Call for technical administrators
The problem is easy to understand:
- We need to have more than one person with access to the virtual server (Ubuntu Server LTS on Hetzner) and the domain (Gandi). Otherwise, if something happens to @icaria36 it will take a lot of work to replicate this website by hand.
- It would be very useful to have more than one person with administrator permissions on this Discourse. If we have more people with root access to the server, then they could take over, but… Discourse administration is simple and even fun, so it’s just better to have more admins.
The work expected is… not much? The need for these roles is primarily redundancy. Server updates, the occasional Discourse plugin installation or admin setting… We have contracted automatic daily backups. None of this is much work, or complicated (I’m not a sysadmin at all, and I’m surviving). The Social Music Network is entirely run by volunteers and this is an unpaid role.
The work doesn’t include content or user moderation tasks. Only technical responsibilities. We are preparing a separate call for moderators.
Candidates for server administrator and/or Discourse administrator must have demonstrated prior experience with these roles. They also need to have verifiable credentials that make them easy to trust them. For instance someone already running a server or a Discourse in a community project.
If you are interested, contact me. Sooner better than later since we want to get at least another person while Betatesting TSMN. I will consult with other members I trust before making any decision.
Initial message
(Written on the very first night)
Every project starts somewhere and The Social Music Network has started today with a virtual server and a Discourse instance that right now have a sole contact / root / admin: me. We need to change this. We also need to discuss the governance of The Social Music Network, and we can do both things in parallel.
To me, the governance top priority is to distribute moderator / admin / root permissions. If you have demonstrated experience in any of these areas and you can be trusted (subjective, I know, then again…), volunteers welcome! You can ask any questions or volunteer directly by replying to this post or, if you prefer, contacting me privately. I can offer years of experience in these roles as a volunteer and also professionally, and a dubious yet friendly sense of humor. 
Also important: I believe the diversity of a community starts with the diversity of the promoters and other people in special roles in that community. If this resonates with you, then I especially encourage you to consider one of these community roles. 
