SoylentNews - User contributions [en]

Finances

2016-07-03T15:02:37Z

Mrcoolbp:

Though all the day-to-day operations are completely handled by our volunteer staff in an ad-hoc nature, our official business entity [[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]] technically makes financial decisions through the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] with their goal being the preservation of the 'public benefit' that this site entails.

Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each:

* [[Finances1|Q1/Q2 2015]]
* [[Finances2|Q3/Q4 2015]]
* [[Finances3|Q1/Q2 2016]]
* [[Finances4|Q3/Q4 2016]]

Discussion of future spending outside the realm of hosting/domains/taxes can be found on the [[ProposedSpending|Proposed Spending]] page.

Finances4

2016-07-03T15:02:03Z

Mrcoolbp:

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Funding goal: $3,000 (June-Decmber 2016). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,620 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$700 Tax preparations*
*$420 State Taxes*
*$230 Administrative/buffer*
*$33 domains*
All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a small percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

<nowiki>* (estimate of HALF the cost for the entire year to "spread" it throughout the FY)</nowiki>

Finances4

2016-07-03T15:01:47Z

Mrcoolbp: Created page with "<- Finances (parent) Funding goal: $3,000 (January-June 2016). Here's a breakdown: *$1,620 for server hosting/backups for 6 months *$700 Tax preparations* *$420 State Tax..."

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Funding goal: $3,000 (January-June 2016). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,620 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$700 Tax preparations*
*$420 State Taxes*
*$230 Administrative/buffer*
*$33 domains*
All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a small percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

<nowiki>* (estimate of HALF the cost for the entire year to "spread" it throughout the FY)</nowiki>

User talk:Ghemon

2016-06-23T22:43:15Z

Mrcoolbp: Welcome!

'''Welcome to ''SoylentNews''!'''
We hope you will contribute much and well.
You will probably want to read the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Contents help pages].
Again, welcome and have fun! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 22:43, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

User:Ghemon

2016-06-23T22:43:15Z

Mrcoolbp: Creating user page for new user.

User talk:Shanen

2016-06-23T22:42:25Z

Mrcoolbp: Welcome!

User:Shanen

2016-06-23T22:42:25Z

Mrcoolbp: Creating user page for new user.

Historic:Banner Ads

2016-01-11T16:58:13Z

Mrcoolbp: added note that links no longer work

Thread archived from [http://forums.soylentnews.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=92 forums]:
<hr>
'''mattie_p''': I want to solicit some banner ads that we can have members host on their own websites or in a forum signature. Do you think you haev what it takes to produce some?

I figure we'll want a couple of basic ones and a (very) limited number of slideshow .gifs to help get the word out. Thanks in advance for your contributions!
<hr>
'''FrogBlast''': Here's a link to what are apparently standard ad sizes: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Standard_web_banner_ad_sizes.svg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _sizes.svg]

I'll kick things off with my first contribution:

I've got some more serious, boring layouts in mind, and of course, I'll try to make people vote on them. Post below, or send to [mailto:FrogBlastTheVentCore@outlook.com FrogBlastTheVentCore@outlook.com]

Here's a ZIP of the Illustrator files for the wrapper logo, and an SVG version, in case you need them: 
http://personalpreferences.info/ads/snlogo.zip 
http://personalpreferences.info/ads/snlogo.svg '''note: I believe these links no longer work, however I have all the files if anyone needs [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]])

If you're planning an animated banner, the layers in the Illustrator version will probably come in handy. I'm guessing the SVG got a little mangled in the export.
<hr>
'''mattie_p''': Great start! I like it already, especially as my neckbeard is starting to come in just now.

[[Category:Archived forum threads]]

Finances3

2016-01-04T17:47:32Z

Mrcoolbp: minor wording

Finances2

2016-01-04T17:46:42Z

Mrcoolbp: changed "is" to was

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Funding goal was $1910 (July-December 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,560 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$100 Administrative costs
*$250 Unexpected costs buffer

All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

Finances1

2016-01-04T17:46:24Z

Mrcoolbp: changed "is" to "was"

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Funding goal was $4,500 (January-July 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,950 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$1,250 for C.P.A.
*$420 Massachusetts Foreign Corp. tax
*$420 Delaware Franchise Tax
*$200 Administrative costs
*$250 Unexpected costs buffer

All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

Finances3

2016-01-04T17:45:09Z

Mrcoolbp: Created page with "<- Finances (parent) Our current funding goal is $3,000 (January-June 2015). Here's a breakdown: *$1,620 for server hosting/backups for 6 months *$700 Tax preparations* *..."

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Our current funding goal is $3,000 (January-June 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,620 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$700 Tax preparations*
*$420 State Taxes*
*$230 Administrative/buffer*
*$33 domains*
All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a small percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

<nowiki>* (estimate of HALF the cost for the entire year to "spread" it throughout the FY)</nowiki>

Finances

2016-01-04T17:29:02Z

Mrcoolbp: added Finances 3

Though all the day-to-day operations are completely handled by our volunteer staff in an ad-hoc nature, our official business entity [[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]] technically makes financial decisions through the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] with their goal being the preservation of the 'public benefit' that this site entails.

Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each:

* [[Finances1|Q1/Q2 2015]]
* [[Finances2|Q3/Q4 2015]]
* [[Finances3|Q1/Q2 2016]]

Discussion of future spending outside the realm of hosting/domains/taxes can be found on the [[ProposedSpending|Proposed Spending]] page.

Finances2

2016-01-04T17:28:14Z

Mrcoolbp: added: <- Finances (parent)

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Our current funding goal is $1910 (July-December 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,560 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$100 Administrative costs
*$250 Unexpected costs buffer

All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

Finances1

2016-01-04T17:27:55Z

Mrcoolbp: added "<- Finances (parent)"

<- [[Finances]] (parent)

Our current funding goal is $4,500 (January-July 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,950 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$1,250 for C.P.A.
*$420 Massachusetts Foreign Corp. tax
*$420 Delaware Franchise Tax
*$200 Administrative costs
*$250 Unexpected costs buffer

All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

Talk:ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T22:44:30Z

Mrcoolbp:

=Formatting=

If you have an idea for proposed spending, click "Edit" at the top of this page and list it below and sign your comment using four tildes <nowiki>"~~~~"</nowiki> (no quotes). The tildes will be replaced with a coded line signing your comment. Replies to that comment can be made by including a colon (for each level of indent) and a space after (": " or ":: " etc.) at the beginning of the reply.

==Example==

Convert it to dolla dolla bills y'all and make it rain! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 20:41, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
: That's a horrible idea! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 20:55, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
:: I agree! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 21:00, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

[[HelpTalk_pages2|More info on talk pages and commenting conventions]]

=Suggestions= 

User DonkeyChan (5551) suggests that we pay back the founders using a "50% rule", where half of the money generated beyond what is needed for the current period is split between being "banked for contingency" while the other half goes directly towards paying back the founders. [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 22:44, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Finances

2015-10-21T21:06:29Z

Mrcoolbp: added link to ProposedSpending

Though all the day-to-day operations are completely handled by our volunteer staff in an ad-hoc nature, our official business entity [[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]] technically makes financial decisions through the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] with their goal being the preservation of the 'public benefit' that this site entails.

Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each:

* [[Finances1|Q1/Q2 2015]]
* [[Finances2|Q3/Q4 2015]]

Discussion of future spending outside the realm of hosting/domains/taxes can be found on the [[ProposedSpending|Proposed Spending]] page.

ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T21:02:44Z

Mrcoolbp:

This page is a list of ideas for things that SoylentNews could spend excess (beyond hosting/taxes/domains etc.) money on. If you have suggestions, please add them on the Discussion page (click the "Discussion" tab at the top of this page). We will place apt suggestions here for consideration in the future.

* Paying back Founders
* Paying Staff
* Giveaways (for story submitters?)
* Hire a graphic designer to create a new logo

Talk:ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T21:00:44Z

Mrcoolbp:

Talk:ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T20:55:19Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Formatting */

=Formatting=

If you have an idea for proposed spending, please list it below and sign your comment using four tildes <nowiki>"~~~~"</nowiki> (no quotes). The tildes will be replaced with a coded line signing your comment. Replies to that comment can be made by including a colon for each level of indent and a space after ": " at the beginning of the reply.

Example:

Convert it to dolla dolla bills y'all and make it rain! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 20:41, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
: That's a horrible idea! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 20:55, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

[[HelpTalk_pages2|More info on talk pages and commenting conventions]]

=Suggestions=

HelpTalk pages2

2015-10-21T20:54:05Z

Mrcoolbp:

Every wiki page has an associated talk page, which can be used for discussion and communicating with other users. Talk pages can be accessed by clicking the “{{lcfirst:{{int:talk}}}}” [[Help:Navigation#Page tabs|tab]] at the top of the page. Simply edit the page as normal to add your comment.


A talk page is actually very similar to any other wiki page, but it is in the “{{ns:1}}” namespace, to keep it separate from the articles in the “{{int:blanknamespace}}” namespace (See [[Help:namespaces]].) As with any wiki page, you can edit it, link to it, and view the editing history.

== Editing conventions on talk pages == 


Having discussions on a free-form wiki page will seem strange at first. It helps if everyone follows some simple editing conventions:


* Always sign your name after your comments. Use the four tildes “<code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>” wiki syntax (or the signature button [[File:Insert-signature.png|text-bottom|link=|signature button]] in the toolbar above the editing textbox). For more information see [[Help:Signatures]].
* Start a new discussion with a <code><nowiki>==level 2 heading==</nowiki></code> at the bottom of the page (or use the “{{lcfirst:{{int:addsection}}}}” tab).
* Indent replies with colons (<code>:</code>) at the beginning of the line.

=== Example === 


Here is an example discussion, following the talk page conventions:

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:50%" |
Wiki text
!style="width:50%" |
Rendered talk page
|-
|


<tt><nowiki>== Soup == </nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>How's the soup? --[[User:Example|Bob]] 18:07, 26 August 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>: It's great!! --[[User:Example|Simon]] 11:21, 28 August 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>:: I made it myself! -- [[User:Example|Bob]] 14:11, 3 September 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>I think the soup-discussion should be moved to [[Talk:Soup]].. -- [[User:Example|Lisa]] 21:55, 3 September 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 

|

== Soup == 


How's the soup? --[[User:Example|Bob]] 18:07, 26 August 1991 (UTC)


: It's great!! --[[User:Example|Simon]] 11:21, 28 August 1991 (UTC)


:: I made it myself! -- [[User:Example|Bob]] 14:11, 3 September 1991 (UTC)


I think the soup-discussion should be moved to [[Talk:Soup]].. -- [[User:Example|Lisa]] 21:55, 3 September 1991 (UTC)

|}
== Editing discussions == 


Having discussions on a free-form wiki page will seem strange at first. It has some advantages over the conventional rigid forum format, but it can get a little messy. As with other wiki pages, anyone can help with tidying up discussions, to conform to the editing conventions, e.g., add signatures and headings where they are missing.


Clearly we also have the opportunity to edit other people's comments. It is generally bad etiquette to modify somebody else's wording. (Better to just add your own comment with your corrections.) But it can be acceptable to ...


;Modify discussion headings
:Change wording or append words to the discussion headings, to better describe the topic of discussion. Note that good descriptive headings become important when many discussions start to fill the page.


;Move discussions to a different page
:If discussions are put in the wrong place on the wiki, and are better associated with different talk page, then you could just move the discussion by cut & paste. This is potentially confusing, for the people posting, but can be important for keeping things tidy. You could leave the discussion in the wrong place for a few days/weeks grace before tidying it. You could leave a link behind explaining that a discussion was moved, or if not, you should link within the edit summary.


;Delete discussions when they are out-of-date
:Discussions can often get left lying around on a talk page long after the issue is no longer relevant. It's usually a good idea to reply to saying "I think this is now resolved", but sooner or later it's time to just blow away the old discussions (they are of course preserved in the editing history).


;Split a post into several discussions
:It may be appropriate to do this, if somebody has raised several points that need to be answered separately. However, you should always be respectful of other people's words. Does their post still make sense if you split it up?

== Building articles - Discussing articles == 


It is usually best to keep focused on the task of building a wiki article, and use discussion pages only to support this process. The topic of conversation should generally revolve around what needs to be done to make the associated article better. Remember that editing the article itself is often a more effective means of communicating. It can be more difficult, requiring you to balance your views alongside those of others, but it can also be more rewarding. This is how the community of wiki editors will make progress. Often it will feel more natural to engage in heated debate on a talk page (or indeed any other contact channel) but in fact the wiki article itself can offer a powerful means of reaching middle-ground. Think about how to portray both sides of the argument (e.g., listing advantages and disadvantages) and you may find the debate evaporates.

== User talk pages == 


A "{{ns:3}} page" is a talk page associated with somebody's "{{ns:2}} page" (See [[Help:User page]].) This is a place to leave messages for a particular wiki user.


This can function as a kind of messaging system. Users receive the following prominent notification when new messages have been left on their talk page:

<div class="usermessage plainlinks">{{int:youhavenewmessages|[[{{ns:3}}:User|{{int:newmessageslink}}]]|[{{fullurl:{{ns:3}}:User&diff=cur}} {{int:newmessagesdifflink}}]}}</div>


The message will continue to be displayed on all pages until users visit their talk page.


They may be notified by email as well, although this cannot always be relied upon (since the email notification feature must be activated by supplying a valid email address, and clicking a confirmation link). If you don't get a response to your user talk page message, try looking for other contact details that they may have supplied on their user page.


Note that the messages are not private, and others can join in the conversation.

[[Category:Help{{langcat|Talk pages}}|{{PAGENAME}}]]

HelpTalk pages2

2015-10-21T20:53:53Z

Mrcoolbp: I created this page as the default one seems to be broken (html <translate> and <language> tags showing up and messing up formatting

{{TNT|PD Help Page}}
{{Special page}}


Every wiki page has an associated talk page, which can be used for discussion and communicating with other users. Talk pages can be accessed by clicking the “{{lcfirst:{{int:talk}}}}” [[Help:Navigation#Page tabs|tab]] at the top of the page. Simply edit the page as normal to add your comment.


A talk page is actually very similar to any other wiki page, but it is in the “{{ns:1}}” namespace, to keep it separate from the articles in the “{{int:blanknamespace}}” namespace (See [[Help:namespaces]].) As with any wiki page, you can edit it, link to it, and view the editing history.

== Editing conventions on talk pages == 


Having discussions on a free-form wiki page will seem strange at first. It helps if everyone follows some simple editing conventions:


* Always sign your name after your comments. Use the four tildes “<code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>” wiki syntax (or the signature button [[File:Insert-signature.png|text-bottom|link=|signature button]] in the toolbar above the editing textbox). For more information see [[Help:Signatures]].
* Start a new discussion with a <code><nowiki>==level 2 heading==</nowiki></code> at the bottom of the page (or use the “{{lcfirst:{{int:addsection}}}}” tab).
* Indent replies with colons (<code>:</code>) at the beginning of the line.

=== Example === 


Here is an example discussion, following the talk page conventions:

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:50%" |
Wiki text
!style="width:50%" |
Rendered talk page
|-
|


<tt><nowiki>== Soup == </nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>How's the soup? --[[User:Example|Bob]] 18:07, 26 August 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>: It's great!! --[[User:Example|Simon]] 11:21, 28 August 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>:: I made it myself! -- [[User:Example|Bob]] 14:11, 3 September 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 


<tt><nowiki>I think the soup-discussion should be moved to [[Talk:Soup]].. -- [[User:Example|Lisa]] 21:55, 3 September 1991 (UTC)</nowiki></tt> 

|

== Soup == 


How's the soup? --[[User:Example|Bob]] 18:07, 26 August 1991 (UTC)


: It's great!! --[[User:Example|Simon]] 11:21, 28 August 1991 (UTC)


:: I made it myself! -- [[User:Example|Bob]] 14:11, 3 September 1991 (UTC)


I think the soup-discussion should be moved to [[Talk:Soup]].. -- [[User:Example|Lisa]] 21:55, 3 September 1991 (UTC)

|}
== Editing discussions == 


Having discussions on a free-form wiki page will seem strange at first. It has some advantages over the conventional rigid forum format, but it can get a little messy. As with other wiki pages, anyone can help with tidying up discussions, to conform to the editing conventions, e.g., add signatures and headings where they are missing.


Clearly we also have the opportunity to edit other people's comments. It is generally bad etiquette to modify somebody else's wording. (Better to just add your own comment with your corrections.) But it can be acceptable to ...


;Modify discussion headings
:Change wording or append words to the discussion headings, to better describe the topic of discussion. Note that good descriptive headings become important when many discussions start to fill the page.


;Move discussions to a different page
:If discussions are put in the wrong place on the wiki, and are better associated with different talk page, then you could just move the discussion by cut & paste. This is potentially confusing, for the people posting, but can be important for keeping things tidy. You could leave the discussion in the wrong place for a few days/weeks grace before tidying it. You could leave a link behind explaining that a discussion was moved, or if not, you should link within the edit summary.


;Delete discussions when they are out-of-date
:Discussions can often get left lying around on a talk page long after the issue is no longer relevant. It's usually a good idea to reply to saying "I think this is now resolved", but sooner or later it's time to just blow away the old discussions (they are of course preserved in the editing history).


;Split a post into several discussions
:It may be appropriate to do this, if somebody has raised several points that need to be answered separately. However, you should always be respectful of other people's words. Does their post still make sense if you split it up?

== Building articles - Discussing articles == 


It is usually best to keep focused on the task of building a wiki article, and use discussion pages only to support this process. The topic of conversation should generally revolve around what needs to be done to make the associated article better. Remember that editing the article itself is often a more effective means of communicating. It can be more difficult, requiring you to balance your views alongside those of others, but it can also be more rewarding. This is how the community of wiki editors will make progress. Often it will feel more natural to engage in heated debate on a talk page (or indeed any other contact channel) but in fact the wiki article itself can offer a powerful means of reaching middle-ground. Think about how to portray both sides of the argument (e.g., listing advantages and disadvantages) and you may find the debate evaporates.

== User talk pages == 


A "{{ns:3}} page" is a talk page associated with somebody's "{{ns:2}} page" (See [[Help:User page]].) This is a place to leave messages for a particular wiki user.


This can function as a kind of messaging system. Users receive the following prominent notification when new messages have been left on their talk page:

<div class="usermessage plainlinks">{{int:youhavenewmessages|[[{{ns:3}}:User|{{int:newmessageslink}}]]|[{{fullurl:{{ns:3}}:User&diff=cur}} {{int:newmessagesdifflink}}]}}</div>


The message will continue to be displayed on all pages until users visit their talk page.


They may be notified by email as well, although this cannot always be relied upon (since the email notification feature must be activated by supplying a valid email address, and clicking a confirmation link). If you don't get a response to your user talk page message, try looking for other contact details that they may have supplied on their user page.


Note that the messages are not private, and others can join in the conversation.

[[Category:Help{{langcat|Talk pages}}|{{PAGENAME}}]]

ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T20:42:12Z

Mrcoolbp:

This page is a list of ideas for things that SoylentNews could spend excess (beyond hosting/taxes/domains etc.) money on:

* Paying back Founders
* Paying Staff
* Giveaways (for story submitters?)
* Hire a graphic designer to create a new logo

Talk:ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T20:41:42Z

Mrcoolbp: Created page with "=Formatting= If you have an idea for proposed spending, please list it below and sign your comment using four tildes <nowiki>"~~~~"</nowiki> (no quotes) I've used an example..."

=Formatting=

If you have an idea for proposed spending, please list it below and sign your comment using four tildes <nowiki>"~~~~"</nowiki> (no quotes) I've used an example below:

Convert it to dolla dolla bills y'all and make it rain! [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 20:41, 21 October 2015 (UTC) 

=Suggestions=

ProposedSpending

2015-10-21T20:28:58Z

Mrcoolbp: Created page with "This page is a list of ideas for things that SoylentNews could spend excess (beyond hosting/taxes/domains etc.) money on: * Paying back Founders * Paying Staff * Giveaways (f..."

This page is a list of ideas for things that SoylentNews could spend excess (beyond hosting/taxes/domains etc.) money on:

* Paying back Founders
* Paying Staff
* Giveaways (for story submitters?)

MediaWiki:Sidebar

2015-10-21T17:23:26Z

Mrcoolbp:

Finances

2015-10-21T17:18:10Z

Mrcoolbp:

Finances

2015-10-21T17:11:57Z

Mrcoolbp: damnit, gotta use the preview button

Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each:

* [[Finances1|Q1/Q2 2015]]
* [[Finances2|Q3/Q4 2015]]

Finances

2015-10-21T17:11:05Z

Mrcoolbp: Created page with "Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each: ** Finances1 ** Finances2"

Below is a list of all of the funding goals that we have had to date with an explanation of the breakdown of each:

** [[Q1/Q2 2015|Finances1]]
** [[Q3/Q4 2015|Finances2]]

Finances1

2015-10-21T17:08:10Z

Mrcoolbp: Mrcoolbp moved page Finances to Finances1 without leaving a redirect: Created a Financels Landing page

Our current funding goal is $4,500 (January-July 2015). Here's a breakdown:
*$1,950 for server hosting/backups for 6 months
*$1,250 for C.P.A.
*$420 Massachusetts Foreign Corp. tax
*$420 Delaware Franchise Tax
*$200 Administrative costs
*$250 Unexpected costs buffer

All costs are enumerated in US dollars.

'''If you would like to support us''': we are funded mainly through '''[http://soylentnews.org/subscribe.pl Subscriptions]''', and we also receive a percentage of our [http://www.zazzle.com/soylentnews* swag] sales.

Submission guidelines

2015-05-28T23:18:33Z

Mrcoolbp: Removed protection from "Submission guidelines"

Parent: [[Editors|Editors Team]]

There are some general things that are recommended when making a story submission which not only enhance the reader's enjoyment of your submission, but will also increase its chance of being accepted in the first instance:

* '''Be neutral and factual''' in both Subject and Summary. You can wait until the article is posted or, if you must, include your opinion '''clearly marked as opinion''' at the end of the Summary
* '''Provide Original Content'''. Do not copy/paste other people's work.
* '''Avoid paywalled articles''' if possible. If a paywalled article ''must'' be used then mark it as such: [Paywalled]. This is also true for sites that show an advertisement before loading the article.
* Use '''primary sources''' wherever possible. If an article refers to an original work then link to the original work rather than the article '''unless the article provides new and relevant information'''.
* Use at least '''two source links''' if possible. This gives the reader options and helps insulate against other sites' outages or page removals.
* For controversial issues, use '''source links from sites with opposing biases'''. If a wolf says he wants sheep for dinner, don't ask another wolf if that is a good idea, ask a sheep.
* If there is a '''study or deeper link listed''' in one of the articles you are linking to, you should also include that direct link. Some news sites link to study abstracts, and they are the primary source material.
* If the new articles that you are linking to reference older articles, you may link to them as well to '''provide background or quotes'''.
* '''Explain acronyms''' for most things. The first time you use it, spell it out. Then on subsequent uses, use the acronym. With our goal of being a global site, things such as the US FAA or British OfCom may not be obvious to those outside those countries.
* '''Wikipedia links''' are a good source of background information and statistics.
* Check that your '''links are timely'''. Nothing is worse than warning about something that Snopes disproved 5 years ago.
* When '''quoting a sentence or less, use quotes.''' When quoting '''more than a single sentence, use blockquotes''', as this make the text stand out more.
* '''Double-check your story in preview''' prior to submission, including opening all links. The less an editor has to edit, the more chance your submission has of being approved.

There are also some things to avoid:

* '''Don't grumble about rejection''' of your submission. As the site grows, more people will submit the same story. We are also trying to include a 'reason for rejection' mechanism in the system.
* '''Avoid unauthorized copying'''. Don't copy/paste from other similar sites - that is simply setting up your editor for failure, or a mocking on IRC. It will also result in any further stories that you submit being passed over in favour of others because of the increased time it will take for the editor to check your story and sources.
* While we encourage a global community, the language of the site is English. '''Avoid links to non-English sources''' unless you can also provide a link to a good quality translation into English.
* '''Do not use 'linkbaiting' ''' i.e. the practice of including celebrity names or intentionally misleading subjects to entice people to click through from search engines.

Thanks to GungnirSniper, who provided much of the content of this page.

StaffPolicy

2015-05-08T03:01:59Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Further SoylentNews Policy */ updating link (this and 2 most recent edits)

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

=== Further SoylentNews Policy ===

As a member of staff, it's our mission to uphold the principles outlined in the '''[[SoylentNews_Site_Policy|SoylentNews Site Policy]]'''.

IRC Policy

2015-05-08T03:00:08Z

Mrcoolbp:

Parent: [[SoylentNews_Site_Policy]]

'''This is a DRAFT policy only, and is not official.'''

==Team leader(s)==

==Ban policy==

<crutchy> maybe something to start with: if someone expresses offense, the offender is cautioned. if the caution isn't heeded, the offender is kicked. if they come back and continue to offend, 15 minute channel ban. absolute worse case scenario: if someone is really causing problems every time they enter an official channel and multiple people are being repeatedly offended, a consensus of two or more ircops could result in a week, month or permanent channel ban or kline.

==Bot policy==

(this isn't written in policy language, but is more notes to whoever comes after)

Probably needs to be some sort of etiquette surrounding delegation of bot tasks. Some tasks can be performed by multiple bots. It's fun to develop bots and set them loose on the channels for others to abuse and enjoy, but we don't want to see 10 bots react to the same event.

Might be nice to have some sort of bot register to allow developers to check the triggers and tasks of existing bots so they don't put in a heap of effort developing a feature that has already been implemented. We already have a bot register of sorts, but it probably needs a bit of work. It can be found [[IRC#Bots|here]].

==Training==

==Access to the SoylentNews system==

==Cooperation with other teams==

==Interfacing with the community==

==Financial compensation==

==Dispute resolution==

[[Category:IRC]]
[[Category:Policy]]

SoylentNews

2015-05-08T02:59:49Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Useful Links */

This is a home for information about how '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' was started, the vision for it, and discussion about it's future.

==About SoylentNews.org==

Welcome to the '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' Wiki.

We deliver community-sourced news and discussion. This is an [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode open-source], grassroots effort powered by article submissions from our readers, volunteers, and our forked version of slashcode. We highlight stories on the web which are important to everyone - especially nerds. We also provide a soapbox for discussion moderated by the site's patrons, and allow anonymous discourse as there's no mandatory registration needed to comment.

We are mindful of community sentiment, and will not bend to overreaching corporate agenda. The goal is to be an excellent source for discussion and news about technology, art, science and politics.

We've incorporated as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (similar to a non-profit) as we feel our mission to provide a platform for news dissemination and relevant discussion is not only essential for mankind, but also a legal right (i.e. freedom of press, freedom of speech) in some places, and these are liberties which we aim to protect.

Though the site is young and there are [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues bugs], we are improving and adapting to satisfy the community's needs. We look forward to pushing the boundaries of web experience and are committed to involving the community on all major decisions.

==Get Involved==

This project is run entirely by the community and there are many different facets. Here are some of the many ways to participate:

*'''[http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl Submit a Story]'''
** Try joining the #rss-bot channel in [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC]] for story ideas
*'''Volunteer'''
** Get in touch with the '''[[Development|Development Team]]''', especially if you know perl
** Reach out to one of the other '''[[TeamPages|Teams]]''' (we have openings for many skill sets)
** Contact the relevant person: '''[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]'''
*Hop in to '''IRC:'''
** #soylent on irc.soylentnews.org/6697
** [http://irc.sylnt.us/?channels=#soylent Webchat]
** [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC Wiki Page]]
*'''Bugs''' and Features:
** [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/new Submit a bug or Feature Request]
** [[Suggestions|Add a Suggestion]] - larger projects to tackle for the future
*'''Tell Somebody''' A friend, a colleague, any major news source....
** Do what you can to [[Spreading the word|get the word out]]
** You could participate in [[The_Slashcott|The Slashcott]]

==Contacts==

A list of people working on this project:
===[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]===

== Useful Links ==

*[[Submission guidelines]] - best practices for story submissions
*[[Story Style]] - a guide for editors on article formatting
*[[Development]] team page
**[https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode Code Repo] - The Slashcode repository for this project on GitHub
** [[DevelopmentVMHowto]] - How to get our code setup in a VM
** [[SlashDocumentationIndex]]
*[[UserExperience]] team page
**[[Style]] - some of this info needs to be merged/moved/organized into/with [[UserExperience]]
**[[CssWork]]
* [[SystemAdministration|System Administration]]
*[[Finances]] - Breakdown of our proposed spending
*[[Licensing]] - ideas about which license to use for our slashcode fork
*[[Staff_Meetings|Staff Meeting Logs]]
*[[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]]
*[[SoylentNews_Site_Policy|SoylentNews Policy]]

== Similar Projects ==
* [http://pipedot.org/ Pipedot] - A complete re-write that uses a modern codebase and sports a clean look
* Usenet newsgroup comp.misc - [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.misc on Google Groups], [http://squte.com/ on Squte], [news:comp.misc via newsreader application]
* [http://technocrat.net/ Technocrat] - (now defunt) News site presented by Bruce Perens

== Archive ==

[[Archive]] -- An archive of obsolete pages/discussions that occurred before launch

SoylentNews Policy Document

2015-05-08T02:59:05Z

Mrcoolbp: Mrcoolbp moved page SoylentNews Policy Document to SoylentNews Site Policy: name change as part of splitting "staff policy" and 'user-facing' SN policy

#REDIRECT [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:59:04Z

Mrcoolbp: Mrcoolbp moved page SoylentNews Policy Document to SoylentNews Site Policy: name change as part of splitting "staff policy" and 'user-facing' SN policy

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode (rehash) ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

StaffPolicy

2015-05-08T02:48:14Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Further SoylentNews Policy */ ug, note to self: use preview!

StaffPolicy

2015-05-08T02:47:42Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Further SoylentNews Policy */

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

=== Further SoylentNews Policy ===

As a member of staff, it's our mission to uphold the principles outlined in the '''[[http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/SoylentNews_Policy_Document|user-facing policy]]'''. Please read through those documents as well.

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:46:46Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA */

NewStaff

2015-05-08T02:45:12Z

Mrcoolbp: updated link to Staff Policy

Parent: [[CommunitySupport]]

'''Checklist for new staff:'''

* SN e-mailbox
* add to mailing list
* add to appropriate team page on wiki
* IRC cloaks, privs, channels
* Read [[StaffPolicy | Staff Policy Manual]]

'''Conditional (Where Applicable):'''
* Editorial recruits should read docs in [[Editors#Documentation]]
* Dev recruits should peruse the vast information in [[Development]]
* SSH Key and kerberosizing
* IRC 'Bouncer' (ZNC)

[[Category:Teams]]
[[Category:Community support]]

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:44:20Z

Mrcoolbp: MAJOR EDIT: Split off the "Staff Policy" onto a separate page ( http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/StaffPolicy )

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.
The Following section should be split into a separate page [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 02:38, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode (rehash) ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

StaffPolicy

2015-05-08T02:44:07Z

Mrcoolbp: created this page

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

=== Further SoylentNews Policy ===

As a member of staff, it's our mission to uphold the principles outlined in the '''[[user-facing policy]]'''. Please read through those documents as well.

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:38:00Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA */

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.
The Following section should be split into a separate page [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 02:38, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode (rehash) ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:37:22Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Privacy Policy */

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode (rehash) ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:22:13Z

Mrcoolbp: /* SoylentCode */ added: "(rehash)"

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

'''Note''': this should be a link to a seperate "locked" wiki page [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 02:19, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode (rehash) ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:21:35Z

Mrcoolbp: /* IRC (Internet Relay Chat) */ their -> there

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

'''Note''': this should be a link to a seperate "locked" wiki page [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 02:19, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted there and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:19:59Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Privacy Policy */ added note

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===

It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

'''Note''': this should be a link to a seperate "locked" wiki page [[User:Mrcoolbp|mrcoolbp]] ([[User talk:Mrcoolbp|talk]]) 02:19, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted their and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:16:43Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Team Policy Documents */ added link to perl code policy

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team: [[Editorial_Policy|Editorial Policy]]
* IRC Team: [[IRC Policy]]
* Development Team: [[CodingStyleForOurPerlChanges|Perl Coding Guidelines]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===
It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted their and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:11:47Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Management Group */ Added blurb about what to do when a TL is unavailable

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

Due to the volunteer nature of this project, and the global, always-on effort that SoylentNews entails, sometimes TLs may not be available to make decisions or offer guidance. If every effort has been made to contact a TL and they are unavailable, staff members should check with other staff, and refer to this document and other policies of SoylentNews (privacy policy, team documentation), and use their best judgement to uphold the principles outlined therein.

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team : [[Editorial_Policy]]
* IRC Team : [[IRC Policy]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===
It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted their and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==

SoylentNews Site Policy

2015-05-08T02:06:11Z

Mrcoolbp: /* Meetings */

Parent:[[SoylentNews|Useful_Links]]

== SoylentNews Policy - DRAFT ==

Notes - Usage of 'he, his' etc. Any usage of the words he or his must be assumed to apply equally to members of either sex i.e. can be replaced with 'she, her' as appropriate.

=== Introduction ===

Welcome!

We incorporated SoylentNews PBC on July 4th 2014. It's run by the [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] comprised of a few of our staff that handle all the legal and business items. The rest of the operation is completely in the hands of the community of volunteers and staff (of which you are now a part). Along with the benefits of an email address, no subscription fees to our main site soylentnews.org - see below (-[[janrinok]])], comes the responsibility to uphold what this organization stands for.

=== SoylentNews Mission ===

We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas can be presented and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

Except as required by law, no one will be banned or have their comments deleted due to stating a fact or opinion, no matter how unpopular or repugnant it is. We will not ban or silence a user for merely stating an opinion.

The right of our community to criticize, make suggestions, and help us improve our site will be respected. No staff or team leader will ever be above criticism.

We recognize that mistakes will be made, as we are all human. It is both the right and privilege of others to correct us when needed.

If serious errors are made, we promise to revert them and fix the problems.

=== Non-Discrimination Statement ===

SoylentNews shall not discriminate by gender, ability, religion, creed, race or belief; all are welcome to join the site and contribute either as members of the community or by serving as staff.

=== Staff ===

Lots of the work being done on SoylentNews is done by informal volunteers (story-submissions, suggestions, artwork, bug-hunting, etc.). Since you've been granted privileges on one or more of our systems, you are now considered part of the staff. In order to keep this project moving in the direction outlined in our [manifesto/vision], this document has been created to guide our actions.

== Organization ==

=== The Board ===

The [[SoylentNews_PBC_Board_of_Directors|Board of Directors]] has the legal, financial and governance responsibility for the Corporation.
With a goal of conducting meetings that are effective and efficient, meetings are run according to the guidelines stated in [[Board_Meetings_Rules_of_Order|Board Meetings - Rules of Order]].

=== Meetings ===

Most board meetings are open to anyone to attend, and usually conducted on [[IRC]]. Though all are welcome and we encourage opinions and discussion, only board members can vote; furthermore, at the discretion of the board, meetings may be moderated (using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Modes IRC voice modes]).

All board meetings and staff meetings should be announced with at least one (1) week advanced notice. Though it is sometimes pertinent for the board to make decisions in a non-public forum with less notice, every effort will be made to hold public meetings and announce meetings in advance to the following:
*the staff mailing list
*the "sitenews" box on the soylentnews.org main page
*appended to the "topic" on on any staff IRC channels including #staff.

=== Management Group ===

The day-to-day management of the site is conducted below Board level by the Management Group.

The staff comprises of various Teams, each with a specific function or range of functions. Each Team is led by a Team Leader (TL) and, together, the TLs are known as the Management Group (MG). The MG has shared responsibility for the routine operation of the site and for providing guidance through each Team Leader to all
staff to ensure that they are contributing in a coordinated manner to the maintenance, support, and production of a high quality site.

Current TLs, and therefore the members of the MG, are shown in the wiki on page [[WhosWho]]

=== Team Leaders ===

TLs are in charge of guiding their teams. Some responsibilities rest comfortably within a single team, but other responsibilities e.g. security, combating SPAM, rogue comments in discussions etc, require the cooperation and coordination of 2 or more teams. TLs are responsible for deciding how the cooperation and coordination will take place, but the
actual execution can be carried out by team members i.e. this responsibility does not place an undue additional burden upon TLs but permits the task to be carried out between appropriate members of the staff.

=== Team Policy Documents ===

Each Team has its own Policy Document to provide guidance for the day-to-day running of that team. The team documents can be found here:

* Editorial Team : [[Editorial_Policy]]
* IRC Team : [[IRC Policy]]

== Privacy, Copyright, Disclaimers, Terms of Use, and DMCA ==

The following sections are a DRAFT and are expected to be revised/amended.

TODO: Probably need different ones for each service (soylentnews.org, irc.sylnt.us, wiki.soylentnews.org, etc). May be worth checking out policies of other popular sites (like FreeNode for IRC, that *other* site for soylentnews.org, wikipedia for wiki.soylentnews.org, etc)

The SoylentNews site is currently based in the United States. As such, it is important to state the policy of SoylentNews with respect to certain laws in effect there as well as internationally.

=== Privacy Policy ===
It is the policy of SoylentNews, in as much as is reasonably possible, to retain the least amount of personally identifiable information about the community's members. Certain items are necessary in the conduction of the site's operation. These include, but are not necessarily restricted to: e-mail address and IP address [what else?]. Reasonable and customary steps are taken to protect that information.

=== Copyright Notice ===
There are several places on the site where user-supplied content is published.

==== Submitted Stories ====
Anyone may submit a story for consideration by the editors for publication on the site. Editors attempt, within the site's guidelines *[need link]* to provide a consistent reading experience for the community. This may entail reformatting, rewriting, spelling corrections, and the like. The revised submission may then be published on the site for the community to read and to comment on. Subsequent to publishing to the site, additional edits may be made so as to correct mistakes (e.g. typos) and/or to add additional information, etc.

The original submitter retains copyright to their submission.

The original submitter grants a non-exclusive right to SoylentNews PBC to publish the story.

==== Published Stories ====
SoylentNews PBC retains copyright to the story as published on the site.

==== Journal Submissions ====
Each logged-in user has the ability to post "stories" to their journal page. The submitter may edit or even delete any of their journal postings.

Question: is a deleted journal entry actually deleted or is just no longer displayed?

Question: Should we add the comment disclaimer here, as well? That is, should this apply:
<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

==== User Comments ====
The community is encouraged to provide comments in response to stories published on the site as well as to journal entries in which that option has been enabled. Comments may be submitted anonymously, as an "Anonymous Coward", or attributed to the user's site Nickname. In either case, the site's policy is
stated on each story page:

<blockquote>The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.</blockquote>

TODO: how does the user transfer publishing/usage rights to SN? suggest possibly using the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (simply saying "following comments are owned by whoever posted them" kinda implies that if someone wants their comment deleted, SN gotta give in to that.

==== Wiki Entries ====
Copyright on entries on the site's Wikipedia page are governed by this statement which appears at the bottom of each page:
<blockquote>Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike unless otherwise noted.</blockquote>

Further, when submitting to the Wiki, this notice appears above the "Save page", "Show Preview", and "Show changes" buttons:

<blockquote>Please note that all contributions to SoylentNews are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (see <a href="/w/index.php?title=SoylentNews:Copyrights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SoylentNews:Copyrights (page does not exist)">SoylentNews:Copyrights</a> for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!</blockquote>

NOTE: The SoylentNews:Copyright link has no destination; it needs to be created or this entry revised.

==== IRC (Internet Relay Chat) ====
The submitter of anything posted to any of the site's IRC channels specifically allows the site to retain anything posted their and make it available, for example, in the form of retained logs. In addition, any chats that take place in the form of staff meetings, board meetings, and the like will be retained and may be posted on the site Wiki.

==== SoylentCode ====
The site is based on Slashcode (Version xyz) which is under a GPL v2 license. Wherever possible, commensurate with maintaining site security, any new or updated code originated by SoylentNews will retain this licensing and be made available for downloading by any individual in accord with this license. Links will be maintained on the site to enable the repository of the code to be easily located.

=== Disclaimers ===
TBD. The following is a DRAFT disclaimer policy and is intended to reviewed and/or amended.
* Content published on this website is for general information purposes only.
* SoylentNews PBC offers no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of this website, published information and related graphics or hyperlinks contained on this website for any purpose. Use of such information is therefore at your own risk.
* In no event shall SoylentNews PBC or its affiliates be held liable for any losses or damages including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or revenue arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
* SoylentNews PBC has no control over the nature, content, and availability of hyperlinked websites. The inclusion of hyperlinks to other websites is for reference or informative purposes only and does not imply endorsement of them.
* Availability is not guaranteed. SoylentNews PBC takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, this website being unavailable for any reason.

=== Terms of Use ===
TBD. This is a DRAFT that is intended as a starting point for discussion for use on the Site

Last Modified: 2014-09-11

Use of this website is subject to your agreement with the following terms, as well as your agreement with the Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Disclaimer. You should review these terms and related documents regularly as they may be revised at any time without notice.

The date that these terms were last modified can be found at the top of the page.
* Use of this website and any disputes arising out of such use of this website are subject to the laws of the United States of America. [State? of Delaware, too?
* All registered trademarks reproduced remain property of their respective owners.
* Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.
* This website includes links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information, and does not signify endorsement.
* Availability of this website is not guaranteed.
* Spamming, hacking and/or phishing this website is not permitted.
* These terms, as well as terms in the related documents, shall remain continuously in force if there is a change to the domain of this website.

=== DMCA Notice ===
TBD. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act should be considered as to its applicability to the site and what our policy should be.

== Subscription Fees ==

=== Community Fees ===

The Board may choose to offer a subscription membership fee to some or all members of the SoylentNews community. Nevertheless, non-payment of the subscription fee will not prevent access to the site; the intention is to enable the site to be viewed by as many people as possible and to encourage them to submit stories for publication and to comment on the stories that have already been accepted and released.

=== Waiving of Subscription Fees ===

Once an individual has served as a staff member for (immediately, x weeks, y months?) he is no longer required to pay subscription fees to enjoy all the privileges of site membership. This privilege will remain for the period of their service on the staff, plus a discretionary extension of a maximum of 1 year from the individual leaving the staff. The actual duration will be decided by the MG.

Occasionally, the MG might recommend to the Board that an individual be granted lifetime site membership in recognition of a significant period of service, or being a prominent figure from any relevant field of technology or related interests, or some other act deserving of special recognition. The Board can accept or reject such recommendations as they deem fit.

== Site Control and Security ==

=== Access to Personal Data ===

No personal data held by the site will be shared, sold or otherwise distributed outside of the site with the exception of demands supported by the appropriate legal documentation served upon the Board.

Personal data shall be held by the site for the minimum time necessary, and efforts should be made to anonymize or encrypt such data wherever possible.

=== Abusive Behaviour ===

SoylentNews aims to be tolerant of any individual's personal views and will allow them to express their views in the comments of published stories. However, occasionally, individuals will not express their views relating to a story but will employ offensive and/or abusive behaviour towards an individual. This is not in the spirit of the site and a graduated response will be adopted to anyone who employs such behaviour in their comments.

*The moderation system employed usually results in offensive, abusive or off-topic information being reduced to the lowest viewable priority level such that, to most regular users of the site, it does not even display on their screen. Often, this is sufficient to defuse the situation and the offender departs after a short period of time. However, community members should also be encouraged not to 'feed the trolls' and to avoid responding to any posts by the offender. Staff should adopt a non-confrontational attitude while engaging with community members and the offender in an attempt to cool the situation down.

*A member of staff should issue a comment in which he politely but firmly requests that the offender stops his offensive/abusive behaviour while explaining that it does nothing to contribute to the site nor does it show the offender in a positive light. However, it is important to try to identify the true cause of the offenders attitude and for the staff member, alone or with the assistance of other members of staff, to try to resolve any genuine issues or grievances that the offender may have.

*A TL or senior staff member should attempt to engage the offender in a private communication (either IRC/PM, email or whatever) and warn the offender that there could be serious consequences if the offender continues with his current course of action.

*The MG can agree to ban the offender for a specific period or permanently and take action to do so. There are, of course, technical difficulties associated with effectively banning an individual but a block of his personal IPs for each computer system as and when they are identified might be considered as a reasonable action.

=== Control of SPAM ===

SPAM is most often found in story submissions (either as a link in an submission or as the entire contents of a submission) or in the comments to a published story. If the SPAM is simply a link then that link may be deleted by an Editor however, other forms of SPAM should '''NOT''' be deleted. A SuperAdmin (which is anyone on staff who is not an editor) should be informed so that the origin of the material can be identified and action taken to block that particular source of SPAM. The SPAM is deleted only when the procedure to block the SPAM is complete.

=== Control of Access and Password Policy ===

TODO - User passwords. Post-breach actions and analysis etc.

No-one should be given access privileges above those which are essential for them to complete their role. Additionally, no single individual should have a unique set of privileges because, in the event of some unforeseen circumstance, no other individual will be able to fulfill the same role. TLs should ensure that each task for which his team is responsible is documented and that privileges are assigned to team members as required.

In the event of a member of staff permanently leaving then a SuperAdmin is responsible for ensuring that access privileges are removed for that individual promptly. Shared passwords known by the individual, where they exist, should also be changed.

=== Response to Denial Of Service (DOS) Attack ===

TODO - This might simply be "... is the responsibility of the Systems Team", or may be more detailed by listing actions to be taken by one or more teams.

== Miscellaneous Matters - (Temporary Title) ==