Re: Linking to non-free websites from gnome.org

[Olav Vitters <olav vitters nl>]

On Tue, Jan 06, 2015 at 06:41:23PM +0000, Magdalen Berns wrote:
> The point about that really is that the recent campaign seems to have
> demonstrated that in principle, GNOME already has the infrastructure which
> could allow them to accept money for any given crowdfunding campaign on
> behalf of community driven projects (and any general fundraising too, of
> course). Assuming that this infrastructure is based on free software and
> that it comes without the same kinds of fees as all the crowdfunding sites
> do.

It might be possible to create something like this, but at the moment
GNOME doesn't have the same setup. AFAIK there's a difference between
accepting money yourself and an organization on your behalf. It might
not be as easy as it appears.

Instead of talking about what should not be done, I'd prefer if we
encourage something to be done. E.g. either talking to IndieGoGo, above
make specific GNOME infra, or something else. This way someone can step
up.

> Second, linking to a web site is not an automatic endorsement of its script
> > licensing or the practices of its operator.  Lacking semantic operators for
> > hyperlinks, context is everything.  Personally, I trust my readers to
> > understand this.
>
> I think I would have to agree with you when it comes to arbitrary links. If
> for no other reason than that it would be practically impossible to
> regulate. See my most recent for discussion on that though. In particular
> the comment on banners. I do think it is fair to concede that a banner is
> an endorsement. If it wasn't, then banner advertisement would not have
> become the billion dollar market that it undeniably is.

I don't see how having a banner which endorses an campaign automatically
leads to endorsing something else (the company making the campaign
possible). Maybe sometimes, but at the moment we link to Facebook,
Twitter and Google+ for IMO entirely logical and practical reasons.

-- 
Regards,
Olav