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Lobsters invite process

NOTE 2021-10-07: I wrote these notes in 2020, but as far as I remember I never submitted them to the site as a formal proposal. I may have discussed them on IRC.

I still believe that there’s a tension between filtering out “undesirables” and creating a cultural monoculture. I’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible when inviting people, but the very fact you need to use IRC means there is a filter in place.

Goals

Keep spammers out.

Don’t create a filter bubble by only inviting people who agree with you.

Issues

chat invite is arbitrary - timezone, availability
if declined, how to “reapply”?
privacy concerns

I have some thoughts on the invite process.

First off, the right to invite others, being necessary to ensure a vibrant community, shall not be infringed. Barring misbehavior anyone should be able to invite everyone.

The current one has some issues:

a prospective member can request an invite in the main chat, but due to timezones, unfamiliarity with etiquette, or other reasons, not get a timely response
a prospective member can be declined to be invited, but the retry process is unclear
the “standard requirements” of showing a Github profile, blog or so on, can be seen as detrimental to the prospect’s privacy if shared widely in a large channel.

To alleviate some of these issues, I suggest the following.

a dedicated IRC channel be created (#lobsters-invite) and the invite process point to it
the channel will be joined by lobste.rs members interested in extending invites
once a prospective member is invited, they can leave the channel, thus easily showing those prospects who have not yet been extended invites.

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Thursday, 2021-10-07

✽ Tuesday, 2021-10-05

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About this category: “Sometimes I post to lobste.rs, sometimes I write angry rants that end up here but not there”

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