We need to decide what to do about the archival project for this Slack.

The discussion is predicated on the assumption that having a public archive is a good thing to do. If you think otherwise, we are interested; ultimately, it is my hope that we can find an ethical solution to the data privacy concerns that also provides a useful archive.

The discussion also should remain grounded in the data privacy issues: the technical challenges that arise from the eventual solution should be, as much as possible, a problem for later.

To start the discussion, I want to provide everyone with some information and background.

1. I developed the site that has been floating around. I now consider it a proof-of-concept: it is possible to use the Slack data exports to generate an archival site.
2. The information contained in the archival files is as follows:
3. Channel metadata (specifics to follow)
4. User metadata (idem.)
5. Public channel message history (including attachments)
6. Integration logs
7. Until I took it down, the archive site used only the following metadata, in addition to the message history:
8. Channel name and purpose
9. User name and profile image Note that the ZIP files, which were a part of the public git history, contained information beyond that.
10. Whatever our solution, we probably need to consider the GDPR (https://gdpr-info.eu) and other privacy laws, for which we may need to consult lawyers?

I have thoughts personally on different directions this could go, but I wish to refrain from sharing them until others have had a chance to discuss the matter.

I will share that I think it’s important that the eventual solution explicitly let new Slack members know what is going on and provide opt-in or opt-out paths from the beginning and any time along the way. I also think it’s important that all current Slack members have the opportunity for input. To that end, I’m including a list of all 1519 usernames in the archive as an attachment.

First, I don’t think there are any legal issues with hosting an archive. The GDPR (and general good will) means that we should honor requests to be omitted from the archive. But the GDPR doesn’t apply for “personal” use, and furthermore there are lots of logged chat systems out in the world, as well as of course email archives for mailing lists (such as the Racket mailing lists). Second, I think the right approach to the zip files is to just host them privately, perhaps in a private GH repo that would need to be cloned to run things. Third, I think the way to tell people that there are logs are to keep that information in the topic and potentially in information given to everyone when they join. I already put the information in the topic on #general a couple days ago. This is the usual way that logged channels in other forums announce this.

What is the problem? I gave it a brief review and I could not see any private messages (in private channels). Only messages shared on a public slack on public channels.

@spdegabrielle I think the concern is that people might not want things they say here permanently archived

I see what you mean.

I used to worry about losing informative q&a from the slack that I was used to with the mailing list but with the advent of racket-news and racket stories I’m less worried.

Maybe a #public-archive channel so it’s clear what will be archived.