LFGSS Collective

A place to volunteer to share the role with @Velocio or take over running LFGSS collectively.
A place for a list.

👋

@Spxtz for gen sec

I can offer couple of decades of web dev experience. Anything in the technical realm, I can help with. I'm also located in Australia if that's of any use. Thanks for getting the ball rolling @skydancer

I'm already a union officer and a charity trustee in my spare time, so no. Also I don't post very much!

But I've got experience of setting up a CIC (for an academic charity that publishes a journal, to avoid individual liability for the content we publish) so can definitely help with that.

I'm happy to help out in any way necessary. Can offer mostly time and effort, but also happy to host a server somewhere other than the UK if we go down that road.

Take my money.

Sorry, take our money.

well corrected, comrade.

Also happy to assist.

i'm a commercial contracts solicitor but I can't do a fixie skid yet.

EDIT: will there be a nice kit like the EC1 Collective?

Only if you have a 2.8 watt ftp or something

Happy to contribute time, cash and responsibility...

Great responses so far.
Shall we give it till 31 Dec to commit to taking this on then those up for it to meet online early Jan?

Happy to contribute in any way needed.

Happy to contribute, python developer with some infrastructure experience (I think I remember seeing there was a move to Golang recently, but code is code)

I don't understand this but it sounds brilliant

"the code":

• https://git.dee.kitchen/buro9/microco.sm landing site
  
• https://git.dee.kitchen/buro9/microco.sm-bootstrap styles
  
• https://git.dee.kitchen/buro9/microcosm main API and database
  
• https://git.dee.kitchen/buro9/microweb Django web ui
  
• https://git.dee.kitchen/buro9/microweb-bootstrap styles
  
  

Yes, the Python is that old... no it's not Python 3, no I don't know how to upgrade Django, if and when it needs surgery I would now do so on the production server... I don't know how to deploy any longer.

The Go code is where all the changes really happen, deploying that is a bash script that does an scp of the single binary.

Oh, and technical things.

• The software is fully open source under AGPL.
  
• The database is PostgreSQL
  
• The website is a very old version of Django (no longer supported, difficult to install)
  
• The API and the bulk of the site is Go
  
• A load balancer and cache is implemented in nginx <-- the Nginx config is not in source control but does a lot of lifting so probably needs to be in source control.
  
• Attachments are stored in S3 compatible object storage
  
• Email is sent via Twilio/Sendgrid
  
  

There are 3 servers that do the majority of things:

• LB = Load balancer and cache
  
• WPY = Web Python runs Django
  
• API = Go backend and the database
  
  

To reduce costs it is actually just 3 main servers, but each slightly beefier than they need to be... I found this more cost efficient a few years back so turned off the others... but it's easy to clone to scale horizontally if ever needed

The servers make use of iptables to ensure that only they can talk to each other and that nothing else can talk to them.

Then we use external services to run other things:

• Object storage is Linode
  
• Email is Sendgrid with dedicated IP address
  
  

the servers all run Linux, some of it is old (the Django server runs an old Ubuntu from a decade ago), and some of it is new (the LB runs a modern Debian, the API a modern Ubuntu).

all work is done via the command line when needed... probably less than an hour per week.

if a team of technical people formed, I would teach them how it's organised and grant access, etc.

Am a backend dev mainly working in Go and would gladly help out. Also pretty ofay with db stuff and postgres.

Other threads of conversation:

• Seth from Bike Index (US based) is offering to take the legal entity under their control.
  
• Pignole Fixe are considering a France based entity.
  
• The servers can be moved to Germany quite easily (closer to where the attachments are stored too).
  
• A privacy advocate has proposed a Swiss entity.
  
• Some lawyers/legal types on LFGSS have a DM thread and are considering the compliance side.
  
  

Missing from all conversations is the financial side.

The financial side is critical, it's very boring but it's critical... if you don't pay the bills then the servers get turned off, simple as that.

Something I had considered is OpenCollective, but the risk was that migrating PayPal subscriptions to a new system would too significantly reduce the income, and as it was not quite enough anyway I just didn't ever do this. I think if a collective is formed, if people fill all other roles, then the collective should assign a secretary and start afresh on OpenCollective. We limp month to month at the moment, so I'm confident we'll hit the end date with an empty bank account, a fresh fundraise based on the desire of people to keep the forum alive would likely enable this to be successful and finally get the forum to having several months money in the bank (because now other forums like Pignole will contribute a bit too).

It does look possible to have "officers" in other countries, the servers and systems all over the place, the money running through OpenCollective EU, an entity in US/France/Switzerland... and only volunteers and users in the UK.

Note: even in this scenario... I would step back and fully yield all control. For a collective to be successful, I should reduce myself to an advisor at most, just to point out how things work technically, how situations were approached, etc.

Out of interest, what would each user likely have to pay if there were a monthly payment for access? And would being behind a paywall make things worse or better, as regards the new bill?

edit: sorry, probably a question better off in the main thread?

I skimmed past the bits about sites that monetise users (and this would be that), but yes it introduces a difference.

If you changed nothing at all cost-wise today... £1 per person per month would be enough.

But... not everyone donates, at peak only 300 people did, and PayPal and other payment providers will take their cut (20p or 5-10%, whichever is greater or something like that)...

So the ideal is something more like £10 every 3 months, for ~250 people to yield around £800 per month, and therefore always have a little more being accumulated such that you have a buffer and if you ever need to add a server, there's the money to do so.

You could keep it donations based, no paywall, if ~250 people signed up to a payment structure like that.

This was what I always aimed at, but as people's payment methods expired, etc... well, I just made up the difference and didn't both to do a focused fundraise in recent years.

If I were doing this now, I would 100% set up an Open Collective https://opencollective.com/europe most bills are in € or $, and I would have someone pay the bill on a Wise card, and then be reimbursed from Open Collective... with Open Collective taking the donations, and showing how much is in the bank, etc... the transparency I wanted to give, but couldn't do via PayPal.

I’d happily contribute or be a part of any collective. I’m a web dev so can help on that front.

And can do monthly payments too.

I'm years out of date on tech (python/etc...) but also happy to contribute money, and if I ever get back to tech that too.

I'm a bad Django dev learning Go, if that would be of any help