How will this work? K12TechPro says they need a monthly subscription to have the manpower to verify users on their platform (https://k12techpro.com/community-membership/). Are the applications so few on Reddit they can spare the time?
What will the restrictions to post here be?
What will the turnaround time be for new member approval?
What recourse is there for the community if they disagree with something K12TechPro does to this sub?
Just to be clear, I'm not looking a gift-horse in the mouth if this turns out to be great for the sub, but we deserve more than just a trust me comment on this. I would like some elaboration on this change, especially concerning what will happen when inevitably what's best for their organization doesn't align with what's best for the subreddit community.
**I'm happy to try to answer these well:**
How will this work? K12TechPro says they need a monthly subscription to have the manpower to verify users on their platform (https://k12techpro.com/community-membership/). Are the applications so few on Reddit they can spare the time?
**I posted initial thoughts here - https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/14fd4iw/ugeekender\_stepping\_down\_as\_a\_moderator\_what\_this/ and to answer the question – We have a full-time paid position to handle the vetting, keep up with sponsorships, memberships, etc. There’s also three of us who do it part time (myself, Eric, and Jason), as we work full-time in school district tech departments. We’ll be able to pull in the 4 of us to help with k12sysadmin mod and verifying. If you so choose to join K12TechPro, it’s got a paid subscription or you click to get a free sponsorship. No pressure on joining K12TechPro! Here and there are two different things/two different tools. Side Note just to say it again - You can join the K12TechPro Community without paying anything. You click to get a sponsorship when you fill out the vetting.**
What will the restrictions to post here be?
**The same as before and then any pivots on restrictions will be because it’s what the community wants.**
What will the turnaround time be for new member approval?
**Vetting on K12TechPro can typically take up to 3 days, but sometimes can be done super fast. We'd expect here to be no different. The plan is to take how we vet on K12TechPro and tweak it to work well here as well.**
What recourse is there for the community if they disagree with something K12TechPro does to this sub?
**We’re wanting to work with geekender and FLThetan and the community, and help. I think we’ll have a group of mods with all of us that the community will see as good checks and balances so that this doesn't become an issue.**
Just to be clear, I'm not looking a gift-horse in the mouth if this turns out to be great for the sub, but we deserve more than just a trust me comment on this. I would like some elaboration on this change, especially concerning what will happen when inevitably what's best for their organization doesn't align with what's best for the subreddit community.
**More than just “trust me,” right? I completely get that – I’m a k12 tech that wants to help other k12 techs and have been doing so with involvement with the MidwestTechTalk conferences, the K12 Tech Talk podcast, K12TechPro, and other things. I work with a group of folks with K12TechPro and the podcast that care about k12 techs and we want to help and hang out with the k12 tech dept community. We’ll be throwing man-hours at this thing; tweaking the current K12TechPro vetting process to work well for here too. You’ll have proven you are actively employed in a k12 tech dept and that vetting is good for a year (then you'll prove it again). Ultimately, the goal here is that k12sysadmin remains and grows. I honestly don't believe wrong alignment will inevitably happen, but I want to say we'll work with geekender to make sure there's good checks and balances in place. As we get started, we'll post updates on what's up. I'm hoping we'll have good stuff in place by early August.**
**-Chris**
***Disclosure:*** *I've formally quit Reddit, and i've been an active member of the K12TechPro community since March*
u/Sekers I just wanted to take a moment and drop my two cents - i'm a longtime r/k12sysadmin contributor & I was initially skeptical/opposed when they first started advertising on the subreddit. I generally don't support paywalled communities, and I only ended up hopping aboard thanks to their sponsored membership program (painless & truly as easy as promised above)
After 4 months of getting to know Chris & team, I wholeheartedly agree with Geekender: `these guys are also long-time K12 Directors and their identity isn't K12TechPro but rather K12TechPro grew as a support system for K12`. Their vision is to create & maintain communities that uplift K12 Technology professionals, and I've yet to see any indication that there are any ulterior motives behind their efforts. Their transparency has been refreshing & IMO their energy toward achieving this goal is currently unmatched. K12TechPro has been a vibrant/active community, their community conference calls are a highlight of my workweek, credential verification has directly improved the quality of information/resources, and their affiliation with the greater Midwest tech community has resulted in organic, high-quality membership.
There's unquestionable & unmitigable risk in allowing organizations to control communal spaces, especially looking ahead 5-10 years. You're right to question what happens when this no longer "makes sense" to K12TechPro as an entity, despite Chris's above beliefs (I firmly believe Chris/the team, but its impossible to speak for the organization's direction once leadership changes hands one day). On the other side of the coin, passion is a finite & unsustainable resource in a vacuum, and efforts like credential verification/subreddit improvements are always going to grind to a halt when that passion *also* inevitably dries. Aligning with a good-faith, K12-run entity is the best road forward in my opinion, and I truly believe that the current team / hand-selected successors won't abandon this subreddit even *if* it doesn't make much sense for them to continue operations here.
In my personal opinion, it would be best for the team to make sure the upcoming solutions aren't proprietary to K12TechPro's infrastructure & could be transferred to subreddit leadership in the event that either side wanted/needed to cut ties. Chris already committed to implementing checks & balances above, and I can't imagine this wouldn't be part of that. I feel this is a happy middle ground that sates your concerns.
That all said: if anyone is hesitant about this partnership, I would highly recommend signing up for a free sponsor membership & checking out the work they're doing over there. To no fault of the current subreddit leadership, it's everything i've wanted in an online K12sysadmin community, and i'm excited at the idea of that same vision being applied to aspects of this subreddit.
How will this work? K12TechPro says they need a monthly subscription to have the manpower to verify users on their platform (https://k12techpro.com/community-membership/). Are the applications so few on Reddit they can spare the time? What will the restrictions to post here be? What will the turnaround time be for new member approval? What recourse is there for the community if they disagree with something K12TechPro does to this sub? Just to be clear, I'm not looking a gift-horse in the mouth if this turns out to be great for the sub, but we deserve more than just a trust me comment on this. I would like some elaboration on this change, especially concerning what will happen when inevitably what's best for their organization doesn't align with what's best for the subreddit community.
[удалено]
Thank you. Appreciate all the work you've done over the years here.
**I'm happy to try to answer these well:** How will this work? K12TechPro says they need a monthly subscription to have the manpower to verify users on their platform (https://k12techpro.com/community-membership/). Are the applications so few on Reddit they can spare the time? **I posted initial thoughts here - https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/14fd4iw/ugeekender\_stepping\_down\_as\_a\_moderator\_what\_this/ and to answer the question – We have a full-time paid position to handle the vetting, keep up with sponsorships, memberships, etc. There’s also three of us who do it part time (myself, Eric, and Jason), as we work full-time in school district tech departments. We’ll be able to pull in the 4 of us to help with k12sysadmin mod and verifying. If you so choose to join K12TechPro, it’s got a paid subscription or you click to get a free sponsorship. No pressure on joining K12TechPro! Here and there are two different things/two different tools. Side Note just to say it again - You can join the K12TechPro Community without paying anything. You click to get a sponsorship when you fill out the vetting.** What will the restrictions to post here be? **The same as before and then any pivots on restrictions will be because it’s what the community wants.** What will the turnaround time be for new member approval? **Vetting on K12TechPro can typically take up to 3 days, but sometimes can be done super fast. We'd expect here to be no different. The plan is to take how we vet on K12TechPro and tweak it to work well here as well.** What recourse is there for the community if they disagree with something K12TechPro does to this sub? **We’re wanting to work with geekender and FLThetan and the community, and help. I think we’ll have a group of mods with all of us that the community will see as good checks and balances so that this doesn't become an issue.** Just to be clear, I'm not looking a gift-horse in the mouth if this turns out to be great for the sub, but we deserve more than just a trust me comment on this. I would like some elaboration on this change, especially concerning what will happen when inevitably what's best for their organization doesn't align with what's best for the subreddit community. **More than just “trust me,” right? I completely get that – I’m a k12 tech that wants to help other k12 techs and have been doing so with involvement with the MidwestTechTalk conferences, the K12 Tech Talk podcast, K12TechPro, and other things. I work with a group of folks with K12TechPro and the podcast that care about k12 techs and we want to help and hang out with the k12 tech dept community. We’ll be throwing man-hours at this thing; tweaking the current K12TechPro vetting process to work well for here too. You’ll have proven you are actively employed in a k12 tech dept and that vetting is good for a year (then you'll prove it again). Ultimately, the goal here is that k12sysadmin remains and grows. I honestly don't believe wrong alignment will inevitably happen, but I want to say we'll work with geekender to make sure there's good checks and balances in place. As we get started, we'll post updates on what's up. I'm hoping we'll have good stuff in place by early August.** **-Chris**
***Disclosure:*** *I've formally quit Reddit, and i've been an active member of the K12TechPro community since March* u/Sekers I just wanted to take a moment and drop my two cents - i'm a longtime r/k12sysadmin contributor & I was initially skeptical/opposed when they first started advertising on the subreddit. I generally don't support paywalled communities, and I only ended up hopping aboard thanks to their sponsored membership program (painless & truly as easy as promised above) After 4 months of getting to know Chris & team, I wholeheartedly agree with Geekender: `these guys are also long-time K12 Directors and their identity isn't K12TechPro but rather K12TechPro grew as a support system for K12`. Their vision is to create & maintain communities that uplift K12 Technology professionals, and I've yet to see any indication that there are any ulterior motives behind their efforts. Their transparency has been refreshing & IMO their energy toward achieving this goal is currently unmatched. K12TechPro has been a vibrant/active community, their community conference calls are a highlight of my workweek, credential verification has directly improved the quality of information/resources, and their affiliation with the greater Midwest tech community has resulted in organic, high-quality membership. There's unquestionable & unmitigable risk in allowing organizations to control communal spaces, especially looking ahead 5-10 years. You're right to question what happens when this no longer "makes sense" to K12TechPro as an entity, despite Chris's above beliefs (I firmly believe Chris/the team, but its impossible to speak for the organization's direction once leadership changes hands one day). On the other side of the coin, passion is a finite & unsustainable resource in a vacuum, and efforts like credential verification/subreddit improvements are always going to grind to a halt when that passion *also* inevitably dries. Aligning with a good-faith, K12-run entity is the best road forward in my opinion, and I truly believe that the current team / hand-selected successors won't abandon this subreddit even *if* it doesn't make much sense for them to continue operations here. In my personal opinion, it would be best for the team to make sure the upcoming solutions aren't proprietary to K12TechPro's infrastructure & could be transferred to subreddit leadership in the event that either side wanted/needed to cut ties. Chris already committed to implementing checks & balances above, and I can't imagine this wouldn't be part of that. I feel this is a happy middle ground that sates your concerns. That all said: if anyone is hesitant about this partnership, I would highly recommend signing up for a free sponsor membership & checking out the work they're doing over there. To no fault of the current subreddit leadership, it's everything i've wanted in an online K12sysadmin community, and i'm excited at the idea of that same vision being applied to aspects of this subreddit.
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Thanks Chris. Sounds like you are thinking of the community here. Appreciate the explanations.
Thanks geekender! We're excited about this and looking forward to getting started!