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Mare Crisium Soviet Socialist Regency
Frequently Asked Questions
==========================
Q1: What is this place?
Q2: What services do you provide?
Q3: What services you do not provide?
Q4: Do you require a payment of a fee?
Q5: How do I sign up?
Q6: What can I do on the system?
Q7: What I cannot do on the system?
Q8: Can you please install $progam on the system?
Q9: How many accounts are there? How many do you plan to have?
Q10: Why putting a cap on the number of accounts?
Q11: OK, but why exactly 48 then?
Q12: Why this name?
Q13: What is the "civil right"?
Q14: How long do I retain my account?
Q98: Are you a Bolshevik spy?
Q99: Why do you sun this server?
Q1: What is this place?
-----------------------
This is a public-access Unix system (pubnix).
Read about the history of pubnix systems
Q2: What services do you provide?
---------------------------------
We provide shell access via SSH to a full-featured text-only Unix
environment. Users can publish stuff via gopher or gemini.
Q3: What services you do not provide?
-------------------------------------
We do not provide web hosting. If you are looking for a place to host
your website, please look elsewhere.
Q4: Do you require a payment of a fee?
--------------------------------------
Nope. The service is and will remain free of charge for all its members.
Q5: How do I sign up?
---------------------
You have to send an email with your SSH public key attached.
Click here for detailed information about the signup procedure
Q6: What can I do on the system?
--------------------------------
You can do whatever your user can do on the system. This includes
executing any program for which you (or the group "sundogs") have "x"
(execute) permission, reading or writing any file for which you have
"r" or "w" permission, navigate via gopher, gemini, http, https, and
a handful of other protocols, mainly to other pubnix systems, sending
email to users in the circumlunar.space colonies, accessing the
federated circumlunar.space IRC network and text-based BBS,
collaborate with other users on the development of software,
documentation, and other shared resources, etc.
Q7: What I cannot do on the system?
-----------------------------------
You cannot send spam, feed torrents, port-scan other machines, mine
crypto-currencies, publish illegal, violent or offensive material, harass
other users, waste system resources, etc. You cannot run your own daemon
or listen for connections on whatever port. You cannot treat other users
in a disrespectful manner, hinder their own activities on the server, or
mess up with their data. In a word: you cannot be an asshole. And if you
behave like one, rest assured you will be kicked out.
Q8: Can you please install $progam on the system?
-------------------------------------------------
The answer is most probably "yes". Just post a request in the REQUESTS
board on the BBS, or email union@soviet.circumlunar.space.
Q9: How many accounts are there? How many do you plan to have?
--------------------------------------------------------------
The number of user accounts on the server is capped at 48. This limit
does not include a couple of accounts needed for server maintenance.
The current number of accounts on the server is visible in the:
Q10: Why putting a cap on the number of accounts?
-------------------------------------------------
Because we want this server and the circumlunar.space universe to be
a tightly-knit community, and there is no way to tightly-knit together
thousands of people.
Q11: OK, but why exactly 48 then?
---------------------------------
This has something to do with the mythical "Dunbar's number"
Read about the Dunbar's number on Gopherpedia
In practice, the idea is that each person can only maintain, at any
given time, a limited number of meaningful social contacts, due to
obvious limits on energy and time. Historically, this number was "set"
to something around 150, but there is a lot of disagreement about the
"correct" value. Anyhow, we want the circumlunar.space universe to
not grow larger than 150 users in total. Zaibatsu is capped at 32.
The Republic is capped at 64. The Soviet has intermediate resources
between Zaibatsu and Republic, and is capped at 48, which is a 32 plus
additional 16. The total is 144. End of story.
Q12: Why this name?
-------------------
The colonies in the circumlunar.space universe share a back-story
inspired by the novel "Schismatrix" by Bruce Sterling. In the novel
there are explicit references to "ten circumlunar colonies", each of
them named after the lunar mare or crater from which the materials
needed to construct the colony were extracted. Only two colonies are
named in full in the book, namely "The Mare Serenitatis Circumlunar
Corporate Republic" and "The Mare Tranquillitatis People's Circumlunar
Zaibatsu". The name of a couple of more colonies is hinted to by
Ryumin upon meeting Lindsay: "What's your home world? Crisium S.S.R.?
Copernican Commonwealth?". Crisium is in fact a lunar mare. What
Stirling had in mind by "S.S.R." is not known, but something like a
"Soviet Socialist Regency" does not sound totally unreasonable in the
Schismatrix universe. And I went for that one.
Q13: What is the "civil right"?
-------------------------------
All Soviet members have the right of having their account terminated
and all the content permanently removed at any time. This is what we
call the sundog's "civil right".
To claim your civil right, create a file with the filename
i-claim-my-civil-right in the top level of your home directory, with
the content "I claim my civil right."
Once you claim your civil right, your account will be deactivated
within one hour, and then it will totally and permanently removed
within one day of your request. The Union take seriously into account
the intentions of the Soviet members. The Union will not seek any
confirmation or approval before proceeding to remove your account
if you claim your civil right as explained above. Do not claim
your civil right lightly.
Q14: How long do I retain my account?
-------------------------------------
Your account had indefinite validity, and you can keep it for as long
as you want. However, the Soviet is focused around participation and
collaboration, particularly regarding gopher/gemini content,
documentation/software, and active involvement in the circumlunar
universe.
The number of accounts at The Soviet is capped to 48 (see Q9), so we
will deactivate your account if it is left unused for more than one
year (365 days). By "unused" we mean an account to which you have not
logged in, or from which you have not published any content for more
than one year. The gopher/gemini content published from a deactivated
account (including phlogs and other stuff) will be moved in the
"inactive" section of the gopher/gemini space.
Your account will also be deleted if one calendar month passes after
the creation of your account and your gopher/gemini is either still
empty, or contains only an absolute minimum of content, e.g. a
"hello world" note saying that the space is under construction. As
soon as one item of genuine content is uploaded, your account is
safe from this consideration.
Q98: Are you a Bolshevik spy?
-----------------------------
Not even for a moment (or am I not?). The name is just part of the
back-story inspired to Schismatrix :)
Q99: Why do you run this server?
--------------------------------
For fun. And to give back to the circumlunar.space community.