As part of an effort to lighten administrative load, we’ll be switching over from a monthly update system to a seasonal one. For quicker updates, follow the wiki or our Mastodon!

These past couple months have seen us grappling with the rapid growth we experienced in months prior and trying to figure out how to best handle the growing complexity of the group.

As a result, we’ve found that as we settle into a routine of having been “launched”, it probably makes more sense to do these blogposts on a seasonal basis so more energy can be focused on the actual work itself.

During this period, we’ve had to deal with a lot of difficult administrative questions, all while working to maintain the health of the chapters themselves. If there was any lesson we took away from the past months, it’s that we probably need to be more cautious with the pace at which we scale.

Getting Ourselves Together

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Before this, our main form of communication to our members was the Signal chat (which moved way too fast) and the website (which was updated way too slow). We started experimenting with more medium-speed forms of communication and eventually decided to settle on having a community wiki.

The wiki was made so that members can post documentation, ideas, chapter updates, and discussion posts. In addition we have a Mastodon set up to make it easier to blast announcements and calls for action.

Of course, getting the wiki seeded and all that documentation filled out takes a lot of work, work which we’re still sifting through. But here’s some of the stuff already on the wiki:

• Official guides for starting a chapter and introducing new people to B40.
• Megathreads where anyone can submit ideas for discussion topics, campaigns, and projects.
• Directories of meeting places, previously held events, and other useful links.

Properly documenting and codifying our processes will help to disperse knowledge which in turn will help to creating less chokepoints for following along and getting stuff done. Hopefully this will spread the load and make running the group more sustainable in the long-run.

There’s also been some requests for clarification (or at least some kind of indication of a plan) regarding governance. We have some early notes posted to the wiki, but building this out will be a long-term project.

Running Campaigns

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In the beginning of February, the social media platform Discord announced rollouts for age-verification. In response, B40 started the first “micro-campaign”, titled Ditch Discord!

We put together some fliers, compiled information about alternatives on the wiki, and set up a mini testing lab to filter out reccommendable alternatives. Overall, it worked rather well.

In the process of doing all this, we’ve created a template others can follow for creating their own “micro-campaign” for an issue they want to target – we try to set these up to be modular and light in their structure so they don’t take much work or overhead to run.

Traditional campaigns tend to be all-encompassing, protracted efforts, with microcampaigns, we can have smaller groups run shorter campaigns on more timely topics.

Chapter Updates

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Some chapters have shown activity while others haven’t. We don’t want to spread ourselves too thin, so we’ll probably focus efforts on the chapters which show promise. We’ll also only list chapters on the main page which have proven they can regularly meet, with other chapters listed on the wiki.

Among our established chapters:

• The Boston chapter has continued to meet on a weekly basis and has found a specialty in discussing anti-surveillance technologies. Plans are in the works to run self-hosting workshops for Matrix/Gitlab.
• The Maryland chapter has partnered with the local LUG and has found a new influx of members as a result. Members have shown an interest in a presentation series but also possibly some ongoing projects.

Among our nascent chapters:

• Our organizer for the Illinois chapter decided to step back, so we’ll be putting a pin in that chapter for the time being. Some members have expressed interest in reviving it but we’ll need more interest before we can proceed.
• Activity in Florida and New York has slowed down. Florida as an area has proven incredibly difficult to recruit from, so we’ll be pausing those efforts. NYC has members, but it has yet to build a consistent core – we’ll be waiting to see where this goes.

Among the areas where members showed interest in starting chapters:

• We’re continuing to recruit members for West Massachusetts, this still looks promising and will probably soon become a target for building.
• We haven’t heard much from the organizers in either California or D.C., so we’ll be putting efforts here on pause.

In addition:

• There’s still interest in running some virtual events: @LM8 is looking at getting a “coding club” set up, while @backdrifting is looking at trying to set up a “reading circle” of sorts. If you have interest in either of these, reach out to either of them for more details.