Proposed IRC Channel Policy Change

We would like to change the logging policy for the #galaxyproject IRC channel:

Starting later this fall, the #galaxyproject IRC channel will be logged online in a format that can be searched.

Currently, this channel is not logged anywhere. This change will only be made if the community agrees that a searchable online log would be an improvement. If you have thoughts or comments on this proposal, then please post them to this Biostar thread. In two weeks' time (around September 17, 2014), we'll summarize the discussion and publish a decision.

Proposal Details:

Starting sometime after community discussion ends (and assuming that discussion is favorable):

1. At least two weeks before the change:

   1. Warnings will be added to the IRC channel information and on the wiki, that the log will be publicly archived as of the given start date.
   2. The policy change will be announced on Galaxy Biostar and the Galaxy-Dev and Galaxy-Announce mailing lists.
      
      

2. On the launch date

   1. The IRC channel (and the wiki) will be updated to clearly state that the IRC channel is publicly logged.
   2. Announcements of the change will be posted to Biostar and the mailing lists.
   3. IRC postings from the announcement onward will start showing up in the public log.
   4. The IRC channel log will be included in the Galaxy search engine.

Why now?

The project's IRC channel came up at the GalaxyAdmins BoF meetup at GCC2014, where it was lauded as both a great resource, and cursed because it is not archived anywhere. An action item from that meetup is to propose this change.

The Galaxy Team