---- On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 13:36:30 -0500 Vagrant Cascadian <vagr...@debian.org> wrote ----
> I admittedly forget to check the messages from chanserv for channels I > frequent regularly, having personally grown accustomed to the norms of > the channel... In my opinion, it's easy to miss. I had to actively look for it. I use Emacs erc. When I start that program and log in, I'm in a buffer for "Libera.Chat". I then do /join #guix. This opens a new buffer, hiding the "Libera.Chat" buffer and showing a new "#g...@libera.chat" buffer. The ChanServ message is printed to the buried "Libera.Chat" buffer. The "#g...@libera.chat" buffer on connect has a giant wall of text showing who's in the chat. It causes the buffer to scroll to the bottom, hiding anything printed to the top. Scrolling up, I see some links to various topics. I see no rules or guidelines there. > So yes, linking to the Free System Distribution Guidelines implies what > is off-topic, though is still maybe not targeted towards online > communications; it more appears to be written with the audience of > someone making a free software distribution or auditing one. It seems > like the most relevent passage is: > > "A free system distribution must not steer users towards obtaining any > nonfree information for practical use, or encourage them to do so. The > system should have no repositories for nonfree software and no > specific recipes for installation of particular nonfree programs. Nor > should the distribution refer to third-party repositories that are not > committed to only including free software; even if they only have free > software today, that may not be true tomorrow. Programs in the system > should not suggest installing nonfree plugins, documentation, and so > on." > > People often miss the part about not indirectly referring to non-free > software. Even if pointed to the FSDG, it is admittedly a bit hard to > grasp at times just what exactly constitutes "steer users towards > obtaining any nonfree information for practical use" or how it applies > to, say IRC. Individuals in IRC are not "the distribution", though the > new and long-time community members obviously make up perhaps the most > imporant part of the distribution. I agree, it's hard to miss within the FSDG. Aside from linked (and not on a main screen), it's several sections down within the FSDG. > I only bring this up because I regularly see this come up in the IRC > channel, and if an issue frequently comes up, usually that is a sign > that something could be improved in documentation, website, tooling, > etc. ... and when asked for one, I didn't have a good summary to point > to in my toolbox. > > > Maybe it is now my job to propose something concrete, but I was > curious what others thought before diving into details. :) I think your observation matches what I've seen and I think your suggestion to address the problem makes sense. If you know how to and where to do this, great. I wish I could be of more help. I'm only able to cheer you on and give opinions.