New Patron's Keybase Team
If you're a Patron, you now get exclusive access to a private Keybase team.
In case you didn’t know, we use KeyBase Teams here as Fosstodon as our main way to communicate among the team.
We use KeyBase Teams as a way of discussing things like the direction we want the Fosstodon project to take, any reports that come in, funding, and new projects.
We’re always looking to improve what we offer our members, so today we’re happy to announce that we’re launching a KeyBase Team that’s exclusive to our Patrons on Patreon.
What is it for?
All of our members are extremely important to us, and those of you who have kindly decided to take your support one step further to become a Patreon are quite literally responsible for keeping the lights on here at Fosstodon.
We felt that a simple thank you and a pat on the back wasn’t enough (although Patrons on the $5 tier do get an @fosstodon.org forwarding email) - we wanted to do more for you guys.
We wanted to provide a forum for our Patrons to be able to have a direct say on how Fosstodon is moved forward. Whether that is early access to new tools/features, direct input in to the various decisions we make every day or discussions about who we want to donate to with extra funding.
We discussed many options, like Telegram, Signal, MatterMost and Slack. But we decided on KeyBase because we know it’s secure, we know it works well as we’ve been using it for over a year within the project, and it means the team don’t have another tool to manage.
How do I get access?
Firstly, access is exclusive to active Patrons only. Our Patreon tiers start at $1 a month if you’re not already a Patron. Note: This is completely optional. The main Fosstodon instance will ALWAYS be completely free of charge to use.
The first thing you need to do is sign up for a KeyBase account (it’s free), then send one of the team a message on KeyBase with your Fosstodon username and the email you used to sign up, our KeyBase accounts are:
- Kev (Europe) - https://keybase.io/kevq
- Mike (US West) - https://keybase.io/mikestone
- CodeSections (US East)- https://keybase.io/codesections
- Joseph (Asia) - https://keybase.io/JosephDeFazio
Note the region of the world where we’re all based. For a quick response, please try and message one of the team that is most likely to be online.
Alternatively you can email mail@fosstodon.org and one of us will respond.
Once we have your message, we will check that the details you have provided match those on your Fosstodon account (we may also message you on Fosstodon for additional verification). Once we know it’s really you, and you’re an active Patron, you will be added to the KeyBase Team.
What do I do then?
A “Team” is basically a chat room within KeyBase. So you can install the KeyBase app on your devices, then use the Team chat room to interact with other Patrons on Fosstodon, as well as interact directly with the team.
We intend to use the Patron’s Team as a sounding board for our community. You will get early knowledge and access to new features, tools and information so we can get direct feedback from you guys as to whether we’re staying on the right track.
We’re super excited about the new KeyBase Team room for Patrons, but don’t worry, if you’re not a Patron, the main Fosstodon instance will always be our main priority and method of communication for the entire instance.
If you want to learn more about becoming a Fosstodon Patron, you can check out our support page.