[New-imc] new imc collective in victoria, bc, canada

[nick]

I would weigh in to say that you can definitely give it a shot,
leaving up racist crap, but pretty soon you'll be like "ugh!"  I
wouldn't want to convince you to give up your attempt, but many of us
have tried and failed the free-speech-anything-goes model.

peace,
Nick
Houston

2008/10/11 Petros Evdokas <petros at cyprus-org.net>:
>
> CC: Luke Woodyard <luke at skorga.org>
>
>
> Hello Luke,
>
> My name is Petros, I'm one of the volunteers who help out with the work
> of the new-imc from time to time. I'm a founding member of cyprus
> indymedia, and on and off active on a few more of our global work
> groups. (More information about me at the link below my signature.)
>
> I'm very happy that imc victoria has re-organized! Your new site looks
> good, both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
>
> Before the subdomain "victoria.indymendia.org" can be re-pointed to your
> website, our new-imc work group will have to verify that the newly
> re-organized group in Victoria fulfills the imc principles of unity and
> editorial policies. Unti we do that, the tech volunteers who handle the
> Domain Name Server are supposed to hold off with the transfer.
>
> I'd like to help speed up that process, if we can. I have some comments
> to share with you trigerred by a section of your letter to new-imc,
> copied below:
>
> Luke Woodyard wrote:
>>
>> Editorial Policy
>> It is our opinion here at Victoria IMC that everyone has the right to
>> express their views regardless of what they are. As this is not the
>> case in the mainstream media we feel the necessity to create a place
>> where everyone is free to say what they please. We believe in an open
>> dialogue free from censorship, and while this means that some people
>> may find the content of this site offensive, we maintain that the
>> suppression of ideas is far worse. There can be no open discussion of
>> ideas or resolution of conflict if some are denied the ability to
>> speak their piece and air their grievances. At the same time we
>> recognize that we have a responsibility to our readership; if you have
>> a irreconcilable problem with one or more of the articles we have
>> posted here, you can contact the administrators by clicking the
>> 'Contact' link on the front page. It is not typically our policy to
>> remove or edit content but we will review any concerns on a case by
>> case basis with the rights of both the publisher and the public in
>> mind.
>
>
> I would like to ask you to re-examine the approach you propose, with a
> mind to expanding the responsibilities of the volunteers who will be
> doing the editing work of the group.
>
> Indymedia is primarily a political organization of free media activists,
> "embedded" if you wish directly into the core of the global liberation
> movement. That means a lot more editorial responsibility and work than
> what the media outlets of the Opponent demand, ie the Corporate and
> State media, not less.
>
> We have a respondibility for upholding some of the primary values of the
> liberation movement, and especially when it comes to "free expression"
> of racism, sexism and homophobia, to take active steps to curtail them.
> Complementary to that is our mission to promote all items for
> publication that are useful expressions of community efforts to
> disempower, replace and/or uproot the two headed monster of the
> Corporate State.
>
> Both of the above mean that we do not and can not treat everything
> published as "free and equal" in the marketplace of ideas. There might
> be othet outlets for that where that editorial approach might
> appropriate, but indymedia has a mission and a set of principles to follow.
>
> Please consider for example the Editorial Policy proposed by the newly
> formed IMC Singapore:
> "Posts that qualify for hiding:
>
>     * Blatant political or religious advertising (may also be deleted
> if deemed a Google Bomb)
>     * Disinformation/misinformation. This includes attempts to spread
> rumors or impersonate another individual or organisation (may be deleted
> if deemed illegal- e.g. libellous.)
>     * Posts without clear relevance to Singapore or social movements.
>     * Posts which promote racism, fascism, xenophobia, homophobia,
> sexism - or any other form of discrimination.
>     * Cross-postings without localisation to multiple open publishing
> venues, esp. IMCs.
>           o If you want to organize internationally, think of your
> audience and make a sincere effort at localisation, including
> translation. Certain movement announcements or calls for solidarity may
> be alright.
>     * Trolling: Posts that seem devoid of content or analysis and/or
> designed to disrupt, intimidate or upset others without constructive goal.
>     * Flaming: Personal attacks or attacks on groups without attempt at
> dialogue.
>     * Postings in the wrong section: e.g. articles that should be
> linked as 'otherpress' posted as original articles, comments or
> discussions posted as new articles.
>
> Deleting
>
> Deleted articles can only be viewed by members of the
> editorial/moderating collective.
>
> Posts that qualify for deletion:
>
>     * Google Bombs: postings with primary purpose to increase the
> amount of traffic to certain sites
>     * Other efforts to use IMC newswires for (self-)promotional
> purposes or personal communication (including vendettas)
>     * Advertising of products or for-profit services.
>     * Defamatory or libellous posts
>     * Posts that incite violence, are threats of violence or otherwise
> designed to intimidate disempowered members of the community.
>     * Posts author, a family or close community member have requested
> to be hidden
>     * Posts which publish identifying information without the
> individual's knowledge or consent.
>     * Unreadable/unintelligible posts: images or text-only posts
> without relevance, gobledigook, nonsense/flooding, rants without point,
> personal vendettas.
>     * Aggressive Cross-posts: duplicate/repetitive/spam posts and
> cross-posts, especially if posted on multiple unrelated IMCs and other
> open publishing venues (blogs, wikis)."
>
> The above are taken from;
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcSG
>
>
> The approach to editorial duties as expressed in your letter is
> certainly a product of good intentions, but simply asking readers and
> visitors to contact the admin in case an article is offensive is not a
> pro-active stance. There is no section of community self-organizing
> anywhere in the world that does Movement work that way, except among
> some indymedia groups that have lost their way.
>
> I'd like to encourage you to re-visit your editorial policy with an eye
> to implementing a more active involvement with the medium.
>
>
> I hope you'll be able to see that both the local setions of the
> progressive and radical wings of the Movement in your area and the
> global community of people active in the Movement would be enriched and
> better served if you move a little more in the directions I explained.
>
> Thanks very much for your initiative, your great work, your patience in
> reading this, and for your willingness to keep working with us. I look
> forward to seeing the subdomain "victoria.indymendia.org" quickly
> reconnected to your group's website.
>
> Thanks,
> Petros
> http://petros-evdokas.cyprus-org.net/Another-sort-of-Introduction.html