Closed Poll: To Move or Not to Move

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Hey everyone :smiley: ,

I’ve been thinking for a few months that it would be a good idea to change the domain name of maidsafe.org to safenetforum.org.

Everyone who visits maidsafe.org would be automatically redirected to safenetforum.org. And same thing for all links that contain “maidsafe.org” (e.g. https://forum.autonomi.community/t/poll-to-move-or-not-to-move/3306 would be automatically redirected to https://forum.autonomi.community/t/poll-to-move-or-not-to-move/3306. I’ve already verified with DiscourseHosting and I know exactly what to do.

The main reason for moving to safenetforum.org would be to make a clear distinction between MaidSafe the company and SAFE Network the technology.

MaidSafe = a team of engineers, programmers, designers, etc. (mainly in Troon, Scotland)
SAFE Network = a secure data storage and communication platform built by MaidSafe

In a few months/years, it’s very likely that the MaidSafe team will be only one of the many SAFE Pods contributing to the codebase of the SAFE Network. Basically, what I’m trying to say, is that MaidSafe is a small (but very important) part of the SAFE Network and that therefore, we should put the emphasis on the SAFE Network.

I know that many of you still call it the “MaidSafe network”, but we’ve already had many discussions about this in the past and it seems that the conclusion was to call it the SAFE Network. This is also how MaidSafe currently calls it in their papers and blog posts.

By changing the domain name of this forum to safenetforum.org, I think it can have a real impact on having people calling it the SAFE Network instead of “MaidSafe network” and understanding the difference between MaidSafe and SAFE Network. It would also highlight the fact that this forum is maintained by the SAFE Network community and not by MaidSafe the company.

Ideally, we should aim to make this change before Testnet 3 and Beta Launch, while we are still approaching release. In fact, I meant to propose this earlier, but I wanted to make landing page for safenetwork.io first.

And so a few days ago, I finally made it: www.safenetwork.io! It’s far from perfect, but I think it’s at least good enough for the sake of moving maidsafe.org to safenetforum.org.

Once that’s done, I would definitely welcome help from the community to improve and expand safenetwork.io (e.g. add a community blog, a directory of apps made by the community, a list of events organized by the community, tutorials, guides, a wiki, etc.). But for now, I would like to focus this discussion on moving maidsafe.org to safenetforum.org.

Obviously, I want to let the community decide.

Please vote Yes if you agree with moving this forum to safenetforum.org.
Please vote No if you disagree.

  • Yes
  • No

And feel free to leave a comment below to support your position :smile: .

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Well explained Francis and I agree both the need to clarify this is SAFE Network community forum, and that we should do this ASAP, before the project’s profile rises.

I think it’s good for both SAFE Network and MaidSafe for the difference to be made as clear as we can because it’s important that people realise SAFE Network is truly decentralised, and “owned” by every participant.

The domain redirecting makes the change seamless, and most who know http://MaidSafe.org will be aware beforehand, so I don’t expect any technical difficulties, but just in case there are, again good to do this before visit numbers increase.

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i’m in favor. but how about safenet instead of safenetwork? most people don’t say “internet” anymore, they just say “net” or “web”… probably gonna go the same way with the SAFEnet :wink:

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Safenet is a company already: http://www.safenet-inc.com

This has also been discussed before at:

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Here’s one reason against SAFEnet:

http://www.safenet-inc.com/

Personally I prefer SAFE Network. Its OK if people abbreviate that in conversation, but I like the as proper words in the name.

See the link in the OP for the earlier discussion. We have already discussed this so ideally we don’t need to do that again!

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I think maidsafe.org is a better domain name than safenetforum.org. Hardly anybody will confuse google.com with google.org for example.

EDIT: And also, if the SAFE network becomes successful, then it will be called the Net or something like that, similar to how the World Wide Web is often called the Web. When we are successful, and we will be :George H.W. Bush voice: :slight_smile: , then we have a real chance of a world-wide safe network.

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It will suddenly be much more on the map. Perfect timing. And network as opposed to net at least in the beginning will remind people that it is a new network and not a simple extension of the net.

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To me, this is 2 issues.

  1. Changing the domain name of the community forum.
  2. Name recognition of the Network.

If we are redirecting (forwarding address) but everything remains the same, then I don’t have a problem. I’m assuming the forum name will change from “maidsafe.org” to “safenetforum.org” What will not change easily is external links: other sites, other blogs, interviews, videos. Those will still point to maidsafe.org… and then people will be forwarded to safenetforum.org.

I think it’s time to grind into stone the name of our network. As @frabrunelle stated above, MaidSafe has already started calling it “The SAFE Network” I’ve been naming it that way too. I don’t think people were calling it the MaidSafe Network because of the domain name. It’s because MaidSafe named it that way in earlier interviews. And people naturally associate the Network to the company that is building it. This is normal.

By stamping the name onto the Network itself, the identity will resolve over time. When a person connects to the SAFE Network, they see the name clearly displayed from the SAFE App Launcher. Connection msg indicators also say “connecting to SAFE Network.”

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Another thing to consider is the change in root administrator powers, which can always be abused on forums (censorship).

What I think is funny is that the “MAID” part was removed from the network name. Considering it stands for “Massive Array of Internet Disks”, it clearly states something about the nature of the network itself, not the company.

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Massive Array of Internet Di*ks

One typo away from a whole new meaning.

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This is different because in this case, SAFE Network is a communications protocol. Google.org is a charity. I would rather compare it the MaidSafe Foundation.

So yeah, nobody will confuse MaidSafe and MaidSafe Foundation. And like I said in initial post, the SAFE Network seems to be the current consensus on how to call this technology. Therefore, I think safenetforum.org is an appropriate domain name :smiley: .

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The first motivations around safenetwork.io was that in order to cover more ground we could use the key words safe network(this is the old internets’ way of doing things, google etc);

If the change was to not happen, in terms of the naming; I see @frabrunelle has some ideas he is sharing about upgrading the community webspace with more archiving of content, and organizing publications regarding the happenings and workings of the SAFE Network;

I know SAFE Pod SF would also participate in the guarantee and secure existence of this forum;

good luck with this Francis;

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I think its a great idea to have a plan to port over, but I think the time to do that is when we have a publicly available downloader and a public testnet that folks can join. (I used to think that was testnet3, but it seems that the actual development and the roadmap are not quite linking up).

Anyway, I’m not sure why this is necessary right now as opposed to at or right before the launch of some kind of publicly accessible network.

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Nice proposal @frabrunelle, I agree with the domain name change and the reasons behind it, important to separate the network and the company. While it’s a good start I’m not 100% on the landing page though and one suggestion might be to make the forum domain change now and work on the landing page further and release it once it’s more developed?

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Yes, that could work too! So I could forward safenetwork.io to safenetforum.org until the landing page is more developed. We should schedule a Mumble meeting, I would love to get more feedback from you! I will send you an email :smiley: .

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Sounds good Francis!

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Don’t forget @Melvin who was inspiring us to get to that thing in the first place :sunrise_over_mountains:
in a mumble, I hear SAFE Pod Amsterdam something like that :sunny:

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This might be a little early and off topic…

Are we planning to make safenetwork.io the main hub for Project SAFE instead of MaidSafe.net? In other words, will this be an introduction portal to the SAFE Network?

Example

  • This is the official site for new people to, for lack of a better word, convert to SAFE (Secure Access For Everyone) understanding. It’s about “how” and “why” the SAFE Network exists.
  • This is the site to download the SAFE App Launcher… how to get started tutorial.
  • This is the site to discuss other ideas, development, and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Beyond that, most people will just install and explore the SAFE Network. But for those who are really skeptical we will have a lot of knowledge to share before they connect to the SAFE Network. Smooth transition will be helpful for mass migration.

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Not necessarily. I think there would be a way to have both sites coexist.

I propose we just focus on moving maidsafe.org to safenetforum.org for now and figure out what to do exactly with safenetwork.io after. So in the meantime, safenetwork.io would simply redirect to safenetforum.org.

I have lots of ideas for what to do with safenetwork.io, but I would like to keep this discussion on-topic. Also, I will have a chat with @nicklambert early next week and I will discuss safenetwork.io with him. So let’s have this discussion a bit later if you don’t mind :smiley: .

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@dyamanaka I think this is the logical conclusion - to migrate or replicate information generic to SAFE Network to safenetwork.io - so MaidSafe.net can focus on MaidSafe Ltd’s products and business, and whatever else they choose!

It doesn’t have to happen all at once, but would be best not to leave too long either. It will defeat the object if once people find safenetwork.io they are directed to http://MaidSafe.net for deeper documentation. We should aim for safenetwork.io to be the generic hub, and as self contained as possible for core/generic information.

I think @Seneca raised a good point about who “owns” / controls this hub, how we ensure it stays up if one or more people leave etc. Again not urgent, but we should start a discussion of how to ensure we look after the community’s interests.

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