SteveA wrote: At least once, Clifford invited me to join Slack as well. However, after reading Slack's Terms of Service Agreement (a contract of adhesion, really), I could not and do not abide with the ways which Slack (and other proprietary, not-open-source/open-data communication platforms) divide our community into "those who Slack" and "those who don't." Even as Clifford has acknowledged this issue in these posts, I feel compelled to speak up about this again whenever I see this invitation to Slack again and again.
I don't wish to throw rocks at the good process and results which happen because some of us collaborate on Slack. I do wish to urge OSM volunteers to seriously (re-?)consider that there are well-established, perfectly useful communication methods (email, wiki, talk-us, face-to-face, meetups/Mapping Parties...) which do not require "shiny apps laden with hidden, commercial code" that ask us to cloak our communication into the private realm of a for-profit company. As an open-source/open-data project, I remain puzzled why OSM volunteers do this. Perhaps what I'm suggesting (again? I seem to recall it has been brought up before) is that if OSM uses a "live-collaboration communication app" that we either develop our own or choose some open-source version of one without onerous License Terms that MANY (not just me) find offensive. Is that possible? Thanks for reading. I mean this in the best interests of OSM longer-term. SteveA California OSM Volunteer since 2009 Steve, I must admit I like Slack better than some other forms of communications. For example, I don't participate on any OSM forums. IRC is nice, but the Slack, as a version of IRC, is just better. Since Slack was introduced to the community I've notice the talk-us mailing list traffic has slowed and even more so is the #osm-us IRC channel which for all practical purposes is dead. Communications within the community is one of the most important aspects of what makes our community thrive. We need tools that allow people to be engaged in discussions and process to be successful. Tools that people want to use. To me, seeing the number of people that use Slack compared to other forms of communications, means the community has chosen. I'm also part of a open source community that uses IRC and mailing lists to communicate. When Slack was introduced, just like OSM, traffic drop to nothing on IRC and mainly announcements on the mailing list. Part of that maybe because people use Slack in their day job. I don't wouldn't have any objections to another platform with more agreeable terms of service. But what specifically to Slack's terms is objectionable? I'm also interested in how others feel about Slack. Is it good for the community or should we look elsewhere? Best, Clifford -- @osm_seattle osm_seattle.snowandsnow.us OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch
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