Webmastering Guidelines

Information on how to be a webmaster on www.gnu.org

All webmasters should normally be on the mailing list <webmasters@gnu.org>. When you take care of something sent to this list, please reply to the message and let the sender know that whatever he or she asked for has been done. Also, please Cc: such messages to <webmasters@gnu.org>, so that others can see that it has been done.

You might find it helpful to also set your Reply-To: header to <webmasters@gnu.org>. That way, your personal incoming mailbox will less likely be crowded with webmasters discussions. And, it will allow discussion about a webmaster issue to continue on the webmasters list.

Note that <webmasters@www.gnu.org> forwards to <webmasters@gnu.org>.

There are several guides for webmasters, one of the most important ones is the FSF HTML Style Sheet Guidelines which is in http://www.gnu.org/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html.

If you find a message to webmasters@gnu.org that you don't know how to handle, it's probably best that you ignore the message. However, if you noticed that something has been pending for a long time, It might be useful to ask the list: "Can someone teach me how to handle messages like this?"

As a new webmaster for GNU, there is not a whole lot you can do until you see how we want things done. But as a general rule, things like this are always okay to do:

Fix typos, mis-spellings, broken links, and the like.
Add Table of Contents to pages.
Requests from Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>, Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@gnu.org> Jonas Oberg <jonas@gnu.org> or anyone else at the FSF Distribution Office (this includes <3diff@gnu.org> and <bsil@gnu.org>).
Requests from one of the maintainers of a software package to change something on web pages about that software package, if it does not seem to conflict with any other webmastering policies.
Take on one of the jobs we need done for this web server. (Please inform <webmasters@gnu.org> if you take a task.

Sometimes people will send us pages about software that they want us to install. Before doing so, you should make sure that the page doesn't make any references to non-free software and is consistent with our HTML style sheet. If you find discrepancies, please politely point the maintainer to our policies and ask them to make the changes. When making such a request, do so in private email, not on the webmasters list.

People will often send mails asking us to make links to different software packages. Before making such links, it's important to check the page that the link points to and make sure that it does not make any references to non-free software. When in doubt, it is best to post a summary of what you found on the page back to the webmasters list (but not to the requester!), and ask someone else to take it from there.

Sometimes you might be tempted to rearrange pages in some drastic way to make certain things stand out more or to format the layout in some other way. Before doing so you should consult <webmasters@gnu.org>. It's often the case that web pages are constructed one way for a special reason.

All the www.gnu.org web site is managed with CVS. As a webmaster you should first register on Savannah. Then find out which group of people is maintaining the part of www.gnu.org web site you plan to edit using the www.gnu.org to Savannah projects map. Get in touch with one of the project maintainer to get write access to this directory.

If you plan to modify a lot of files everywhere in www.gnu.org on a regular basis, you should join the www project in order to edit the whole tree.

If you update or create any pages under /fun, please read the README file under /fun, before you do so.

Since the <webmasters@gnu.org> address is advertised quite a lot on our web pages it happens quite often that we receive spam to that address. It's best to simply ignore such messages.

Handling Press Releases

Occasionally, the webmasters are asked to handle press releases. These are in the /press directory. You should always make both a text and HTML version, and follow the format used for other press releases. (Some do have PDF and Postscript, but webmasters need not worry about that at the moment).

Currently, it is often bkuhn who handles the text version of a press release (although will hopefully change sometime in 2002). He will normally commit the .txt file version, and then tell webmasters to do the "rest" or "DTRT" with it. (Although sometimes the .txt will be emailed to webmasters instead). You will also be given a date and time when the press release should be up.

For the time being, always check with bkuhn before posting any press releases sent in by other parties, and note that bkuhn will always GPG-sign his messages about press releases.

To handle one of these requests, here is what you should do:

Make an HTML version of the .txt file, following the format used for other press releases. Be sure to change the META tags for Keywords and Description to reflect the new press release. Also, make any URLs in the press release into actual links.

Make an entry at the top of the list on /press/press.html for the press release.

Add an entry for it on /server/whatsnew.html.
Add an entry for it on the GNU's Flashes of /home.html, unless the request to post the release specifically says not to put a note there.

A release date and time "window" will be included in the request to post it. The cvs commit should only be done in that window. If you won't be able to do it then, use the makepatch command (it's in the makepatch package of Debian) to send a patch back to bkuhn, and put URGENT in the subject line.

The final step is submitting it as a story to as many news sites as possible (linuxtoday.com, slashdot.org, and newsforge.com should definitely be done). This can be done later in the same day as when the release goes up, but should also be done the same day.

Webmaster Organization

The following organizational rules are not rigid; they are designed to serve us and assign responsibility so that things don't fall through the cracks. Thus, the policies and escalation procedures need not be followed to the letter, but if you aren't sure what to do, it's best to follow these policies.

The GNU Webmaster Group is led by the Chief Webmaster <chief-webmaster@gnu.org>. You can always find out the identity of the Chief Webmaster by looking at the aliases file on the GNU mail server.

The Chief Webmaster is responsible for making sure that every message sent to the webmasters gets handled <webmasters@gnu.org> eventually. The Chief Webmaster isn't responsible for handling ever message; just making sure that someone handles them in a timely manner. The Chief Webmaster is also responsible for training new webmasters, and doing her best to correct mishandled webmaster email, when necessary.

If it isn't clear to the webmasters how the handle a particular issue, the message should be sent to <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org>. Replies from <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org> are typically sent back to the whole <webmasters@gnu.org> list, so that all the webmasters can learn how to handle those issues in the future. It's also useful to cc the whole webmasters list on message to <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org>, so the other webmasters know the message has been escalated and that they should wait for a response.

Mail to <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org> is usually answered in a week or so, at worst. If anyone notices a message sent there has been pending for longer, please do send a message to <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org> checking on the status.

Leaving webmasters

We realize that people's lives change, and we know that you may not want to be an FSF/GNU webmaster for the rest of your life. We ask that you let us know when you want to move on: please don't simply disappear.

When you sign up to be a webmaster, you commit to a certian number of hours a week of volunteer work. If you need to drop below that level for more than few weeks, or want to stop being a webmaster entirely, please inform <webmaster-escalate@gnu.org> and <chief-webmaster@gnu.org> as soon as your situation changes.

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Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. There are also other ways to contact the FSF.

Please send comments on these web pages to webmasters@gnu.org, send other questions to gnu@gnu.org.

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Updated: $Date: 2001/10/05 15:57:04 $ $Author: bkuhn $