Polishing up the member handbook

Author: ivanreese

member-handbook.md

@@ -2,68 +2,92 @@
 title: Member Handbook
 ---
 
-
 # Member Handbook
 
 This handbook is your guide to the cultural norms of our community.
 
-You'll learn our preferred ways to structure discussions, what channels we have and how we use them, a few points of etiquette, and some extra options for power users.
-
-Note: This guide is currently a work-in-progress under active development (as of September 1st, 2020). Watch for nails!
+You'll learn our preferred way to structure discussions, and the various channels we have and how we use them.
 
 <br>
 
 ## How We Slack
 
-We treat Slack like a message board, not like a chat. Here's how that works.
+We treat Slack like a message board, not like a chat.
+
+#### Posting
+To start a discussion, act as though you're creating a forum post or blog post. Prepare what you want to say in its entirety, including any links, and then submit it all in a single message. In other words, don't send multiple messages in a row.
 
-When you want to start a discussion, act as though you're creating a forum post or blog post. Prepare what you want to say in its entirety, including any links, and then submit it all in a single message. In other words, please don't send multiple messages in succession. You can create newlines with `shift-enter`, but it's helpful to draft longer messages in your text editor of choice, and then paste them into Slack when you're ready to post.
+You can create newlines with `shift-enter`, but it's helpful to draft longer messages in your text editor of choice, and then paste them into Slack when you're ready to post.
 
-When you want to respond to someone's post, always use threaded replies. On desktop, hover over the message and in the popover menu at the top right of the message choose "Reply to thread"; on mobile, simply tap any message to open the thread view.
+#### Responding
+When you want to respond to someone's post, always use threaded replies.
+
+* On desktop: hover over a message, and in the popover menu at the top right of the message choose "Reply to thread"
+* On mobile: tap a message to open the thread view.
 
 Please try to keep thread replies on-topic with respect to the original post. If you want to fork a discussion off in a new direction — say, if you feel a tangent coming on — by all means start a new top-level post that includes a link back to whatever message sparked your digression.
 
-When you post a message that includes links, those links will often generate rich previews that appear under your message. If you link to a video, the preview will allow the video to be watched right from the Slack. This is nice! But often, these previews don't add anything of substance, and they eat up a lot of scroll height. In this case, please delete these rich previews (which, AFAIK, can only be done using the Slack web or desktop clients, not the mobile app). Note that community moderators may remove these previews too if they aren't adding much value.
+#### Link Previews
+When you post a message that includes links, those links will often generate rich previews that appear under your message. If you link to a video, the preview will allow the video to be watched right within Slack. This is nice! But often, these previews don't add anything of substance, and they eat up a lot of scroll height. In this case, please delete these rich previews (which, AFAIK, can only be done using the Slack web or desktop clients, not the mobile app). Community moderators will remove these previews too, if they aren't adding much value.
 
 <br>
 
 ## Channels
 
-Each of our channels has a specific purpose. Below, you'll find the descriptions of how we use each channel. When you're in the Slack, you can check the *pinned messages* in a channel to see the channel's description.
+Each of our channels has a specific purpose, but it's common that a discussion could fit into several channels. Use the descriptions below to help decide where best to start the discussion. For a quick refresher, whenever you're in the Slack, you can check the *pinned messages* in a channel to see a detailed description.
 
 ### #introduce-yourself
-When you first join the community, please drop a post here. You can tell us about your background, what your interests are, how you got into computer futurism, how you found the Slack, interesting hobbies — anything that'll help us know where you're coming from. Feel free to share past project URLs, and tag other members you know.
+When you first join the community, please make a post here. You can tell us about your background, what your interests are, how you got into computer futurism, how you found the Slack, interesting hobbies — anything that'll help us know where you're coming from. Feel free to share past project URLs, and tag other members you know.
 
-Please, no links to startups, unless you also provide something deeply technical, philosophical, or otherwise interesting for us to talk about.
+Please, no links to startups or companies, unless you provide something deeply technical, philosophical, or otherwise interesting for us to talk about.
 
 ### #thinking-together
 This is the primary channel for discussion. If you have big thoughts or questions about the future of computing, post them here.
 
 While you can add reference links to your posts, please take any discussions that center around external links to the next channel...
 
 ### #linking-together
-If you have an interesting link (or podcast, or book, or any other kind of external resource), this is the channel to discuss it.
+If you found a blog post, article, talk, book, podcast, paper, or other item of external media (collectively referred to as "links") that is in some way relevant to the future of computing, this is the place to share and discuss it.
+
+If you're going to add some commentary about your link, please include that as part of the same post as the link itself — if you split it across two or more messages, it'll be much harder to reference the link and discussion in the future, search for it, etc.
 
-Please keep this channel focused on links that are relevant to the future of computing, or reflections on the arc of history. For links about the present, they're better off in #present-company.
+Links about history are welcome here, since any view of history incorporates a sense of how things have evolved, which is one of the most powerful ways to understand how things will continue evolving. But, links mostly about the programming / world of the present should go to the next channel...
 
 ### #present-company
-Have something cool to share that doesn't quite feel on-topic? Our random channel is a great place to enthuse about interesting things that are only distantly related, or perhaps not related at all, to the future of coding.
+The home for discussions about the present world — how we do programming today, how the world as it exists influences us, and generally any thoughts or questions about the here and now. If you'd like help with your homework, this is the place to ask. If you wrote a new blog post about how to use `react-thingamabob` or JSON or Elm, this is the place to share it.
+
+Reflections on how the current world might influence the future can go in #thinking-together — really, any thoughts about the future go there, even if they draw on the present or history.
 
 ### #share-your-work
-Share your own projects, blog posts, or detailed concepts. We'll give them constructive feedback.
+This is the channel for discussion about your own work, with a particular emphasis on work that pushes us toward the future of computing. If you want feedback, collaborators, high-fives, or just a place to drop your latest output, this is the place. This channel is especially sensitive to tone, so please keep things positive and constructive. Critique is great, criticism is not.
 
 ### #two-minute-week
-Once each week, post a 2-minute (max) video explaining your most recent progress on your project. [Learn More](/two-minute-week)
+Once each week, post a 2-minute (max) video explaining your most recent progress on your own Future of Coding project. [Learn More](/two-minute-week)
 
 ### #random-encounters
-Every 4 weeks, @donut will randomly pair everyone in this channel for 1-on-1 conversations. It's a good way to get to know others in the Slack.
+This channel gives community members a fun way to connect and get to know one another. Every so often, you'll be paired up with one other random person in this channel, via our friendly neighbourhood @donut bot. You and your pair can schedule a video call, or just chat via DMs. These pairings should happen about once per month on average, though the schedule will fluctuate a bit.
 
 ### #administrivia
-Discuss ways to better collaborate, improve this Slack, or resolve community issues.
+This is the channel for discussion about the community itself. If you'd like to propose a new channel, report a violation of the code of conduct, ask a question about how we do things, or start a new community initiative, this is the place. If you'd like to discuss something sensitive, please DM @ivanreese (the community admin).
 
 ### #announcements
-Post if you are hiring or looking for work. Work related to the future of coding is preferred but all paid opportunities are allowed. Don't post more than once every couple of months about yourself or your company.
-
-<br>
-
-There are a handful of other channels, focussed on meetups and subject-specific discussion. When you first arrive, be sure to check them out and join the ones that fit your interests.
+This is a channel for special announcements that everyone in the community will see. It is primarily used for announcements about the community itself, though occasionally a job offer or other opportunity will be shared here. If you would like to share something in this channel, please DM @ivanreese to discuss it.
+
+### Subject-Specific Channels
+There are a handful of channels that are focussed on specific topics. You should join them if you're interested in these subjects:
+
+* #of-end-user-programming
+* #of-functional-programming
+* #of-graphics
+* #of-logic-programming
+* #of-music
+
+### Location-Specific Channels
+Finally, we have a number of channels for organizing meetups or other activities around the world.
+* #in-boston
+* #in-london
+* #in-nyc
+* #in-ontario
+* #in-seattle
+* #in-sf
+* #in-socal