Orin

I have no idea whether this is important, but should the people in that group be distributed geographically as well? Would it be a good or a bad thing if they were all from the US?

IANAL, but...
 
In the absence of a will, the court would first determine who is to be the executor or administrator of the estate. There's a hierarchy to follow for this process, beginning with certain values of 'kin', which a court representative is supposed to explore. That person is then empowered to determine the value of the estate. In the case of these sites, because they are not operated to produce a profit for the owner, the question becomes what was the value for which Bill had been running them. The intrinsic value of these sites is simply to benefit the community which use them. A cogent executor or administrator might then inquire about this, and then use the willingness of the community to take responsibility for it to guide the disposition of the sites.
 
The executor would note that Bill's friends had paid for his funeral expenses, and ask them for input. Knowing what the community's goals are would make it possible for us to help guide that decision. And if we are selected to be Administrator, so much the better.

Once upon a time, while a contractor on a project for the US Air Force, I created something that no direct hire was knowledgeable about. I actually had to explain to management that there would be nobody to take over if they were to terminate my contract or I was hit by a bus. In the avionics world, any single point of failure is a red flag situation. That applies not just to hardware, but to personnel as well. It also applies here.
 
I think it would be prudent to make sure that there is at least one backup or alternate to cover each role. Having a single point of failure in any aspect of an organization, such as only one person being able to handle hosting or financial issues, leaves things in a precarious position if that one person is hit by a falling jet engine, or becomes unavailable for some other reason.

IANAL, but...
 
In the absence of a will, the court would first determine who is to be the executor or administrator of the estate. There's a hierarchy to follow for this process, beginning with certain values of 'kin', which a court representative is supposed to explore. That person is then empowered to determine the value of the estate. In the case of these sites, because they are not operated to produce a profit for the owner, the question becomes what was the value for which Bill had been running them. The intrinsic value of these sites is simply to benefit the community which use them. A cogent executor or administrator might then inquire about this, and then use the willingness of the community to take responsibility for it to guide the disposition of the sites.
 
The executor would note that Bill's friends had paid for his funeral expenses, and ask them for input. Knowing what the community's goals are would make it possible for us to help guide that decision. And if we are selected to be Administrator, so much the better.

IANAL, but...
 
In the absence of a will, the court would first determine who is to be the executor or administrator of the estate. There's a hierarchy to follow for this process, beginning with certain values of 'kin', which a court representative is supposed to explore. That person is then empowered to determine the value of the estate. In the case of these sites, because they are not operated to produce a profit for the owner, the question becomes what was the value for which Bill had been running them. The intrinsic value of these sites is simply to benefit the community which use them. A cogent executor or administrator might then inquire about this, and then use the willingness of the community to take responsibility for it to guide the disposition of the sites.
 
The executor would note that Bill's friends had paid for his funeral expenses, and ask them for input. Knowing what the community's goals are would make it possible for us to help guide that decision. And if we are selected to be Administrator, so much the better.

I agree that any new owner can decide that, but we need to plan for the eventuality (one that is not assured) that the community needs to decide what the ownership is. We can do that as a contingency plan that may become moot if a single owner emerges.

Once upon a time, while a contractor on a project for the US Air Force, I created something that no direct hire was knowledgeable about. I actually had to explain to management that there would be nobody to take over if they were to terminate my contract or I was hit by a bus. In the avionics world, any single point of failure is a red flag situation. That applies not just to hardware, but to personnel as well. It also applies here.
 
I think it would be prudent to make sure that there is at least one backup or alternate to cover each role. Having a single point of failure in any aspect of an organization, such as only one person being able to handle hosting or financial issues, leaves things in a precarious position if that one person is hit by a falling jet engine, or becomes unavailable for some other reason.

Is anyone here keeping track of the offers of help? (That's not me, as I'm here to intercede between this community and the group working on closing out Bill's affairs and preserving the sites so they can be handed off to the community, NV court willing.)
 
I've seen several offers about running and maintaining this site so far. If the reviews site is going to be preserved, as some here have desired, then the editorial tasks that Bill had performed would also need to be done, except perhaps as a shared responsibility, much like moderation on the forum.
 
There's also been a call for a steering committee to make recommendation about the objective(s) of this community going forward, and whether it should advocate for change that would improve the lives, livelihood, legal standing and safety of sex workers. That will take people as well. And finally, if a legal entity is created to own the sites and represent the community, people would be needed for that as well.
 
'Team Washington', which includes Bill's friends in other states, has scheduled a second mission to Las Vegas this weekend to deal with more of the arcane matters, and the gears of the legal system will be engaged shortly. Whatever happens, it would be wise for there to be a plan in place when the time comes to take action.
 
So please keep up this discussion, and work towards some decisions about your collective future.

Once upon a time, while a contractor on a project for the US Air Force, I created something that no direct hire was knowledgeable about. I actually had to explain to management that there would be nobody to take over if they were to terminate my contract or I was hit by a bus. In the avionics world, any single point of failure is a red flag situation. That applies not just to hardware, but to personnel as well. It also applies here.
 
I think it would be prudent to make sure that there is at least one backup or alternate to cover each role. Having a single point of failure in any aspect of an organization, such as only one person being able to handle hosting or financial issues, leaves things in a precarious position if that one person is hit by a falling jet engine, or becomes unavailable for some other reason.

Early this morning, something happened at the hosting company, and the site fell through a wormhole. I'd been talking with @RadioRob about it yesterday, and contacted him. For most of the day, he's been busy rescuing the site. Since he couldn't get it to work on the old server, he copied it to another one, and set up a new URL, M4M-forum.org to point to it. Now that it's working in its new home, the old site re-directs to the new one, where you should be now. Please bookmark the new URL.
 
Once we have updated the DNS entries for the old site's URL to point to the new server, the redirect will no longer be needed and the old server can be relinquished. There is other work to do for moving the review site.
 
All of this means that it is time to decide who will own and run this place.

Once upon a time, while a contractor on a project for the US Air Force, I created something that no direct hire was knowledgeable about. I actually had to explain to management that there would be nobody to take over if they were to terminate my contract or I was hit by a bus. In the avionics world, any single point of failure is a red flag situation. That applies not just to hardware, but to personnel as well. It also applies here.
 
I think it would be prudent to make sure that there is at least one backup or alternate to cover each role. Having a single point of failure in any aspect of an organization, such as only one person being able to handle hosting or financial issues, leaves things in a precarious position if that one person is hit by a falling jet engine, or becomes unavailable for some other reason.

Once upon a time, while a contractor on a project for the US Air Force, I created something that no direct hire was knowledgeable about. I actually had to explain to management that there would be nobody to take over if they were to terminate my contract or I was hit by a bus. In the avionics world, any single point of failure is a red flag situation. That applies not just to hardware, but to personnel as well. It also applies here.
 
I think it would be prudent to make sure that there is at least one backup or alternate to cover each role. Having a single point of failure in any aspect of an organization, such as only one person being able to handle hosting or financial issues, leaves things in a precarious position if that one person is hit by a falling jet engine, or becomes unavailable for some other reason.

Thanks. If you haven't found it elsewhere, we're Bill's friends and co-workers. Deb and I have known him since 1978. He even officiated at our wedding in 1994.

Is anyone here keeping track of the offers of help? (That's not me, as I'm here to intercede between this community and the group working on closing out Bill's affairs and preserving the sites so they can be handed off to the community, NV court willing.)
 
I've seen several offers about running and maintaining this site so far. If the reviews site is going to be preserved, as some here have desired, then the editorial tasks that Bill had performed would also need to be done, except perhaps as a shared responsibility, much like moderation on the forum.
 
There's also been a call for a steering committee to make recommendation about the objective(s) of this community going forward, and whether it should advocate for change that would improve the lives, livelihood, legal standing and safety of sex workers. That will take people as well. And finally, if a legal entity is created to own the sites and represent the community, people would be needed for that as well.
 
'Team Washington', which includes Bill's friends in other states, has scheduled a second mission to Las Vegas this weekend to deal with more of the arcane matters, and the gears of the legal system will be engaged shortly. Whatever happens, it would be wise for there to be a plan in place when the time comes to take action.
 
So please keep up this discussion, and work towards some decisions about your collective future.

Thanks for weighing in, @stevenkesslar. There's a lot to discuss.
 
When considering the possibility of creating a non-profit, it matters which kind it is. The first kind that comes to mind, 501©(3) organizations, are prohibited from engaging in any political campaign intervention activities. If this community intends to advocate for the rights and safety of sex workers, it could get drawn into a political context, and that could be dicey. On the other hand, 501©(6) organizations, which is the kind that Deb and Andy, another member of our crew, have been talking up, may engage in political campaign intervention activities so long as such activities do not represent their primary activity. That description matches what you've laid out above. What other choices are there, and what are their capabilities and restrictions?
 
I had been thinking that I should be hands-off regarding the decisions reached here, but the role you've suggested, to help validate the group of people who would be making those recommendations, sounds reasonable to me. My thoughts on that are these: this committee ought to include a representative of each type of stakeholder. So please enumerate those roles, and we can match people to the roles.
 
It's funny. This situation reminds me of a series of short stories that I wrote several years ago for my blog. It started off with a court case about the first corporation to be tried for murder after they were granted full personhood by the Supreme Court. As the cycle played out, the court-appointed person who took over the board of directors mandated that the staff become unionized, and that a representative of that union be added to the board, because they were key stakeholders in the punishment meted out to the company. A side-effect of that involvement was that the employees became a community, and that community took up the cause of activating customers in the process of controlling corporations.

Thanks for weighing in, @stevenkesslar. There's a lot to discuss.
 
When considering the possibility of creating a non-profit, it matters which kind it is. The first kind that comes to mind, 501©(3) organizations, are prohibited from engaging in any political campaign intervention activities. If this community intends to advocate for the rights and safety of sex workers, it could get drawn into a political context, and that could be dicey. On the other hand, 501©(6) organizations, which is the kind that Deb and Andy, another member of our crew, have been talking up, may engage in political campaign intervention activities so long as such activities do not represent their primary activity. That description matches what you've laid out above. What other choices are there, and what are their capabilities and restrictions?
 
I had been thinking that I should be hands-off regarding the decisions reached here, but the role you've suggested, to help validate the group of people who would be making those recommendations, sounds reasonable to me. My thoughts on that are these: this committee ought to include a representative of each type of stakeholder. So please enumerate those roles, and we can match people to the roles.
 
It's funny. This situation reminds me of a series of short stories that I wrote several years ago for my blog. It started off with a court case about the first corporation to be tried for murder after they were granted full personhood by the Supreme Court. As the cycle played out, the court-appointed person who took over the board of directors mandated that the staff become unionized, and that a representative of that union be added to the board, because they were key stakeholders in the punishment meted out to the company. A side-effect of that involvement was that the employees became a community, and that community took up the cause of activating customers in the process of controlling corporations.

Early this morning, something happened at the hosting company, and the site fell through a wormhole. I'd been talking with @RadioRob about it yesterday, and contacted him. For most of the day, he's been busy rescuing the site. Since he couldn't get it to work on the old server, he copied it to another one, and set up a new URL, M4M-forum.org to point to it. Now that it's working in its new home, the old site re-directs to the new one, where you should be now. Please bookmark the new URL.
 
Once we have updated the DNS entries for the old site's URL to point to the new server, the redirect will no longer be needed and the old server can be relinquished. There is other work to do for moving the review site.
 
All of this means that it is time to decide who will own and run this place.

Is anyone here keeping track of the offers of help? (That's not me, as I'm here to intercede between this community and the group working on closing out Bill's affairs and preserving the sites so they can be handed off to the community, NV court willing.)
 
I've seen several offers about running and maintaining this site so far. If the reviews site is going to be preserved, as some here have desired, then the editorial tasks that Bill had performed would also need to be done, except perhaps as a shared responsibility, much like moderation on the forum.
 
There's also been a call for a steering committee to make recommendation about the objective(s) of this community going forward, and whether it should advocate for change that would improve the lives, livelihood, legal standing and safety of sex workers. That will take people as well. And finally, if a legal entity is created to own the sites and represent the community, people would be needed for that as well.
 
'Team Washington', which includes Bill's friends in other states, has scheduled a second mission to Las Vegas this weekend to deal with more of the arcane matters, and the gears of the legal system will be engaged shortly. Whatever happens, it would be wise for there to be a plan in place when the time comes to take action.
 
So please keep up this discussion, and work towards some decisions about your collective future.

As a long time lurker I want to thank @Orin & @RadioRob so much for getting things back "up". Bravo!!

The tech side won’t be too hard to maintain long term. I don’t mind helping on that front as it’s not a lot of effort required once things are stable. I think the bigger thing is thinking through succession planning. How do you document everything, and have details on what tools are used, where those tools are, passwords etc and have it stored in a way that does not compromise security?
 
For example I could put all of the info in a safety deposit box, and list a few folks as authorized to access it. It could be stored in an escrow account. I could put the details in the server itself. It could just be given to a few trusted people with the hope they never abuse the contents of that file. There are MANY ways of doing this, but what is the BEST way is what still needs to be determined. (Again, it would be 100 percent the keys to the kingdom.)
 
My goal is to think through how to make the community as self-sustaining from a physical access process as possible, but also not opening the community to unnecessary risk.

Is anyone here keeping track of the offers of help? (That's not me, as I'm here to intercede between this community and the group working on closing out Bill's affairs and preserving the sites so they can be handed off to the community, NV court willing.)
 
I've seen several offers about running and maintaining this site so far. If the reviews site is going to be preserved, as some here have desired, then the editorial tasks that Bill had performed would also need to be done, except perhaps as a shared responsibility, much like moderation on the forum.
 
There's also been a call for a steering committee to make recommendation about the objective(s) of this community going forward, and whether it should advocate for change that would improve the lives, livelihood, legal standing and safety of sex workers. That will take people as well. And finally, if a legal entity is created to own the sites and represent the community, people would be needed for that as well.
 
'Team Washington', which includes Bill's friends in other states, has scheduled a second mission to Las Vegas this weekend to deal with more of the arcane matters, and the gears of the legal system will be engaged shortly. Whatever happens, it would be wise for there to be a plan in place when the time comes to take action.
 
So please keep up this discussion, and work towards some decisions about your collective future.

Is anyone here keeping track of the offers of help? (That's not me, as I'm here to intercede between this community and the group working on closing out Bill's affairs and preserving the sites so they can be handed off to the community, NV court willing.)
 
I've seen several offers about running and maintaining this site so far. If the reviews site is going to be preserved, as some here have desired, then the editorial tasks that Bill had performed would also need to be done, except perhaps as a shared responsibility, much like moderation on the forum.
 
There's also been a call for a steering committee to make recommendation about the objective(s) of this community going forward, and whether it should advocate for change that would improve the lives, livelihood, legal standing and safety of sex workers. That will take people as well. And finally, if a legal entity is created to own the sites and represent the community, people would be needed for that as well.
 
'Team Washington', which includes Bill's friends in other states, has scheduled a second mission to Las Vegas this weekend to deal with more of the arcane matters, and the gears of the legal system will be engaged shortly. Whatever happens, it would be wise for there to be a plan in place when the time comes to take action.
 
So please keep up this discussion, and work towards some decisions about your collective future.

Reading you apologize for "extensive downtime" is like hearing a doctor say, "I'm sorry it took me so long to save your life."
You are my hero?, and no apology is needed.

Thanks. If you haven't found it elsewhere, we're Bill's friends and co-workers. Deb and I have known him since 1978. He even officiated at our wedding in 1994.

Early this morning, something happened at the hosting company, and the site fell through a wormhole. I'd been talking with @RadioRob about it yesterday, and contacted him. For most of the day, he's been busy rescuing the site. Since he couldn't get it to work on the old server, he copied it to another one, and set up a new URL, M4M-forum.org to point to it. Now that it's working in its new home, the old site re-directs to the new one, where you should be now. Please bookmark the new URL.
 
Once we have updated the DNS entries for the old site's URL to point to the new server, the redirect will no longer be needed and the old server can be relinquished. There is other work to do for moving the review site.
 
All of this means that it is time to decide who will own and run this place.