[57north-discuss] 57N taking political positions

[Calum Chisholm]

I'm very much in two minds about this.

I have real reservations where overtly political posts are made on behalf
of the space, particularly where a consensus of opinion hasn't first been
reached. As has already been pointed out, this can serve to exclude
existing or potential members who may hold differing opinions.

While hackerspaces will often tend to attract those of a more liberal /
libertarian mindset, it's by no means guaranteed or expected. Even within
such a group, I would still expect individuals to hold a variety of
different opinions.


_However_

It's a stated purpose of the space (from the articles) to "... promote and
support the use and development of free and open technologies, standards,
ideas, hardware and software for the benefit of all", and I don't believe
this only applies to those activities which take place within the 4 walls
of the space. There's already an evangelical aspect to what we do already
with our various outreach projects, workshops etc.


So - what I'm suggesting is that tweets from @57NorthHacklab should focus
more on those topics which directly further our stated aims (
https://github.com/hackerdeen/articles, section 5). Where a topic is more
closely aligned with ORG / EFF / whatever, then they're probably best
expressed either under that umbrella or using the member's own account.

Where there are topics (such as the data retention post?), which might be a
bit out-of-scope, but still of general interest to the group, then I'm
happy enough to see them (re-)tweeted, but maybe with a more neutral
commentary.

Cheers,
Calum



On 10 July 2014 22:34, Calum Enterobsidian <enterobsidian at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> I agree with Rob on this issue, the space as an organisation should not
> have a stance on anything that does not affect the space directly. if we
> choose to go down the route of supporting/opposing drafts, this may put
> people off joining the space, as they believe that the space is not a place
> to come and play with things, but a political activist group.
>
> It's acceptable for space members and directors to have opinions. They
> made be radical, but they are allowed to voice them as they wish within
> reason. This should, however, not colour the space and it's decisions in
> any way.
>
>
>
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