[sudo-discuss] Gittip spinoff seeks advice on democratic governance & bylaws for web applications

[Sonja Trauss]

Why would you need input from people who aren't very invested in the
project?

On Friday, July 25, 2014, Rabbit <rabbitface at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey all!
>
> Recently there was a controversy at Gittip which resulted in a project to
> fork or rebuilding it with better governance structures and more focus on
> the needs and safety of marginalized users.
>
> They are figuring out how to run a web application in a cooperative
> democratic way that focuses on the needs of the users, as opposed to a
> TaskRabbit like model where a central corporation controls or extracts
> value from their users and makes unilateral decisions.
>
> They're working on bylaws and legal structures for this, and would
> appreciate advice or connections to people with advice.  Talk to them in
> IRC at #atunit, particularly @adrienneleigh, or send me resources to pass
> along.
>
> This is an exciting frontier for the cooperative movement.  What if
> TaskRabbit was owned by the rabbits?  Websites have very concentrated power
> structures compared to the number of users; what are effective ways to get
> input from so many people who might not all be very invested in the
> project?  What other models can we draw from -- credit unions?  What
> lessons can be learned from Wikipedia?  Etc.
>
> This especially matters for this particular use case, recurring donations,
> because some people will be making their living off of proceeds from the
> site and it's important that their voice is heard.
>
> Sudoroom may be one of the largest users of this site when it launches,
> like we are now with Gittip.
>
> -Rabbit
>
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