Evolt Community Info and FAQ (1999)

this is evolt.org's original community info and FAQ from our www.evolt.org 1.0,1999.

Many people wonder what we're referring to when evolt.org talks about its community. Basically, we were founded on the belief that a community of web developers can do a better job at empowering our peers than a corporate entity ever could.

Much like Eric Raymond's now famous essay, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," evolt.org as a group can be faster, nimbler, and in most ways better than its counterparts such as Builder.com and Webmonkey that are owned and operated by large corporations. A famous line from ESR's essay is "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow." We believe that with enough of us working together as a community, we can really make the web a better place for everyone.

Also, unlike many sites, evolt.org is truly run by our community. All of the content, including articles, <tip>'s, news, tutorials and postings to thelist@lists.evolt.org is provided by members of the web community. While some are more active than others in what they contribute, everyone is in some way giving back to the web. It's this unselfish desire to share knowledge with one's peers that we think is the REAL treasure of the Internet.

Becoming a part of the evolt.org community is as easy as registering and posting an article to the site about something related to the Web or commenting on an article with your thoughts and opinions. You can take it a bit further and subscribe to our mailing list where people post and answer questions about the business of the Web on a daily basis. Either way we encourage you to help!

1. How did evolt.org come about?

In December of 1998, Daniel Cody, a subscriber to Hotwired's Webmonkey "monkyjunkies" mailing list, created an archive for the mailing list, because browsing of past email discussions was not an option on the Webmonkey site. Dan intended that the archive be a service for others who spent time discussing the finer points of Web design with him and other Web workers on the list.

Shortly after the archive went up, Hotwired's lawyers contacted Dan, insisting that he suspend the archive. Many members of the monkeyjunkies list were irritated by this, particularly because it appeared that this action was being taken against Dan's effort in order to protect Hotwired's ability to generate ad revenue from the archive they planned to put on their site at some point in the future. In true Net free speech fanatic fashion, many list denizens spoke out strongly against Hotwired's actions.

The flames only escalated when it was discovered that Hotwired claimed a copyright to all posts, a practice uncommon for email discussion lists. In the spirit of "put up or shut up," Dan suggested that disillusioned monkeyjunkies start their own mailing list and community.

About 35 of us responded and began tossing around ideas for what would evolve into evolt.org.

In mid-March, after months of planning and plotting, evolt.org launched its main mailing list, thelist@lists.evolt.org. Although we started off small, word quickly spread around the Net, and hundreds of web developers from around the world were soon exchanging information about the web development industry on a daily basis. Most are drawn by the strong sense of community and its self-moderated style.

On June 1st, 1999, evolt.org re-launched its website as a place where web developers could see up-to-date and relevant news content about the web industry in general. The most applauded feature however, was that anyone could post an article in one of several "centers" or sections of the site that related to a specific area of web development. And evolt.org did not rely on paid writers as other web development sites did, we had the real web developers of the Net providing content. We count this as our most revoluntionary feature to date. Nowhere else on the Internet can a web developer go to find so much web related information written by their peers!

2. What does evolt mean?

When we first broke off from Webmonkey's monkeyjunkies list, we called our merry band "guerillas," since we felt we were taking on the Web development establishment. Of course, the fact that gorillas are an evolutionarily superior type of primate should not be lost on the reader.

As we started brainstorming a theme, we decided that we wanted to "evolve" from the MJ list into something superior, and also "revolt" against the commercial sites created for Web developers, so "evolt" seemed to capture the twin values of evolution and revolution quite well. (Not to mention that the domain was available.)

3. What is evolt.org's purpose?

Our purpose is to promote the free exchange of ideas in a community created by Web professionals without the burden of needing to make money from it. We feel that providing content for the web community by the web community is the best way to actually learn the business of the web. This tends to be the exact opposite of most web development sites, where they hire writers first, developers second.

Phase one of this project is our mailing list where you can ask questions of and engage in friendly disagreements with fellow Web workers about anything Web related. This could be anything from how to set up a Web server to making an array in JavaScript and basically whatever else is keeping you awake at night. (Interpretations of N'Sync lyrics will not be tolerated, however.)

Phase two is actually providing content on our Web site, which consists of tutorials, columns and advice from community members.

4. Who is in charge of evolt.org?

We are a volunteer group of Web professionals who contribute their ideas to setting directions for evolt, as well as handling the the day-to-day operations that a swank site like evolt.org entails.

Very few of the evolt.org administrative team have ever met each other face to face. This is because we're an international group, with members in Iceland, Australia, Chile, Austria, Canada, Norway, New Zealand, and all over the US. For most of us it would be a haul and an expense to visit our closest neighbor. What you see in this site and on our discussion list was created out of cooperative communication via email (and occasionally ICQ).

None of us are compensated for our efforts and contributions, and we continue in the spirit of community to make evolt.org as successful as possible.

5. What can evolt.org do for me?

While we can't promise your sex appeal will increase (we're still working on this one), we think you'll find that evolt.org is unique. We aren't commercial in nature, so our priorities aren't on producing the same tired tutorials about Web design and JavaScript. Instead, we're interested in what's really going on in Web development and genuinely committed to helping each other become more knowledgeable in our respective professions.

6. I'm just beginning, can I still be a part of evolt.org?

Although evolt.org is designed with professional Web workers in mind, we welcome questions on thelist from Web business beginners. You gotta learn somehow.

You can also search our mailing list archives for past discussions on specific topics here.

7. What can I do to help?

The best way to help is to contribute your expertise on our mailing list, since the list is a resource that's only as good as the people who contribute to it. Feel free to contribute articles, tutorials, or news items on our main site.

8. How do I join?

You can join simply by subscribing to our mailing list and introducing yourself. Go on—we don't bite.

9. How is evolt different from other Web groups/sites?

We started evolt.org because we didn't think our interests as Web professionals were being served by corporate sites. We think we can do a better job without the burden of meeting a financial bottom line. We also don't rely on paid writers that aren't Web developers themselves. We rely on our community to provide content that is relevant to what we do as Web professionals.

We hope you'll join us. (Everybody's doing it.)