FAQ

Is it open source?
Yes. The software framework we use, Drupal, is open source and we have published all our code except for some logic specific to our hosting environment.

What guarantees can you give that our member data will remain private?
Your trust is worth more than money to us. We may share impersonal information with academics though no academics have yet asked for it.

Can you guarantee our data will not be lost in case of accident or sabotage
With no guaranteed resources, we do not enter into legal contracts and we 'guarantee' nothing. We take reasonable precautions, we keep off-site backups, and we encourage you take regular backups in csv or mysql formats. Like you, we are volunteers doing our best in service. You are invited to increase your personal impact by sharing your talents with us.

What will happen to our site if Community Forge fails
The volunteers at Community Forge are working to decrease your reliance on them, and increase your reliance on the other users. Communities are made by mutual dependence. Community Forge does not regard itself as a service providor, but as a consulting and coordinating organisation. Currently there is a strong reliance on one person for software development but the user network has the knowledge and the access to sustain the web service.

What technical support is available
Create an account on this site and find out! In addition there are tens of thousands of Drupal developers around - you might have one in your community. Otherwise they can be expensive!

We've had our domain name hijacked by our current 'leaders', can we trust you with this.
We do not host domain names. You should register your domain name and point it to our servers.
ns1.communityforge.net
ns2.communityforge.net
We can provide you with a subdomain e.g. https://yourname.communityforge.net so you can always access your site even without cooperation from the domain name owner

How can we be sure that your service will remain free

When we say 'free' we don't mean '10% extra free'. We don't mean free in exchange for your soul, we don't mean free only to hippies. We mean free as in love, free as in 'no such thing as a free lunch', free without obligation, without condition. This is a radical and peaceful way to restore social justice in a society where money is now more powerful than government. When we work for free, money loses its power.

But don't forget that what we give for free to you actually costs us, and our resources, like yours are not unlimited. If you want charity you can have it as long as we can afford it, but if you want dignity you will find a way to participate, give something back, maybe even money.

We believe that a free service helps to make it inclusive and we want to set an example, and we want to continue to honour that promise. However if the abundance was not felt, the software would become outdated over a few years and one day you would realise that the young people were all participating elsewhere.

Can your system administrators see and edit our data
The software framework we use, Drupal, isn't designed to prevent abuse by administrators. Your data is not encrypted in the database, so that means our administrators can access it. They can also log in to any account and do anything. And serious hackers could probably access it too. We would welcome volunteer security experts, but it's not a primary concern at the moment.

How many other communities are using this
It is very hard to say because the software is open source and you can set it up independently and freely on your server with no obligation to register with us. We will publish some live stats when we get time, but at the time of writing 50 communities are actively using sites hosted on the Community Forge server.

Can we trade with other communities
Coming soon...

Community Forge is a significant tool for local communities to deploy their own local currency platforms. Conceived and developed by a passionate team of people, it has been designed to efficiently manage the unique needs of community currency platform operators and their clients. The Community Forge system can be seen as a significant in that it is a fundamental cornerstone to the development of more robust alternative currency networks.

Daniel Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Ormita Commerce Network