Hi,

We are writing to you as you are interested in Free Software issues. Some of the issues mentioned below have been discussed informally by some of us, including Frederick Noronha, Vidyadhar Gadgil and Animesh Nerurkar, after there were moderation and ownership changes in ilug-goa@yahoogroups.com over the past year or so, which completely reversed the nature of the mailgroup we had become used to and fond of in the period 2000-2008.

To get to the point, the only mailgroup in Goa dedicated to free software issues (ilug-goa@yahoogroups.com) is de facto oriented towards technical issues only, and discussion on philosophical and political issues is blocked, under one pretext or another.

This overly restrictive moderation policy and practice run counter to the principles of Free Software because technical issues are only half the story. The other, more important, part is the philosophy and politics which have guided Free Software. If these are ignored, then Free Software will inevitably become unfree.

Also, such an approach creates serious blocks in the process of Free Software popularisation, and restricts all discussion to existing users who have some understanding and experience of technical issues. We increasingly see this approach not only in ilug-goa but in FLOSS groups and meets all over the country, and find it exceedingly disturbing.

Whereas we have certain issues with the way ilug-goa is run, there is no inherent conflict between the two groups – in fact, our differences would be similar to those between the Free Software movement and proponents of Open Source software. But we feel the need to create another space where the discussion will not be restricted, and philosophical and political issues will get the importance they deserve.

We are therefore setting up a group: fsug-goa@yahoogroups.com. This group is an attempt to recover lost space, which has been lost due to an overly restrictive moderation and ownership policy which has been implemented over the past year or so on ilug-goa@yahoogroups.com .

We (the moderators of FSUG-Goa) will continue to be members of ilug-goa -- if the owners and moderators of that groups permit this, of course. We would like to invite all members of ilug-goa (including its owner and moderators) and other lovers of free software in Goa to join this group too.

The moderation policy of this group will be as follows: 1. Abusive posts will not be allowed. 2. Posts should be restricted to Free Software issues, broadly defined. 3. Members' posts will be unmoderated. Only if a poster offends against these rules despite three warnings, (s)he will be placed on moderation. Moderators' decisions on this matter will be taken by a majority decision of the  moderators (currently three, as below). 4. We believe in free speech. Other rules, if any, will be evolved only as and when there is an overwhelming opinion that they are needed. Posts will not be blocked, except under exceptional circumstances, as we see this as an attempt to block dissent and discussion.

If you would like to join this group, please send a blank mail to fsug-goa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. And do pass the message on to other people you feel may be interested.

Looking forward to having you as a member of this online community.

Regards, Vidyadhar Gadgil, Frederick Noronha, Animesh Nerurkar

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