Jonathan Bossenger 11:55 am on July 29, 2019

Proposal to update the Meetup Organiser Handbook

In light of recent news, I would like to suggest an update to the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. Organiser Handbook.

At the moment the page on Meetup program basics has a small paragraph under the good faith rules about the GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. and how it relates to meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and meetup organisers.

On the other hand, the WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organiser handbook has an entire page dedicated to the requirements of being a WordCamp organiser, with a specific section on the GPL. The language on this page is also stronger and more clearly defines what we require from a WordCamp organiser, regarding the GPL.

As we don’t want to duplicate pages across handbooks, I’d like to propose that we update the Meetup program basics page so that the requirements for meetup organisers and the GPL is clearer and more explicit.

Additionally, we may want to also review the Meetup orientation script, to include these updated requirements, that a prospective organiser agrees to.

Comments and suggestions are welcome, I’ll leave comments open for 2 weeks.

Birgit Pauli-Haack 12:00 pm on July 29, 2019

Thank you, @psykro for taking this on!

I don’t think the language on the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizer page is strong enough expressing how strongly we might feel about it. haha.

“We also ask everyone that organizes WordPress Chapter Meetup to uphold the principles of the WordPress open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project, including the GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples.. This helps protect the user/attendee, who might not realize that by using a non-GPL pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party or theme, they are giving away the rights that WordPress provides them” is sufficient.
The paragraph is placed below the Five Rules = the strict rules, and we ‘kindly ask’. For someone who is not an English native speaker and maybe even you are a native english speaker, this doest not read ‘ adhere to it or else’.

In comparison, the WC organizer document calls it “additional requirements:”
“Do not promote others who fail to respect the WordPress license or trademark. If a business or person does not distribute WordPress-derivative code promotes businesses or people who do, they should meet the above guidelines.”

And
“As the primary organizer, it will be your responsibility to ensure that these expectations are met by all members of the organizing team, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers.”
- kcristiano 12:06 pm on July 29, 2019
  
  Agree 100% to at least link to the WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. page. I would not be opposed to duplicating either if that made it clearer to those review the meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. requirements.
  - Birgit Pauli-Haack 12:11 pm on July 29, 2019
    
    I thought about this, too, but when I think it through, it might not be effective for the following reasons: 1) the reader, who just wants to find out about MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. processes, get’s lost in the “WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Organizer Handbook” and might not find it’s way back 2) the reader might think, It is only for WordCamp Organizer, they don’t mean it for Meetup Organizers, as it’s not in their handbook.
    
    If we really mean it to apply to both Meetup and WordCamp organizer, I think we need to be explicit and put it next to the Five Rules and make them Six.
  - Jonathan Bossenger 12:33 pm on July 29, 2019
    
    @kcristiano I think duplicating the page content is bad for SEO, so my suggestion is to take the content from the WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. one, and reword slightly to work for MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook..
    - kcristiano 12:35 pm on July 29, 2019
      
      @psykro In this case I would not care for SEO at all, I’d want to be as clear as possible. I don’t believe there is any need to reword as rewording would make the two potentially different.
      
      This is more about clarty in my opinion than SEO.
      - Jonathan Bossenger 12:36 pm on July 29, 2019
        
        @kcristiano 100%, my plan is to draft the updates in a shared doc for review first anyway, so we can all make sure it’s as clear as possible.
Rocio Valdivia 12:04 pm on July 29, 2019

+1 to this 🙂
Andrea Middleton 12:51 pm on July 29, 2019

Since most WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers come to us through meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizing, I agree it would be smart to have the “Representing WordPress” information in the Meetup handbook. I’m not worried about the SEO risks around duplicating content.
Jonathan Bossenger 6:44 pm on July 29, 2019

Based on the generally positive feedback to this proposal, I have updated the meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. program basics page, to include the content from the Representing WordPress page in the WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Organizer Handbook.
- Hugh Lashbrooke 5:41 pm on July 30, 2019
  
  Thanks for handling that!
imath 8:51 pm on August 1, 2019

I totally agree, it’s important organizers show the example.
Jonathan Bossenger 9:16 am on August 2, 2019

Based on the feedback on this post, and the fact that the handbook has already been updated with no complaints, I’m closing comments on this post. Thanks all.

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Proposal to update the Meetup Organiser Handbook

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