[Lnc-business] L-Pedia

Tue Jun 21 13:24:31 EDT 2016

I believe James Gholston is saying he can "fix" it.  He needs the access to
do so.  He can fix the LPedia spam issue too.... but he needs access.  What
I am asking (and it might be ignorant) is if there is already a sandbox for
LPedia or if one can be created (i.e. it can be walled off from other
assets) and a volunteer can take over.  I don't want staff time taken....
but I don't want the asset to be destroyed either.

What can we do to give it over to a volunteer?  To either start over, fix
or whatever?  That is really the answer needed I think.  When I have that
information, I will pursue the appropriate motion to make it happen.....
and hopefully involving NO other staff time other than giving the keys to a
volunteer or creating the sandbox.  I am not a techie, but I know enough to
know that shouldn't be a big deal.

Or alternatively if the Party simply doesn't want this asset anymore, we
can "give" it to a volunteer or perhaps see if LSLA wants to take it over.

On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 11:17 AM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:

> I think the only reason volunteers might not have been given access is
> because of the security opening that allow tons of spam. I don't recall if
> this is hosted somewhere that causes it to also hurt other websites we
> control.
>
> I deliberately wanted L-Pedia to be a volunteer managed site - staff has
> not had interest in trying to control the content of L-Pedia since 2009. I
> believe a few times the volunteers asked Eric Dixon to help trouble shoot
> some things. I think that's it.
>
> What might be nice is for a team (not staff) to rebuild from scratch an
> L-Pedia using the technology they think is needed, and don't even give the
> passwords to staff. That would guarantee prevention of staff interference.
> Unless you all think you can fix the current version which is also fine
> with me.
>
> We are in the middle of trying to fix some LPStore.org issues and plan to
> roll out a new LP.org shortly. I promised info on the Ohio ballot access
> drive to Ken Moellman last Friday and haven't gotten it to him yet. Have
> been working on hiring help and need to finish the approvals and paperwork.
> I have over 200 emails in my inbox and many require follow up work, not
> just reading or forwarding. Sounds easy to delegate, but it's not easy to
> delegate in a way that others don't violate our Policy Manual and chair and
> LNC directives.
>
> L-Pedia is near the bottom of my priorities right now. I removed links to
> it from LP.org in 2010 because the content was so bad. I hear it's improved
> dramatically since then which is a good sign.
>
> If you would like staff to help with L-Pedia before updating the home page
> of Lp.org, and lots of other things, that will require a directive from the
> chair or LNC motion.
>
> Caryn, please consult Eric Dixon, former staff member, copied on this
> email, to see if he can dig up some emails for you on this topic.
>
> I'm thinking we should postpone LP.org upgrade until after the election,
> given all the other stuff that keeps coming up. Whether it's upgraded by
> staff, or an outside company, either way it will take tons of staff time.
>
>
> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>
> On 6/21/2016 9:32 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
>
> That seems reasonable to me, but it seems to me that there is some reason
> that a volunteer was not allowed this access in the past.  Perhaps it was
> just because the right person didn't ask and pursue it.  Which is why I am
> asking and pursuing it.  Simply giving said access seems like it would
> solve this issue.  From what I understand James Gholston of Texas has the
> skills and desire to do this.
>
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 7:27 AM, Brett Bittner <brett at brettbittner.com>
> wrote:
>
>> My thoughts:
>>
>>    - I see the historical content as valuable
>>    - I understand the constraints on staff time and budget
>>    - We are in the midst of the 2016 election cycle
>>    - A termed agreement (until the end of 2016, maybe?) with a volunteer
>>    for short term access for critical updates this cycle (due to its high page
>>    rank) could "band-aid" us through to allow for consideration of staff time
>>    and $$ allocation at our December 2016 session without taking away
>>    resources in the immediate term
>>
>>
>> Brett C. Bittner
>>
>> brett at brettbittner.com
>> 404.492.6524
>>
>> "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much
>> liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 9:13 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
>> <carynannharlos at gmail.com>carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you David.  I am hoping for some discussion, particularly from
>>> those who have been here a while, on the best route.  It seems this an
>>> asset that the Party started and let lie fallow.  From this update it seems
>>> it is inevitable that it will be be undone through a hack exploit or needed
>>> software update if something isn't done, which requires certain server
>>> access which the Party does not want to give to an outside volunteer.  This
>>> presents at least these options (and I would like to hear more).
>>>
>>> 1.  Remove it and kill it (this is going to happen if nothing is done, I
>>> am very opposed to this option and am trying to prevent it)
>>>
>>> 2. Allot staff time and budget to re-open the site for registrations and
>>> administer it (this has been an option all along and not done, I presume
>>> due to lack of budget and need for staff time elsewhere---- if this is
>>> possible, this seems to be the best solution)
>>>
>>> 3.  Appoint and allow a volunteer to have the necessary server access to
>>> do number 2 (this seems to me to be the next best option, but I presume
>>> there are security concerns - not sure why these could not alleviated with
>>> vetting and agreements - a properly vetted volunteer is no less secure than
>>> a staff member)
>>>
>>> 4. Allow LPedia to be transferred to an outside server (paid for by the
>>> Party at a cost not to exceed X dollars), retain access, ownership, and
>>> ultimate control of site, and appoint a volunteer to run
>>>
>>> 5. "Give" LPedia and all the rights to it away to a volunteer or perhaps
>>> see if the LSLA were interested in taking over.
>>>
>>> These are options that seem to present themselves.  I do not know which
>>> is the best of these or other that may be added to the list.  Number 1 is
>>> unacceptable for such a valuable resource.  I have used LPedia quite a bit,
>>> and am one of the few that has editing permissions.
>>>
>>> In Liberty,
>>> Caryn Ann Harlos
>>> Region 1 Representative
>>> (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming,
>>> Washington)
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 8:01 PM, David Demarest <
>>> <dpdemarest at centurylink.net>dpdemarest at centurylink.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Caryn, I would be happy to co-sponsor the motion you suggest below.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Celebrate Life, Set the Bar High and LIVE FREE!*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *The War on Cronyism Begins Now!*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ~David Pratt Demarest
>>>>
>>>> Region 6 Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>>>>
>>>> Secretary, Nebraska Libertarian State Central Committee
>>>>
>>>> <David.Demarest at LP.org>David.Demarest at LP.org
>>>>
>>>> <Secretary at LPNE.org>Secretary at LPNE.org
>>>>
>>>> <DPDemarest at centurylink.net>DPDemarest at centurylink.net
>>>>
>>>> <David.Demarest at firstdata.com>David.Demarest at firstdata.com
>>>>
>>>> <http://www.LP.org>http://www.LP.org
>>>>
>>>> <http://www.LPNE.org>http://www.LPNE.org
>>>>
>>>> Cell:       402-981-6469
>>>>
>>>> Home: 402-493-0873
>>>>
>>>> Office: 402-222-7207
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* Lnc-business [mailto: <lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org>
>>>> lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] *On Behalf Of *Caryn Ann Harlos
>>>> *Sent:* Monday, June 20, 2016 8:09 PM
>>>> *To:* <lnc-business at hq.lp.org>lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> *Cc:* James Gholston < <jamesg at dimensionality.com>
>>>> jamesg at dimensionality.com>
>>>> *Subject:* [Lnc-business] L-Pedia
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I do not recall this being brought up, and this seems like an issue
>>>> who's time for addressing is far overdue.  I inquired with James Gholston
>>>> who has been an administrator of accounts there, and he provided me with
>>>> this information and request.   I'd like to get this discussion going, and
>>>> perhaps if there is interest, speak with some of you about co-sponsoring a
>>>> motion to get this going.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ====
>>>>
>>>> As probably everyone I'm sending this email to knows, our party has a
>>>> history-centric wiki (since 2005) that has very high PageRank and shows up
>>>> heavily in searches. It is likely the biggest online repository that lists
>>>> names of people who have participated in the Libertarian Party (with access
>>>> to some party data, we could crank out a lot of biographical articles).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Situation: MediaWiki is not designed to be maintained without shell and
>>>> ftp access, but only paid contractors and staff have this level of access.
>>>> Meanwhile, the LNC Staff does not have time to maintain react-text:
>>>> 196 LPedia.org /react-text
>>>> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FLPedia.org%2F&h=IAQGLgKMN>,
>>>> and the party doesn't have the resources to pay someone to maintain it.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> What problems do we have that result? Two big ones are visible on the
>>>> front page. Three years ago account creation was temporarily locked down
>>>> when we were getting more than 100 garbage articles and accounts added per
>>>> minute and it's still temporarily down. Also, a needed image permission is
>>>> broken on the server preventing image uploads while the wiki settings
>>>> prohibit linking to external images. The really pixellated image of John
>>>> Hospers isn't really an image. It's a table. ...And it's roughly a third of
>>>> a megabyte. A PNG or JPEG would be a tiny fraction of the size and would
>>>> look far nicer, but it hasn't been possible to add one of those for a few
>>>> years.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Additional problems: The version of MediaWiki we're using is eight
>>>> years out of date -- and that update seven years ago was done by the LNC
>>>> staff spending money. Extensions are needed -- both to add features to
>>>> handle the data on react-text: 205 LPedia.org /react-text
>>>> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FLPedia.org%2F&h=wAQH_h6KR>and
>>>> to control attacks (our PageRank makes us a high value target).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Our main tool for controlling attacks is a bot that runs on my personal
>>>> desktop (written four and a half years ago when successful attacks were
>>>> exceeding what could be humanly controlled in a reasonable amount of time
>>>> as a workaround for lack of server access) -- and stops running whenever my
>>>> machine or Internet connectivity are down, allowing garbage to accumulate.
>>>> We have no meaningful extensions to stop things (a decade-old CAPTCHA
>>>> that's easily bypassed -- especially with the version of MediaWiki we're
>>>> running). With the bot ( react-text: 211 http://lpedia.org/User:WHUMP
>>>> /react-text
>>>> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Flpedia.org%2FUser%3AWHUMP&h=mAQEXDhYU>)
>>>> it's possible to continue to allow anonymous contributions (most of our
>>>> contributions have always been anonymous -- many very substantial) and I
>>>> can bug people for usernames and email addresses and add the manually when
>>>> I know about them or personally recruit them, but reliance on these steps
>>>> is not optimal.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Also, what do we do when a PHP or SQL update breaks MediaWiki 1.12
>>>> altogether?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> My suggested fix: Move react-text: 220 LPedia.org /react-text
>>>> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FLPedia.org%2F&h=KAQGIW0iR>to
>>>> a server where trusted volunteers are allowed under-the-hood access. It
>>>> doesn't need to be anything even remotely fancy or expensive: A shared
>>>> hosting DreamHost account would be more than sufficient. Additional
>>>> volunteer-maintainable party domains -- presently existing or merely
>>>> potential -- could be hosted on the same server and also be maintained by
>>>> volunteers (and/or staff and contractors, time permitting). The LNC staff
>>>> can retain control when they see a need or find time to exercise it, yet
>>>> not be a bottleneck when there's simply too many things to do, not enough
>>>> staff, and not enough time for even just the essentials.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> There are other historical concerns and things that might be relatively
>>>> easy to do to help the volunteers who participate with react-text: 226
>>>> LPedia.org /react-text
>>>> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FLPedia.org%2F&h=QAQES3Arj>(I'd
>>>> like to change the default licence to public domain and I'm concerned about
>>>> the mold/mildew risk to our unscanned surviving archival documents after
>>>> the basement flood), but let me focus on just this one thing right now.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> =======
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have cc'd James on this message so he can keep track and feed me
>>>> relevant information.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> In Liberty,
>>>>
>>>> Caryn Ann Harlos
>>>>
>>>> Region 1 Representative
>>>>
>>>> (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming,
>>>> Washington)
>>>>
>>>> Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> In Liberty,
>>> Caryn Ann Harlos
>>> Region 1 Representative
>>> (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming,
>>> Washington)
>>> <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> In Liberty,
> Caryn Ann Harlos
> Region 1 Representative
> (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming,
> Washington)
> <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing listLnc-business at hq.lp.orghttp://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>

-- 
In Liberty,
Caryn Ann Harlos
Region 1 Representative
(Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming,
Washington)
Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org
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