Promethean Movement

As previously mentioned, here is a description of the changes we will be putting into practice as soon as all the pieces are in place to do so. There may be some open questions going forward, and we're still working some things out precisely, but this should clarify matters for the most part. Questions and input always encouraged, of course.

First, the rationale: up to this point very little has been asked of members, and (perhaps correspondingly) involvement has been minimal. All the changes below are designed to augment movement participation and involvement, and to designate membership on the basis of what members do, rather than a static position/status of "member." In addition, I believe these changes better reflect the philosophy and intent of the movement, which is intended to facilitate mutual action of individuals, connection between individuals, cross-pollination of ideas, and coordination to achieve what cannot be done in separation. Without interactivity between members, there is no reason to have a Promethean movement. And since we, in contrast to many (atomistic) individualists, recognize that there is too much awry to simply act in isolation and still affect the comprehensive changes that it is our lot to achieve, we must remake the movement to better serve its purpose of interactive facilitation.
 
In a one-sentence summary: we will make the movement out of the degree and kind of participation of members. As our FAQ states: "The whole 'movement' means nothing in itself; the action of individuals makes the movement."
 
Changes to membership:
 
1. Each member will choose a project (or projects) appropriate to pursue in the interests of the movement and report on periodically (at least once per month, with leeway in extenuating circumstances). In some cases members adopting projects will end up describing what they were already doing, for example, pursuing education which develops abilities which may become useful to the movement. Doing so consciously, however, will help to clarify their current roles and their progress to themselves, and to others within the movement. In other cases, members will adopt new projects which excite or interest them. Letting other members know of their progress will also help members to receive any insights or advice others may have to give. In this way we can better help each other make progress. Collaboration on shared projects is also possible, of course. In which case each member would still give their own update on progress from their own individual point of view.
 
2. In order to keep their membership current, each member will be asked to provide these regular (monthly) updates to the other members of the movement on their progress or current activities with reference to their project(s). We view this as an essential component of reinforcing and building community exchange, as well as a useful incentive for future progress, by making a stock-taking of progress into a habit. The prometheanmovement.org forum will be the standard place for posting updates, in a special members-only section for Project Updates from members.
 
3. In addition, members are encouraged to participate on the prometheanmovement.org forum with at least one additional post per month (if not more). This can include initiating a thread or participating in exchanges, or simply posting an article. We view this as an essential medium for building and reinforcing community interaction and involvement, without which the movement cannot thrive.
 
4. If they choose, members are invited to call themselves by their role(s) they play in the movement based on their adopted project(s), such as (but not limited to) Writer, Journalist, Researcher, Coordinator, Activist, Student, Promoter, or Philosopher, as they choose. Thereby members will have the opportunity to distinguish themselves according to what they do and achieve, but we will continue to work without the artificiality of imposed titles/ranks.
 
The following modifications to prometheanmovement.org will facilitate these changes functionally:
 
• From now on, posting in the forum will be reserved for active Promethean movement members only. Active forum members and movement members will therefore be the same, from now on. Anonymous guests (and spammers) will not be able to sign in or post, and will not be able to read the members-only section for Project Updates (or whatever other members-only sections may be added in future). The remainder of the forum will remain readable by the public. (Previous posts from non-members will not be deleted.) If members do not continue to be active, their accounts will be limited (not deleted). If they become active again, they will be reinstated, and able to post and have full access once again.
• The community coordinator (Evi Numen) will email previous members directly, to tell them how to opt-in to the forum if they are not already using it and want to continue to be involved.
• She will also add new members to the forum automatically in future, and give them login information.
• There will be a new members-only forum section called "Project Updates" as mentioned above.
• Members are encouraged to upload icon pictures of themselves to their forum profile and whatever information they can provide, so that other members may get to know them better, recognize other members in their area, etc.
• The Projects section of the website will be improved to include projects chosen by members (unless they prefer to keep them private) and explain how projects relate to membership.
• The FAQ and other pages on prometheanmovement.org will be updated to reflect all these changes ASAP, as well as forum FAQs, and the "Join the Promethean movement" page at Promethea.org.

I'm going to reply to myself before anyone else gets the chance,  because I'm sure there will be some questions about what kinds of projects are good to choose, or would be "appropriate" to use the word from above. Certainly a wide, WIDE variety are possible, because life-advancement includes so very much. On the other hand, there is absolutely NO point in being able to pick just anything at all. Here are two examples of what would NOT be appropriate:

1) Something you happen to find entertaining, more than anything. That's fine, but most of the internet is devoted to cliques of people formed to entertain themselves and each other, and we here ought to do something more. Of course, you should get involved in projects you enjoy or find satisfying at some level, even if they demand hard work and are sometimes not exactly "fun."

2) Something antithetical to Prometheanism, or not harmonious with its principles and goals. Of course, it's not ever going to become a requirement for a member to agree 100% with everything in order to be involved. As Darios and I discussed at some length recently, we want to work very hard to avoid dogmatic orthodoxy in any form. That said, there's very little reason that the Promethean movement should support the other sorts of thinking and activity already amply supported elsewhere. We here should aim to do things differently, and hopefully with more advanced, innovative viewpoints and ways. And it's really part of the job of a Promethean to provide something different to you, an alternate opportunity to work for change, a different sort of working relationship with a different set of assumptions from what you get elsewhere in other, more standard ways of pursuing development or change — for example, by joining existing political action groups, or following a standard academic education, or whatever. So I think it's reasonable to ask that you pick a project that stresses something you have in common with Prometheanism, not exceptions you take to it (which of course, you're absolutely free to pursue on your own).

Let me give one social example of a project (I'm assuming Darios doesn't mind, because this was his): Darios has in the past worked with a local center/collective of a left-anarchist stripe, and some of what they do isn't 100% what he or I would normally advocate (due to the collectivism aspect in some of their thinking). However, this isn't necessarily a problem in terms of calling this a project to talk about in the movement, because the question about a project isn't whether everything involved is ideal (unlikely, if not impossible!); the question is whether the individual member might expect to get some Promethean grist for the mill out of it, so to speak. So to continue with that example, Darios expected to make some connections which might be useful, to introduce more people to Promethean ideas, and actually work on some productive steps as well (I leave it to him to describe further if he feels so inclined). So the structures you may have to make use of aren't really the issue; nor would there be a "purity test" in any sense. It's the spirit behind a specific project which is most important, and it should involve fellow-traveling of some sort, at the least. Consistency with Promethean ideas and aims is certainly desirable, but don't be put off from getting involved and proposing a project for yourself because you think it might not be "Promethean enough." The movement should always, in my judgment, remain open to working with almost anyone insofar as they share common ground, and it's just mutually beneficial to do so.

Oh, and 3) something illegal. This is likely common sense, but let me just point out that the fact that we will have a members-only section for discussing projects will not automatically make it a good idea to discuss anything illegal there, for everybody's sake. Enough said, I hope. 

I hope that clarifies a bit on projects... I can imagine further questions, and I can give other kinds of examples, but I'll leave it there for now unless someone wants to hear more.

Update: I spent a long while last night updating a number of pages to reflect the above reorganization, for example here on the FAQ.

There may be a few more changes if I find places that seem to be outdated, but i think we're almost ready to go. Please let me know if you see anything else you think should be changed too.

One thing I know still needs work is the Project page, but that's a bit more of a, well, project. 

To add to the changes posted above: Darios will add a memberlist link. The member profiles are now visible to members only, to encourage maintenance of updated contact information on your profile. This should prevent spambots from obtaining your email, etc., as well as protecting your information from prying eyes.