@indieterminacy made me aware on social coding chat about plans to launch a US non-profit organization that involves itself with “everything related to moderation” and intends to be financially sustainable (I turned Google Docs into PDF’s):
from jaz@toot.wales, room #democratic-fediverse:matrix.org:
Greetings all, I hope this stimulates some discussion.
Some of you know I have been working on non-profit funding to create an organisation (“IFTAS”) to support moderators and admins. This is a non-profit entity that employs moderators and advisors to improve the tools and policies we have access to, and to present a strong voice to platform developers describing the tools and features needed to conduct the work. I have been working with Yoel Roth, the TSPA, and a number of academic organisations involved in digital society and moderation research. In general I want to help build a strong platform for funding content moderation as a vital activity to preserve safety and integrity in federated social networks.
An overview of IFTAS is here:
Draft Visible of Independent Federated Trust and Safety.pdf (1.1 MB)
A WIP team roster is here:
IFTAS Team.pdf (96.0 KB)
My next step is to invite up to 12 active moderators to join the Moderator Panel and/or to offer to lead one of the working groups. If you are unable to volunteer your time we will be offering stipend positions (once we’ve secured funding) anticipated to be up to 8 hours per month to help direct the activities of IFTAS, and the various activities to be performed by contractors and resource providers such as legal guidance, training materials, research and more. (There will also be salaried moderator jobs, but those are not open just yet)
My goal for IFTAS is to be a part of steering some of this energy into continuing to support the moderator community, to enable access to a wider set of resources, and to ensure our voices are heard at the heart of the protocol and platform development activities.
If you have interest, feedback, or questions, please email me directly at [redacted] - and I’m happy to answer general questions here also, please DM as needed.