Loomio
Mon 17 Feb 2014 5:26PM

Use of diaspora* branding by third parties

G goob Public Seen by 53

This thread is to discuss and agree our approach to instances in which a third party wants to use diaspora*'s branding.

There are several types of case to consider:

  1. Where the branding is the product, such as the recent request by Unixstickers.com to sell diaspora* stickers. Think also T-shirts, mugs and so on.
  2. Where the product the third party is selling can be of benefit to the diaspora* product, such as a web host whose services could host diaspora* pods. We have recently been approached by arvixe.com - see the discussion in our meetings in January and February.
  3. There may be instances in which the product/service does not have any relevance to diaspora*'s project.
  4. There may also be non-commercial requests, e.g. campaigns.

If the branding is requested for a commercial site, what is our approach to any money raised? Do we ask for a cut? Or, for instance with web hosts, ask for a special rate for podmins? Or something else? Of course, our approach might be different if the organisation is a non-profit or whose aims are aligned with diaspora*'s in some way.

Anyway, there are some things to consider, and here is a space to discuss them.

MB

Manuel Bichler Tue 18 Feb 2014 1:06AM

I'm not a legal expert, but isn't everything, including the branding, licenced under AGPLv3?

M

mulkurul Tue 18 Feb 2014 6:09AM

This is a difficult and important question now for the community at large.

One that I have addressed seems like an age ago.

It seems to me that absent a difinitive mission statement, it is unanswerable.

It seems to me that given the autonomous nature of each and every sysadmin, a mission statement would be very difficult to achieve, since it would entail the threat of disassociation for non-compliance. Anathema !

Absent further propositions on this subject, I would suggest eschewing any commercial franchising, at least until the community can rationalize any such ties to the overall ethos of the movement.

This is a very important question that Goob has posited, it was going to have to arise sooner or later; I guess now is later….

Myself, I would prefer to see any economic activity conducted under the auspices of Diaspora HQ, proceeds to be allocated to pods and coders on the basis of need and contribution.

I had mooted this before, but came up against valid hierarchical issues implied by any redistribution system; also privacy.

A few years on into this experiment, now, it is time to revisit these questions.

Perhaps capitalization on a particular sysadmin's pod shouls be entirely a matter for them.

Perhaps the Diaspora 'brand' should be copy left.

Perhaps we should be aware of who would be profiting from it.

I don't often comment on this forum, although I follow it; but I do feel strongly about this. Unfortunately I don't have any answers. Yet .

BP

Bartus Pan Tue 18 Feb 2014 1:16PM

for a long time when I thought about it . I thought of one , why not give freedom when it comes to branding ? If the software is available as open source , anyone can call your portal feigned as he wants . I used to , but very specifically to each page there was something in the style of dev.site.com where the bookmark ' dev' ​​- that is, something on a backstage where access would only interested would always Markup d * but I think that making ( d * ) for commercial applications is one of the keys to success. People who want success ( d * ) , so decentralization - as it was the first idea should strive to facilitate webmaster 's potential and encouraged to build a network with the Diaspora , and that we can get ONLY ! And ONLY if regarding the brand will be full freedom . This topic involves a bit with the creation of a center - a hub , my plan is such that the center mogłobyć something on a facebook - developers. The idea is not completely thought out but it is only an outline

G

goob Tue 18 Feb 2014 1:49PM

Bartus, this discussion isn't about use of diaspora*'s software, but of its branding (the name diaspora* and logos). There have been several requests by companies to use the name and logos of this project in their advertising or their products (such as the stickers mentioned above), so we need to discuss how we will respond to such requests.

Apologies if I have misunderstood you comment, but you appear to be talking about people using the diaspora* software for different purposes.

R

Ryuno-Ki Tue 18 Feb 2014 9:53PM

Hm, how is the FSF dealing with branding of logos?

Maybe we can get inspired by them?

BP

Bartus Pan Fri 21 Feb 2014 2:03AM

@Goob Ok thank's for reply, sorry i was thinkd about something other, but I think that branding should have some educational roles - so anyone who wants to use it, should be able to (this is also advertising and promotion of the idea - which I think was a priority in the creation d) use - with one exception, the responsibility would have to be a reference the diaspora (explanation what it is and why) + eg voluntary submission of the grant. I assume that the more Pods and users, the greater the opportunity. If arrivex would give the possibility to create your own Pods laymen it would be interesting if they could subsidize diaspora organizations = better development.