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Some time ago it was asked and affirmed that this site should reach out to organizations beside OSI. Some of us committed to this task.

What is the status of this reaching out?

  • Has contact been made?
  • By whom?
  • To whom?
  • With what request?
  • What was the response?

Edit: Posting the above as an answer to the linked question seems wrong to me. I am asking a question, not answering one.

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  • possible duplicate of Should we reach out to all organizations? Please place any questions concerning updates there.
    – Zizouz212
    Jul 12, 2015 at 14:57
  • @Zizouz212 might that not get into a bit of an extended discussion then though?
    – overactor
    Jul 12, 2015 at 15:40
  • @Zizouz212 Where exactly?
    – user490
    Jul 12, 2015 at 15:41
  • 1
    I'd leave this open, myself. OK, it's two different places, but trying to fit it all over there is going to cause chaos.
    – ArtOfCode Mod
    Jul 12, 2015 at 17:06
  • That being said, I think I'm inclined to agree on a different central location. Close vote retracted!
    – Zizouz212
    Jul 13, 2015 at 3:13

2 Answers 2

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  • Has contact been made? By whom? To whom?
    Yes. I contacted both the FSF and Creative Commons.

  • With what request?
    This is the text of my email:

    My name is [me], and I am contacting you in my role for the website Open Source Stack Exchange, where I am a user.

    OS.SE is a newly-set up site in the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites, focused around the topic of open and free information. Since our launch a week ago, we have reached out to organisations such as the Open Source Initiative and Creative Commons. The OSI has since contacted us in return, and we have worked out an understanding between the two of us.

    We would now like to know if the FSF would be interested in doing something similar. We are a Q&A site, well positioned to answer questions about free software and free information. The FSF is a well-known name within the open source and free software communities. If an understanding could be reached between us, it would benefit us both.

    We'd love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me back with any questions you have, or if you wish to set up an account on OS.SE so you can talk to us in the realtime chat feature we have. You will need to have 20 'reputation' to enter chat, but we can ask an administrator to override this for this case.

    I look forward to hearing back.

  • What was the response?
    The non-existent one, you mean? I'm still waiting on a response. If/when I get one, I'll tell people (in chat, probably), and I'll update this post.

Update: 3 August 2015

I have now received a response from the FSF, which essentially asked for more detail about what I was proposing. It also noted that the FSF would be reluctant to directly support something calling itself "Open Source". I have emailed back, elaborating and explaining that we do include free software and are looking to get the name changed.

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  • Thank you. Yes, please update your post if you have any news.
    – user490
    Jul 12, 2015 at 17:49
  • 2
    It worries me a little bit that a potential name change was not mentioned in the mail, but what's done is done.
    – overactor
    Jul 12, 2015 at 18:42
  • @overactor indeed. I didn't include it for two reasons: one, I didn't think it would do much for us. If they contact back saying no thanks because of the name I can mention it. Two, because I copied this email from the email I sent CC, which had no mention in it either.
    – ArtOfCode Mod
    Jul 12, 2015 at 20:46
  • I'm getting mine out...
    – Zizouz212
    Jul 13, 2015 at 3:10
  • @overactor I agree. If they're interested, we'll talk about it.
    – Zizouz212
    Jul 14, 2015 at 13:45
  • I'm kind of interested in what you replied to them. Also, do you think it would be a better idea to split up the organizations by post, that way the responses can be together with their respective organizations?
    – Zizouz212
    Aug 4, 2015 at 1:18
  • @Zizouz212 sounds good to me - but whole email threads in answers is going to get very long, so I'm paraphrasing here. I'm happy to drop the full text into chat, though.
    – ArtOfCode Mod
    Aug 4, 2015 at 8:47
  • Alright sure :)
    – Zizouz212
    Aug 4, 2015 at 8:48
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Who I contacted:

The Open Knowledge Foundation

Timestamp: Some random time on Canada day (July 1st for you non-Canadian folks)

Email content:

Hi!

I'm Zin and I'm one of the community members at Opensource.stackexchange.com. The site is part of a broad community of sites, supported by Stack Exchange. We've reached out, or are reaching out to many organizations, including the Open Source Initiative, the Free Software Foundations, and Creative Commons. The OSI has contacted us in return, and as such, we have worked out an understanding.

For some background, we are a Q & A site, attempting to answer questions on open source, and the “open” movement and open information. A supporter in the Open Definition, we would like to have an understanding and your support.

Feel free to contact me back. If you wish, you may set up an account on the site to talk to us in real time, as well as receive the benefits of asking and answering questions. You can talk to us in one of our chatrooms too.

I look forward to hearing back,
Zinedine

The Response... :P

## - Please type your reply above this line - ##

Hi Zinedine,

Thank you for contacting us. We have received your email and our team is reviewing your message. We strive to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and best wishes!

This email is a service from Open Knowledge. Delivered by Zendesk

Not much of a response, is it?

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