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The Barbelith Help section is built as a wiki (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) and is designed to allow all the citizens of Barbelith help one another by sharing important and useful information about the site. If you need help using this wiki then we recommend the User's Guide (meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_User%27s_Guide).
| Table of contents |
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1 How do I join the Barbelith message board and wiki?
2 What is Barbelith?
2.1 Who is Barbelith for? 3 The BARBELITH FAQ
3.1 1) How do I post? (On etiquette and functionality). 3.1.1 Etiquette & Culture 3.2 2) What makes up Barbelith? 4 Colophon
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How do I join the Barbelith message board and wiki?
The Barbelith message board and this wiki-FAQ use two different registration systems.
New registrations to the message board are - at the moment - being handled by an informal process designed to weed out spammers and trolls (www.barbelith.com/topic/20369). Registrations to this wiki are still open, however - you can register at the top right of this page. Registering here will not give you access to the rest of the message board.
To apply to the message board, please email barbelith.apply@gmail.com. Please put the name of the applicant in the subject heading of the email.
Note: there is no "interview process" for membership to the message board. All we need is proof that you exist.
- If you have applied from an institutional address - that is, an email domain representing an academic institution or listed company - then you should receive your login details as soon as possible. You can request that your login be sent to another, non-institutional email, and once this is verified as belonging to you your login details can be sent there.
- If you own a website registered to the email address you are applying from, or which forwards to the email address you are applying from, please send the URL to barbelith.apply@gmail.com. Alternatively, if you have a website which identifies the email address from which you are applying as a contact, this will also work.
- If you do not have any such web presence, but have a MySpace, LiveJournal, or other social site, please make a post using the words "Barbelith" or "satellite", and email this address with a link to that post.
- If none of these choices are available, we can explore other options.
Joining Barbelith can be an inordinately complex process, and we are working to try to fix our applications process, which is currently, as you can tell, not in great shape. Until then, we apologise for the inconvenience and hope that it will not be too onerous or annnoying to obtain a login.
What is Barbelith?
Barbelith is an experimental online community centred around unique message-board software. The aim of Barbelith is to create an online space where the standard of conversation, discussion and debate is higher than anywhere else online and in which everyone has a say in the running and management of the board. We are working to achieve that by gradually devolving power as much as possible to the people who use the board on a regular basis - and allowing them to collaboratively self-define the evolving aspirations of the community.
The first stage of work in this direction was the implementation and gradual refinement of a simple system of Distributed Moderation designed to make the management of problems on the board as simple as possible, while avoiding accusations and fights about abuses of power. In a nutshell, distributed moderation means that no moderator can do any act on the board without general agreement from some other moderators. It means that - within reason - the more moderators that there are the better, as they more accurately balance each other out. Moderators are currently just volunteers, and pretty much anyone who volunteers can now be trusted to moderate. This piece of work has demonstrated that members of an online community can operate much more effectively if given structures that help alleviate the possibilities of abuse and balance work-loads between its citizenry.
Who is Barbelith for?
Barbelith is not a community that celebrates any specific approach to the world but one that is interested in cross-overs, hybridisation and the kind of creativity that comes from having a space open for conspiracy theorists, hard scientists, engineers, cosmologists, mystics, political activists, philosophers, geeks, screen-writers, artists and other creative individuals from all across the world.
The members of Barbelith strongly believe that having open borders for new users is a fundamental part of remaining creative and outward-looking and are trying to find the best balance between free and total access for all and our ability to defend the board from abuse with the hope that we can create vibrant and resilient new ways to connect creative people together.
Where is Barbelith going?
In terms of the future of Barbelith, there are various pieces of work in the planning stages, much of it accumulating around two main concepts: (1) Fluid and community-governed user roles and (2) adaptive (almost political) rule-sets about how the community should be governed that the community itself can change and influence. The first is about (a) finding ways of creating semi-permeable membranes that allow us to take in new members and have them approved by the rest of the community before joining in full (to alleviate spam and troll problems) and (b) creating democratic processes in the board that allow people to move between normal user and moderator status. The second major concept is about creating a moderation structure fluid enough to allow the community to move between anarchic, despotic, democratic or other political models as the board feels is appropriate at any given time.
The scale of some of this work is enormous and complex and not easily compatible with the demands of a more than full-time job. Therefore work in these areas is currently on-hold until the person behind the board can find a way to work in a dedicated fashion on the software or finds the necessary financial resources to work with other people. If you think you can help us move into this new arena then please contact Tom Coates on tom /at/ either plasticbag dot org or barbelith dot com . Rough descriptions of some of the core concepts of this next stage of work are available in a very sketchy form online in the pages on TriPolitica and Thoughts For The Future.
Why the name "Barbelith"?
The origins of our name are less interesting than the possible etymologies that might explain it. Choose the meaning that resonates for you most - will you wish it to refer to the satellite behind the moon that connects you with the Godhead, the "bearded" or "alien" stone? Or perhaps you will find more resonance with "Boibeloth," (or "Boibel Loth") the Celtish language of the trees. If you are interested, though, there's a page about What does Barbelith mean?
The BARBELITH FAQ
1) How do I post? (On etiquette and functionality). |
Etiquette & Culture |
Functionality & Technical Info | |
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2) What makes up Barbelith?
- Barbelith and Revolution
- Barbelith and Important Conversations
- Parts of Barbelith, and FAQs by forum:
6) Barbelith Trivia and Addenda
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