Relationship between OSDev.org and the OSDev Discord Server

[MichaelPetch]

Howdy All,

I did do a search before asking this. I realize There are threads about Discord itself and passing reference to the OSDev Discord Server. I couldn't find anything about this particular concern, but if it has been raised I apologize for missing the thread.

I had a person (who I had helped in the past with questions on Stackoverflow) contact me in email for some help. I said I understood why he wasn't asking on Stackoverflow, but I asked if he had tried to ask in the Osdev.org forum. He told me that he refuses to deal with OSDev.org's forum and the OSDev.org website specifically because at some point he asked a question on the "OSDev" discord server and was turned off and booted for asking a question. The suggestion was that he was berated (allegedly including insults) for his question by an an admin/moderator (unclear which), and then was booted and/or banned.

My question is - what is the relationship of OSDev.org and this forum and the OSDev Discord server? Are the people there the same people running/moderating this site? If they are separate, have any issues ever been raised about this kind of alleged conduct on the discord server being associated with OSDev.org? I always thought they were separate, but I do find it a bit confusing given the "OSDev" moniker is shared so even I am not completely certain myself.

[thepowersgang]

I have heard that the discord server has that sort of problems, and have also removed the link to that server from the wiki.

As far as I am aware, there's no significant cross-membership between this site, and the "OSDev Discord".

Typically, this forum only links with the wiki. But, there's a bit of cross-moderation between the forum and the Freenode IRC channel (some of the IRC channel ops are also forum moderators).

[klange]

There is absolutely no connection between this forum and the Discord server. The Discord server was founded by someone who was banned from this forum.

The Freenode IRC channel does have a connection, and is actually the predecessor of this forum, but it's a complicated relationship.

[iansjack]

Originally this Discord server even used the OSDev logo until I pointed out that this was a breach of copyright. I believe that their use of the OSDev label is deliberately misleading, an offence known as "passing off". In theory action could be taken against the owner, but one wonders if is worth the trouble.

On the other hand, if potential contributors to this forum are being put off by the fake site perhaps a "cease and desist" message would be in order.

[MichaelPetch]

On the other hand, if potential contributors to this forum are being put off by the fake site perhaps a "cease and desist" message would be in order.

It probably is an exception and not the norm. The OSDev Discord has been around for a while and the first time I had been faced with someone having such an issue. I was on it for a week at the request of someone, but I found it adversarial and not really inviting for people to learn. We have the choice to leave - which I did until very recently to scope out the landscape. Still not impressed, but that is one man's personal opinion.

[osdever]

There is absolutely no connection between this forum and the Discord server. The Discord server was founded by someone who was banned from this forum.

The Freenode IRC channel does have a connection, and is actually the predecessor of this forum, but it's a complicated relationship.

I created it, and I was never banned from here. You could've mistaken me with Geri (who indeed was an admin in my server, though got demoted recently), as I'm pretty inactive. Just wanted to clear up this misunderstanding, so yeah.

[iansjack]

@osdever: As you are here, don't you feel that you are deliberately misleading some people into thinking that your server has some connection with this site? Wouldn't it be more honourable to either include a disclaimer saying that there is no connection, or to rename your server to avoid confusion?

[Combuster]

They actually put up an extra disclaimer last night.

My appreciations for that.

[Korona]

@osdever: As you are here, don't you feel that you are deliberately misleading some people into thinking that your server has some connection with this site? Wouldn't it be more honourable to either include a disclaimer saying that there is no connection, or to rename your server to avoid confusion?

Is "osdev" really such an identifying term for this forum? I certainly remember it being use elsewhere more than 10 years ago. I do not recall all the names of the older OSdev websites but they certainly existed. (How old is Bona Fide or the German lowlevel forum? I remember there were others.) There is even a subreddit r/osdev that is in no way related to this forum AFAICS. There is also a stackoverflow tag called osdev.

I think a case on the basis that the name "osdev" is misleading is very hard to make. The logo has not been used for "a while", it has been used for minutes after the server was created; according to the Discord logs, there were less than 20 messages before the logo was changed. Nevertheless, the name of the Discord has been changed to "OS Development Discord" to avoid any further confusion and as Combuster reported, the owner added a remark the the server rules.

[iansjack]

They actually put up an extra disclaimer last night.

My appreciations for that.

That's good.

[osdever]

@osdever: As you are here, don't you feel that you are deliberately misleading some people into thinking that your server has some connection with this site? Wouldn't it be more honourable to either include a disclaimer saying that there is no connection, or to rename your server to avoid confusion?

As it was stated above by some of our admins, both of these requests have been fulfilled, so I guess the conversation ends here.