br>
>From: "IMC-de-mail" <imc@squat.net><br>
>To: Jay <jay@tao.ca><br>
>CC: tech@indymedia.org<br>
>Subject: URGEND need < mailinglists > need URGEND<br>
>X-Mailer: NeoMail 1.20pre4<br>
><br>
>Hi Jay, Hi Arthur, Hi indymedia tech folks,<br>
>thanks for your quick answer Jay.<br>
>This weekend we had a our first germanwide meeting, with over
40 <br>
>activists from differend alternativ, non- comercial media prodjects
and <br>
>other grassroot organisations. The discussions were as exiting as
<br>
>difficuld and in a way successfull. Most we focused on essential
indy- <br>
>characters, our proposed editorial policy and the first
“event“,we <br>
>want to start with. It seems we are in a good process and it could
turn <br>
>out to be a very nice network. We plan to introduce oureself
personally <br>
>into the communication and process lists to parcitipate continually
the <br>
>international discussions, and we want to help to develop the indy
<br>
>software, since we have some good resorces here.<br>
>!!!NOW!!! there is a verry importandd question:<br>
>For a better communication and coordination for our working groups
we<br>
>NEED to have 6 mailing lists. We would love to get them at
indymedia <br>
>domain, like:<br>
>1. germany@indymedia.org<br>
>2. action-germany@indymedia.org<br>
>3. tech-germany@indymedia.org<br>
>4. video-germany@indimedia.org<br>
>5. audio-germany@indymedia.org<br>
>6. public-german@indymedia.org<br>
>Is this posible??? <br>
>and how long will it take to get them running?<br>
>We rearly need a very soon answer. If there are problems or if it
takes <br>
>too long time, we need to put our lists at nadir.org what we rearly
do <br>
>not want, because it will cause confusion!<br>
><br>
>Sorry I realy don’t want to stress you!<br>
>Hope to hear from you soooooon!<br>
><br>
>Ciao<br>
>daniel<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
>Jay wroad:<br>
>> Hi Germany IMC,<br>
>> <br>
>> Thanks for the application! Did you send it to imc-<br>
>tech@indymedia.org as<br>
>> well? If not, let me know and I'll forward it, but I
assume you <br>
>did. You've<br>
>> obviously put a lot of thought into all levels of this process,
which <br>
>is<br>
>> great. Personally, I think your editorial policy is a good
<br>
>compromise between<br>
>> moderated and open publishing. One of the reasons people
are so <br>
>excited about<br>
>> Indymedia is because they can post an article, push
"refresh" on <br>
>their browser,<br>
>> and it'll pop up at the top of the newswire. (Be sure to
let them <br>
>know,<br>
>> through your "publish" form, the URL of the newswire
where it will <br>
>appear, and<br>
>> that it won't show up immediately on the top of the newswire on
the <br>
>front page,<br>
>> just in case they're publishing from the main page and the go
back <br>
>there<br>
>> looking for their article.) One of the many processes
around <br>
>Indymedia that's<br>
>> fuzzy right now is the process for allotting new IMC
domains. I'm <br>
>not sure<br>
>> techincally if imc-tech does that, or if imc-process or some
other <br>
>list has to<br>
>> okay it first. If you don't hear back from imc-tech let me
know. I <br>
>posted<br>
>> your message to the process list and if there's no quick
response <br>
>I'll try to<br>
>> get things rolling there. <br>
>> <br>
>> I hope you had a fun meeting this weekend,<br>
>> <br>
>> Jay<br>
>> <br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> >Hello everyone at indymedia,<br>
>> ><br>
>> >This is by way of an official application for IMC status for
the <br>
>> >German indymedia group. Since there's been lots of
discussion on <br>
>the <br>
>> >communication list lately about new IMC's, we thought it
made sense <br>
>> >to copy this to you all (sorry, we know people are trying to
keep <br>
>the <br>
>> >traffic down on the lists, but it seemed relevant and
important).<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Our group has been meeting weekly in Berlin since November,
and this <br>
>> >weekend (Jan. 20-21) we're holding a big nationwide
gathering in <br>
>> >Hamburg. After that we'll start meeting regularly in
various cities <br>
>> >all over Germany. There is LOTS of interest in an IMC
here, and we <br>
>> >have representatives from a good percentage of the
alternative media <br>
>> >initiatives already around in Germany. We're pretty
confident that <br>
>> >an IMC-Germany will constitute a major co-ordination of
these <br>
>> >projects.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >For the time being, we plan to concentrate on big political
<br>
>campaigns <br>
>> >and demos (sort of on the model of prague.indy, back when it
started <br>
>> >out). We're working towards a major effort in March,
to cover the <br>
>> >"Castortransporte" of atomic waste. This is
one of the most <br>
>> >important left-radical events in Germany, and we're psyched
about <br>
>it. <br>
>> >We've begun to form technical, editorial and media-specific
<br>
>> >collectives and things are getting rolling.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Because the clock is ticking on all this, we're hoping that
we can <br>
>> >get official status as soon as possible. We've been
monitoring most <br>
>> >of the central indy lists, and we know there's some concern
right <br>
>now <br>
>> >about formulating criteria for new IMC's. We just want
to plead <br>
>with <br>
>> >you not to delay too long on our case. We have a lot
of momentum <br>
>> >going now, and we don't want to lose it; and it's especially
<br>
>> >important that we have the site up and running RIGHT, before
the <br>
>> >Castor events in March.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >It's been great working with you so far, and we're itching
to REALLY <br>
>> >start making our own contributions.<br>
>> ><br>
>> > Below are two texts, a mission statement and an
editorial policy, <br>
>> >that sum up our discussions so far. The latter is
particular <br>
>> >relevant, since it discusses our position towards open
posting, <br>
>which <br>
>> >we know has been somewhat controversial. After much
discussion, and <br>
>> >some helpful input from Jay, we've come to a compromise
decision. <br>
>> >We've also put some technical details (contacts, etc) way
down at <br>
>the <br>
>> >bottom.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Peace and love,<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Indy-germany<br>
>> ><br>
>> >-------------------------------------<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Mission Statement for IMC-germany<br>
>> ><br>
>> >IndyMedia Germany is a network of independent, alternative
media <br>
>> >activists and organizations, offering grassroots,
non-corporate, <br>
>> >non-commercial coverage of important social and political
issues. <br>
>We <br>
>> >work together with, and inspired by, activists here and
worldwide, <br>
>> >whose struggles for justice are systematically passed over
and <br>
>> >distorted by the corporate media.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >The massive consolidation of the corporate media since the
end of <br>
>the <br>
>> >cold war has been met by a corresponding explosion of
independent <br>
>> >media outlets. Groups all over the world have created
their own <br>
>> >channels of information and distribution in order to bypass
the <br>
>> >mainstream media - underground journals, pirate radio and
TV, <br>
>> >independent film and video. When information is
distributed through <br>
>> >these unconventional channels, the effect goes beyond
correcting <br>
>> >corporate bias. At its best, independent media work
erases the <br>
>> >distinction between producer and consumer of information,
<br>
>effectively <br>
>> >democratizing the media and instantiating in its own
workings the <br>
>> >more just society towards which we struggle.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Digitalization provides an opportunity to co-ordinate this
massive <br>
>> >outpouring of information, regardless of medium. The
internet <br>
>offers <br>
>> >many alternative news and info sites, from radical
enterprises like <br>
>> >a-infos or Nadir-org, to more establishment services like
<br>
>> >oneworld.net or newsforchange.org.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >IndyMedia exploded onto this scene in November 1999, during
the <br>
>> >Seattle WTO protests which sparked the latest round of
actions <br>
>> >against global capitalism. The IMC site provided a
clearinghouse <br>
>for <br>
>> >up-to-the-minute coverage of events there, and also a forum
for <br>
>> >in-depth treatment of the issues at stake there. Since
then IMC's <br>
>> >have blossomed in dozens of cities in America and numerous
other <br>
>> >countries. Many of these sites arise in the context of
specific <br>
>> >demonstrations, and then outlive those demonstrations
themselves - <br>
>> >for example,
<a href="http://www.praha.indymedia.org/" eudora="autourl">www.praha.indymedia.org</a>,
massively successful during <br>
>the <br>
>> >anti-IMF/WB protests of October 2000, and still providing an
<br>
>> >alternative news outlet in the Czech Republic.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >IndyMedia Germany was inspired by our sister IMC's. We
aim, not to <br>
>> >replace a-infos or nadir.org, but , first, to help
co-ordinate <br>
>> >existing work by media activists, and second, to fill a gap
in the <br>
>> >landscape of German media activism. We are neither an
events <br>
>> >calendar nor an outlet for prepared statements by
established <br>
>groups. <br>
>> >Instead, we work together with activists to provide massive,
<br>
>> >radically democratic multimedia coverage of demonstrations
and <br>
>> >political events, while simultaneously presenting a
forum for <br>
>> >engaged background reporting. Neither
"objective" nor uncritical, <br>
>> >our best moments offer impassioned attempts at
truthtelling.<br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> >-------------------------------------<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Editorial policy for a german-language IMC
(germany.indymedia.org):<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Germany.indymedia.org is an independent, non-corporate
network of <br>
>> >media activists. Our goal is to bring information
about political <br>
>> >campaigns and movements to a wide public, through engaged,
critical <br>
>> >journalism conceived as a collaborative effort with
political <br>
>> >activists.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Both the indymedia collective and the indymedia site are
open to <br>
>all, <br>
>> >and like other indymedia sites, we place a high value on
openness <br>
>and <br>
>> >freedom of expression. Nevertheless, the experience of
other German <br>
>> >sites has led us to conclude that some moderation will be
necessary. <br>
>> >We aim to make this moderation process as transparent and
democratic <br>
>> >as possible. To this end we have formulated the
following policy.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >"Filtering" (Censorship) Guidelines and Open
Posting<br>
>> ><br>
>> > Open posting (OP) - the system under which
there are no <br>
>> >restrictions on who may post a story to the site - is a
crucial part <br>
>> >of the indymedia conception. This is partly for
ideological reasons <br>
>> >- OP is radically democratic and helps break down the
distinction <br>
>> >between producer and consumer of information - and partly
for the <br>
>> >emotional connection OP builds between users and
indymedia. We <br>
>> >recognize and sincerely appreciate both of these arguments.
<br>
>> >Nonetheless, OP has the disadvantage of laying IMC open to
abuse, <br>
>> >especially by right-wing groups. The recent (Dec.
2000) experience <br>
>> >of the Davos IMC, together with the long-term problems
encountered <br>
>at <br>
>> >nadir.org, suggest that European, especially
German-language, sites <br>
>> >are more likely to be targeted this way than American
sites.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Weighing these concerns, the IMC-Germany collective has
decided on a <br>
>> >mixed policy. Under our plan, the "newswire"
(right-hand column) <br>
>> >will not operate under pure OP, but will instead be
moderated. This <br>
>> >means that (1) there will be a delay of indeterminate length
before <br>
>> >any story makes it onto the front-page newswire, and (2)
certain <br>
>> >stories will never make it there. Despite this, there
will be an <br>
>> >open-posting channel on the site, probably with a link from
the <br>
>front <br>
>> >page. This channel will operate in realtime, like the
classic <br>
>> ><a href="http://www.indy/" eudora="autourl">www.indy</a>
newswire. Even this channel will be monitored, though, and <br>
>> >postings that meet certain strict criteria will be removed
after the <br>
>> >fact (our impression is that this level of censorship occurs
at all <br>
>> >indymedia sites, e.g. to filter out pure corporate
spam).<br>
>> ><br>
>> >We hope that this policy will make the site a less
attractive target <br>
>> >for right-wing groups (since it takes a certain amount of
work to <br>
>> >reach the OP channel), but also preserve - at least partly -
the <br>
>> >advantages of pure OP. Obviously the very immediate
bond between <br>
>the <br>
>> >site and the person posting will be diluted somewhat, but we
hope <br>
>> >that we can make up for that by being very clear about our
criteria <br>
>> >for censorship. We have two of them:<br>
>> ><br>
>> >1. The political criterion. Unmitigated and
irredeemable racist, <br>
>> >sexist, or fascist sentiments have no place on our site, and
will be <br>
>> >removed as fast as possible. Let's be very clear about
this. We're <br>
>> >not just talking about political opinions we don't agree
with. We <br>
>> >want to create a very broad, open space for discussion and
debate, <br>
>> >and we are open to a wide range of political opinion.
But debating <br>
>> >with fascists only gives them a kind of legitimacy by proxy,
and we <br>
>> >are unwilling to provide them with that kind of forum.
We define <br>
>> >political unacceptability as narrowly as we can, but certain
areas <br>
>> >are, and must be, off-limits for IMC-Germany.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >2. The bullshit criterion. Postings with no
political or news <br>
>> >content at all will also be removed. For an internet
site, <br>
>> >spam-generators are almost as dangerous as the right
wing! It's <br>
>> >important that our primary function as an independent news
outlet be <br>
>> >preserved, and we can't let ourselves be swamped by pure
smog.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Moderation Collective<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Those criteria sound good, but there's always a danger that
<br>
>> >moderators can abuse their privilege. We think it's
important that <br>
>> >moderation be done by collective, on a rotating basis, and
that the <br>
>> >membership of the moderation collective be drawn at frequent
<br>
>> >intervals from the whole indymedia collective.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >The moderation collective is in principle independent from
the <br>
>> >editorial collective that manages the center column, though
there's <br>
>> >no reason they can't overlap.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >-------------------------------------<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Technical Details (Mostly repeats stuff from the "New
IMC" form)<br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> >Contact: Matt Price/ Daniel Dietrich<br>
>> > IMC<br>
>> > c/o Meringhof<br>
>> > Gneisenaustr. 2a<br>
>> > 10961 Berlin<br>
>> > Cell Phone: 0049-(0)179-3111212<br>
>> > Email: imc-moderation@gmx.net<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Technical Contact: Anna and Arthur<br>
>> > IMC<br>
>> > c/o M99<br>
>> > Manteuffelstr. 99<br>
>> > 10997 Berlin<br>
>> > Cell Phone: 0049-(0)179-3111214<br>
>> > Email: imc-technix@gmx.net<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Supporting Groups:<br>
>> > nadir.org<br>
>> > AK-Kraak<br>
>> > lotec.squat.net<br>
>> > squat.net<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Proposed name: germany.indymedia.org<br>
>> ><br>
>> >General Comments: We plan to run things a little bit
differently <br>
>from <br>
>> >most IMC's, we hope that's ok. <br>
>> ><br>
>> >We have our own software - developed and maintained<br>
>> >by nadir.org, runs on java. The technical team thinks
the softwar <br>
>has <br>
>> >certain advantages over active (mostly having to do with
saving <br>
>server-<br>
>> >power -> no scripts running on main server). <br>
>> >So we were planning to have the "production
server"<br>
>> >over here in Europe. "look and feel" would
be ported over to our <br>
>> >software, but the engine is different.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Our main problem is bandwidth - we don't have much, it's
expensive <br>
>> >here, and as yet we don't have any funds - so we were hoping
to use <br>
>> >some indy server space for a "publication server",
to which the <br>
>static <br>
>> >html pages produced on our server would be copied.
<br>
>> ><br>
>> >So the dynamic side is on our server, the static is on
yours,<br>
>> >and gets updated whenever there's a change. <br>
>> ><br>
>> >Resources to Contribute: For now, translation; when we
get clear on <br>
>> >fundraising, hopefully some cash.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Looking forward to hear from you.<br>
>> ><br>
>> >Love and peace<br>
>> >some german indymedi@s <br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> <br>
>> <br>
><br>
>-- <br>
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