Re: Choosing community-owned code to run on our community server.

st 27. 9. 2023 v 11:22 odesílatel Michiel de Jong <michiel@pondersource.com>
napsal:

> Hi fellow Solid community members,
>
> Since many years, we have a community pod server at
> https://solidcommunity.net.
> It is now time to switch the software it runs from NSS (Node.JS +
> JavaScript) to CSS (Node.JS + TypeScript).
>

Hi Michiel, as the person that started the solid community initiative, and
led it for a quarter of a decade, I have some views on this.


>
> As you may know, the main repository
> <https://github.com/CommunitySolidServer/CommunitySolidServer> of the CSS
> code base and its issue tracker are under the full control of the CSS team
> at UGhent/imec, which is one of many institutions and stakeholders that
> come together in the Solid project (they will also be one of several W3C
> members coming together in the proposed Working Group; my employer Ponder
> Source being one of the others).
>
> Unfortunately, it has come to light a few years ago and again yesterday,
> that this particular code repository is not run in an inclusive way (see my
> forum post
> <https://forum.solidproject.org/t/migrating-from-nss-to-css/6856/5?u=michielbdejong>
> for the saddening details).
>

First, I'm incredibly sorry that you were treated this way.  Phrases such
as "Go steal other people’s time" are completely unacceptable.  The whole
message was tough reading.

Please tell me that the code of conduct committee are looking at this?

>
>
> Luckily, this is open source software and there are also other forks of
> the code, like the PDS Interop one
> <https://github.com/pdsinterop/community-server>. These generally have
> their own issue trackers, and their own decision mechanism for which
> contributions are accepted and which ones are not.
>

+1 to open source


> So we have a choice. I think we should create a "community fork" (or use
> the existing PDS Interop one) of the Community Solid Server that *does*
> allow *all of us *to for instance propose experimental features we want
> to switch on on solidcommunity.net, which legacy features we do not want
> to be switched off, etcetera.
>

It's doable although I started the solid community effort specifically for
node solid server.


>
> As an example, I remember when I was working on Solid Web Monetization, it
> was easy to add an experimental endpoint
> <https://github.com/nodeSolidServer/node-solid-server/pull/1546> to the
> code running on solidcommunity.net, which I could then use for my demo,
> and discuss with other Solid community members, even though this feature
> eventually never made it into the spec.
>
> It's fun and useful if our community server can be used as a playground
> for features that are not in the spec. As a community, we should be
> empowered to do things like that on solidcommunity.net if and when we
> want to.
>
> So for solidcommunity.net, I think it is important that the code that
> runs there is maintained in a collaborative way, acknowledging all members
> of our community, their different reasons for being part of this project,
> their different skill sets and interests, and their different ways of
> contributing to the project.
>

+1


>
> And of course not all PRs can always be merged, and not all feature
> requests can always be attended to. But even when a community member
> proposes a code change that the maintainers decide to reject, this
> contributor still has a right to be talked to in a welcoming and friendly
> way, and not see their contributions simply disappear from the issue
> tracker without explanation. So apart from the point about us as a
> community having control over the behaviour of the server, this is also
> sending a signal to ourselves, to the larger web standards community, and
> to the rest of the world, that (despite sometimes misconceptions to the
> contrary) the Solid project is run by a diverse and inclusive community,
> and all voices have a right to be heard here.
>
> We want our community to be a nice place for everybody! Only then can we
> make Solid a success.
>
> I therefore propose that when we switch solidcommunity.net from NSS to
> CSS, we use code from a repository that welcomes contributions from all
> members of the Solid community. This is a decision we can take as a
> community, which is why I'm posting this to the CG mailing list. The
> practical details of it can then be carried out by the Solid Team.
>

I still own the original domain solid.community which I have always said
could be donated to the community effort.  It was unfortunate that during
the covid years I got sick.


>
> Thanks for reading this far; I'm curious how other people feel about this
> matter!
>

Strongly support!


>
>
> Kind regards,
> Michiel de Jong
> https://www.w3.org/users/143305/
>