March

special funding appeal

Riseup.net is both activist project and alternative infrastructure. We have discovered that reliable service is only possible when some of the collective is able to take on significant responsibility for the 24 hour upkeep of our systems.

These fine birds need to eat, so we pay some of the collective members a small stipend (really small). Recently, we have started paying stipends to two additional collective members: “Arara” of Brazil and “Tucán” of Colombia (currently nesting in the states). Who are the other birds involved in Riseup? Have a look at who we are: http://help.riseup.net/about-us

They are amazing activists and talented geeks, and we need their labor! Unfortunately, donations have dropped off recently because it has been a while since the last newsletter. This is just a little note to remind you: we exist, and we still need your support, now more then ever.

We don’t have the resources to write sweet “thank you” notes to all our beautiful users. So, in anticipation of your impending donation: thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. It means the world to us.

See http://riseup.net/donate for information on how to donate.

in solidarity, the riseup collective

public help tickets

We have a little problem, and it goes something like this: there is a tidal wave of help requests and we can’t keep up.

Thus far, the riseup help system has been like visiting the wizard of oz. You type your question, and hope that the wizard behind the curtain will eventually solve your problem.

Rubbish! There is no wizard, we aren’t powerful omniscient beings, and we think many of you know much more than we do! We are taking a small step toward doing away with this hierarchical system by introducing public help tickets.

What is a public help ticket? When you visit https://user.riseup.net to request help, you can choose to make the request visible to people with riseup.net email accounts (although you do not need a mail account in order to create a help ticket).

If you have a riseup.net email account, you can help other riseup users! Its fun and a great way to help riseup and your fellow travellers. Login to https://user.riseup.net and click on “Help Tickets”. If you then click on the “Open Tickets” tab, you will see the public help tickets.

Our great hope is that over time users will be able to provide answers to one another for most support questions. This system will continue to improve as we make changes to user.riseup.net based on your feedback.

we need a web designer for lists

If you know CSS and think web sites should be designed for mortals, we need your help!

The riseup birds are hard at work setting up our new list machine. The version of the mailing list software that we are currently running at http://lists.riseup.net is very old, so we expect great things from the upgrade.

However, we have a problem. The default interface is designed to inflict maximum damage on the eyes and nerves of its users. It is urgent that we customize the new templates… but we don’t have anyone in the collective who is a design geek.

Please come to our rescue! Help save the tender eyeballs of riseup users everywhere! If you think you can help make the new lists.riseup.net beautiful, please contact us at css-for-the-revolution@riseup.net.

customize your mail filters

If you are like most people, your email has begun to get a little chaotic and unruly. Your email has probably started to self organize in a way which makes it impossible for you, the tyrant of your inbox, to find anything. How can you overthrow the class system if your email is revolting against you?

Mail filters are just what you need to keep your email in line. Mail filters are little rules that direct your incoming mail like a traffic cop, dictating where each new message should end up.

Typically, every mail client has its own system for creating mail filters. Recently, mail filters in the riseup.net webmail (when using squirrelmail) stopped working and we don’t know when they will be fixed.

Never fear! We have created the ability for you to configure universal server-side mail filters for your riseup.net email account. These filters are run when your mail is delivered and so they will work with all mail clients, even if you switch back and forth between different methods of checking your mail.

To create a server-side mail filter, follow these easy steps:

1) login to https://user.riseup.net 2) click on “Email” (on the left side of the window) 3) click on the “Mail filters” tab (near the top) 4) click the “Add filter” button and away you go!