Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished on the Friday, November 18th, 2016 meeting.

Last week started off with a theme of outreach to maintainers of free software packages. mangeurdenuage and donaldr3 put together template volunteers can use to contact package maintainers to get them interested in keeping their own entries up to date. mangeurdenuage then went on to contact many maintainers. We hope to see everyone they contacted at upcoming meetings or at least in the revision log.

While the theme was maintainer outreach, there was still a lot of excitement about the previous week's discussion on how to deal with certain edge cases. David_Hedlund and IanKelling worked out that using categories to tag potential issues was probably the best system, as tagged categories could still flag a post with text explaining the potential issue. Lots of different categories of issues were discussed, with David_Hedlund implementing some of them for review. Those categories, their text, and implementation are still being reviewed and iterated on. That work will continue in this upcoming meeting as well, so be sure to join us all in directing the future of the directory.

If you would like to help update the directory, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST (18:00 to 20:00 UTC).

As software permeates more and more aspects of society, the FSF must expand our work to protect and extend computer user freedom. On Monday, we launched our yearly fundraiser with the goal of welcoming 500 new members and raising $450,000 before December 31st. Please support the work that we do: make a donation or -- better yet -- join as a member today.

Electronics are popular gifts for the holidays, but people often overlook the restrictions that manufacturers slip under the wrapping paper. From surveillance to harsh rules about copying and sharing, some gifts take more than they give.

The good news is that there are ethical companies making better devices that your loved ones can enjoy with freedom and privacy. Today, we're launching the 2016 Giving Guide, your key to smarter and more ethical tech gifts.

Explore the Giving Guide online and in print. To sweeten the deal, many of the recommended gifts are specially discounted for the holiday season.

If you appreciate the guide, we invite you to to spread the word about it. Here's what you can do:

• Lead a Giving Guide Giveaway at a local shopping area to show that conscientious giving applies to computers and software. We've prepared a primer to answer common questions and help make your Giveaway a success.

• Share the guide on social media with the hashtag #givefreely and comment about it on gift or tech-related online articles.

• Email it to your family and friends – heck, you might even get a gift out of it!

Some translations are already available, but we need more volunteers to port the Giving Guide to their own languages. Check out the primer page for translation instructions.

Millions of people will open tech gifts this holiday season, and most of them will be walled gardens encumbered with nonfree software and DRM. But things are changing. With each year, our message spreads further and more people start thinking critically about technology and voting with their wallets. Join us in fueling the movement for ethical tech – use and spread this guide.

Participate in supporting the FSD by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the FSD contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the FSD has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're having a focus on reaching out to maintainers of packages to help keep their entries up to date. Plenty of maintainers like to add their package to the directory in order to take advantage of all the extra publicity it can bring to a project. But keeping things up to date will have the most impact, letting users know that the package is still under active development. So this week we'll be reaching out to maintainers to help get their directory entry looking the best it can.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.

Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished on the Friday, November 11th, 2016 meeting.

Last week was a live meeting at the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference. Iankelling and donaldr3 were joined by helpful attendees in checking whether their favorite free software packages were already included in the directory. While the directory is very robust these days, most packages suggested were actually already included, there were a few new entries added. It was just a great opportunity to meet with people who weren't already involved in the directory and to help them get involved by learning about the project.

On the channel, there was also a long discussion about updating the requirements for the directory. The channel discussed two different scenarios which we have name 'bait and surrender' and 'freedom betrayed'. In 'bait and surrender', a developer offers an inferior free software version of their work in attempt to get users to surrender their freedom and switch to a more fully featured proprietary version. In 'freedom betrayed', a formerly free software project changes to a proprietary license. In both cases, we want to make clear to users that while there may be a free software version available that they have to be wary of the project, and understand that there are proprietary versions. The channel came up with a proposal to tag these different situations, which is now being discussed on the mailing list.

The meeting concluded with deciding that the next meeting should focus on contacting maintainers to help them include their packages on the directory or keep their entries up to date.

If you would like to help update the directory, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST (18:00 to 20:00 UTC).

Participate in supporting the FSD by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the FSD contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the FSD has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're having an in person meeting at the Seattle GNU/Linux conference. If you are going to be at the conference (attendance is gratis!) join Iankelling and donaldr3 in the expo hall at the usual meeting time (10:00 a.m. PST) for a directory hackfest. If you can't make it to the conference, we'll still be working in the #fsf channel, so make sure to join us their as well.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.