Meeting participants:
Merlijn Sebrecths (@merlijn-sebrechts ), Nils Buchner (@nbuechner), Seth Arnold (@sarnold), Mauro Gaspari (@ilvipero), Aaron Rainbolt (@arraybolt3), Marc Gilligan (@ulfnic).
Meeting Chair:
Marc Gilligan (@ulfnic)
Bots
Integration process
The Matrix Council discussed deployment and development details around bots serving Ubuntu Matrix. A concern raised was the sustainability of having bots running on personal hosting which among other things complicates access. At the same time we didn’t want to over-complicate the rapid development of new bot projects so we came to the following compromise:
- Official bots should be hosted by Canonical
- Exception for new projects under rapid development as long as they’re orientated toward achieving hosting by Canonical.
Maubot
The Matrix Council will talk to the devops side about the process for requesting a new plugin.
Matrix Council Hosting
Echoing the concerns of having bots running on personal hosting the Matrix Council discussed how our tools and documentation are hosted. Among the considerations were,
- Bus factor
- Ease of data export
- People leaving the Council who are hosting private communications and storage
To mitigate these concerns the Matrix Council will restrict self-hosting of private communications and storage to members of the Matrix Council only.
Furthermore these platforms should allow easy export/migration of storage without assistance of the admin with our use of Nextcloud and HedgeDoc setting a good example.
Use of the Ubuntu forum was also discussed as a way to keep everything in one place and offset the need to bunny hop between members self-hosting.
Leaving the Matrix Council
We touched on room memberships and privileges as they relate to members leaving the Matrix Council. One concern was how legacy members often accumulate in rooms they no longer should have access to and the impact of politeness on judgement when having to ask someone to leave.
To address these concerns, leaving members are expected to:
- Proactively leave all non-public Matrix rooms and demote all privileges granted to them as part of Matrix Council involvement.
- Only after all parts of this process are completed should a member request re-joining rooms or re-gaining privileges.
Are Matrix Council Members “Super” Moderators and Matrix Defenders?
Discussion was had over whether Matrix Council membership includes the Defender role and being given the Moderator role in every room.
Issues raised:
- These duties take time away from Matrix Council work.
- Not everyone is suited to be a Defender and/or a Moderator.
- If members are given these roles by default they’ll likely feel obligated or be pressured to perform them.
Issues raised specific to “Super” Moderation:
- Matrix Council members may be used as the first port of call for resolving interpersonal issues which should be handled by room owners and their moderators who are more likely to understand context.
- Performing Super Moderation even when welcomed reduces the stewardship of room owners and their moderators making it less their room and more the Matrix Council’s room.
- Reduction of opportunity for room owners and their moderators to learn and grow into their own.
- Matrix Council moderators being both judge and jury.
Resolution
The Matrix Council believes Defender is a separate role and anyone seeking it should follow the standard process of becoming one.
On “Super” moderation the Matrix Council recognizes instances where it may be necessary, Marc Gilligan (@ulfnic) will draft a proposal and share it with the Matrix Council for review.
IRC
- The council worked on an email reply with libera.chat regarding IRC to Matrix bridging
Documentation
- Changes were made to Getting Started
- How-to complete your Matrix setup was added
- How-to create and configure a public space was added