philosophy.shtml

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<p>The <span class="freenode">freenode</span>
philosophy has several components.  The network exists
to provide interactive services to <b>peer-directed project
communities</b>. Peer-directed projects combine open,
informal participation with broad licensing and wide dissemination
of output.</p>




<p>Our basic principles are:</p>


<ul>





<li> <b>Community members benefit from better access to
each other.</b> Putting a number of projects in close proximity
in an interactive environment creates linkages between developers and
projects, and helps community members take better advantage of each other's
work.
<br /><br /></li>






<li> <b>Communication and coordination skills are
important to community projects.</b> Peer-directed projects work because the
paradigm works. Developers and community members are not unusually gifted
at project coordination and communication.  But improving those skills can
make projects work better.
<br /><br /></li>






<li> <b>Friendly interaction is more efficient than
flaming.</b> Calm, relaxed discourse without angry contention
provides for better exchange of information.  Flaming produces situations in
which the listener must contend with the state of his or her emotions at
least as much as with the comprehension of a speaker's comments.
<br /><br /></li>






<li> <b>Project developers are self-driven.</b> No one guarantees your work will be used, but
only you decide whether a project is worth doing.  There is no
single right approach to any design, implementation or support
problem, and friendly competition is a fundamentally good thing.
<br /><br /></li>






<li> <b>Peer-directed project communities need to
grow.</b> Many valuable peer-directed
projects chronically lack skilled, motivated developers with time to
devote to them.  The potential
base for peer-directed project communities includes anyone with the skills
and interest to participate.  These communities must continue to grow.
<br /><br /></li>






<li> <a id="licensing"></a><b>Licensing must be free.</b> For peer-directed projects to
succeed, their creative output must be widely available and usable without
significant restriction.  For software projects, the

<a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian Free Software Guidelines</a>,

the Free Software Foundation's

<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Software Definition</a>

and the Open Source Initiative's

<a href="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php">Open Source Definition</a>

provide guidelines to help ensure that project creative output remains free.
For artistic projects and for the printed word, licenses provided by

<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">Creative Commons</a>

and efforts such as the

<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License</a>

and the

<a href="http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-doc-license.html">FreeBSD Documentation License</a>

help keep creative output free.

<br /><br />

Licensing which preserves freedom is essential to the health and success of
peer-directed projects.

<br /><br /></li>


</ul>


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