Hello @loco-council and LoCo folks!
@ilvipero and I took some time to compile some observations and recommendations for the LoCo program. These are things that we think would help bolster your efforts and aid in supporting the program’s health and longevity. We also very much want to put it out in the community square so current and prospective LoCo leaders can also share their thoughts and ideas.
Matrix & IRC for LoCo Teams
IRC Bridging
IRC bridging has some limitations, it comes with its sets of challenges and will result in a degraded experience for people on the IRC side of the bridge. You can learn more here: Limitations on Matrix to IRC bridging | Ubuntu
Moderation
Matrix enjoys a moderator bot called Mjolnir that subscribes to federated access lists. Trolls and haters are likely to be blocked before they reach our homeserver. You can learn more about the moderator bot on this document.
Recommended path forward
- All LoCo related Matrix rooms should be added to the LoCo Space. This will ensure a better user experience as LoCo related rooms will be all under a main space.
- All LoCo related Matrix rooms should follow the standard procedure for room publishing.
Existing LoCos with no activity
- Close IRC rooms that have no users / No active or official LoCo
- Do not create Matrix rooms until there is activity
New LoCos
- Join Matrix as the primary synchronous communication platform
Existing Locos with activity
- Join Matrix as the primary synchronous communication platform
- No bridging
- Move to Matrix and close IRC channels after move
- Bridging can be requested but it is not recommended due to the bridging limitations
Please feel free to reach out to Ubuntu Matrix Ops for help: #matrix-ops:ubuntu.com
And check out our newly created documentation for information, how-tos
LoCo Documentation
Update the Create an Ubuntu LoCo page
Most of the content on Create a new LoCo page was pulled from the old LoCo portal with some small changes made during its migration.
Recommendation: Shift from less of a strict TODO list and more into a LoCo creation journey. An initial page for general requirements. It appears that historically Ubuntu Membership was required to start a LoCo. This sets the bar very high especially if we want to encourage new folks to get involved.
A second page that helps bootstrap a new LoCo with some tips and tricks to getting off the ground. Many of you on the council have led very successful LoCo teams and your knowledge and insight would be extremely valuable to a new team leader.
Revise the LoCo reverification page
We’ve had some questions from current LoCo leads about the verification and reverification process.
Recommendation: Ensure the process and requirements of verification and verification is clear and up to date.
Establsh a LoCo Team Ownership change process
We do not currently have a formal takeover process. This is something that will be important to establish as we have a high number of inactive teams and folks who have expressed willingness to take the helm.
Recommendation: Establish a formal LoCo Team ownership change process and add it to a new topic here that will be added to the LoCo documentation.
LoCo Communications
Team Mailing lists
We’ve seen a significant drop in usage across the majority of mailing lists on lists.ubuntu.com with the majority of the LoCo team mailing lists being devoid of activity for a long period of time.
Recommendation: Close all non-active LoCo mailing lists and move LoCo communications to their respected Discourse category. Encourage new LoCos to forgo a mailing list and utilize Discourse and other more modern, newcomer friendly platforms.
LoCo Council Communications
Along with the LoCo teams mailing lists, the LoCo council may also want to consider moving away from mailing lists for the reasons mentioned above.
Recommendation: We have a LoCo Council Group here on the Discourse that allows the community to send private messages to the members. Everyone within the group will have a dedicated loco-council mailbox and will also receive email notifications when the group receives a new private message. We also are in the process of getting Mail-to-Reply functionality enabled on the Discourse which will allow for a more traditional, mailing list like experience for those who prefer that workflow.
We also created a private LoCo Council category where members can post things in private in cases of conflict resolution or sensitive discussions that only folks within the LoCo Council and the Community Council need to see.
Thank you all for your incredible work thus far and we can’t wait to work with you on making the Ubuntu Local Community program the very best it can be!