Frequently asked questions

Before contacting Framasoft using the form in this contact page, please check that the answer is not included in the list below.

We remind you that no answers will be given to questions concerning the functioning of free software. For this, please use our forums.

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The association Framasoft

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I want to learn more about Framasoft.

Framasoft has contributed to so many actions since the creation of the collective in 2002 (and of the French not-for-profit association in 2004) that it’s complicated to be both exhaustive and succinct! You can however consult:
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Can I become a member of the Framasoft association?

No: Framasoft is an association by cooptation.

Indeed, we believe that it is not necessary to be a member of Framasoft. to come and contribute to our actions. Anyone can come and lend us hand on most of our projects (a good way to begin maybe to introduce yourself on the Framacolibris forum, and we are learning how to welcome volunteers (we still have a long way to go, please be patient with us!).

The cooption of members allows us to create a solid core of people to maintain the legal structure (the association according to the 1901 act, French law) which allows all our actions to exist, while making sure that we share values, methods (and a certain taste for self-derision).

Those who want to support us without volunteering can simply make a donation.

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I would like to invite Framasoft for our event.

Thank you! Framasoft volunteers work about thirty times a year throughout France. It is therefore possible that we may be able to participate in your event.

However, please understand that the association’s energies are not infinite, and that our priority is above all to develop online awareness actions. Consequently, we cannot respond to all requests, especially if geographical issues are taken into account, or if - quite simply - none of our members are available on the desired date.

To make us a proposal for an intervention, simply write to us via the form on the home page of this site, choose Invitation to an event, and give precise indications in your message: Who (are you)?, When (is the intervention planned)?, Where (is the demonstration taking place)?, What (conference? round table? stand? other?), etc.

We will answer you promptly to let you know if a member of the association is available.

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I would like to contact or meet someone from the association for an interview.

With pleasure! All you have to do is write to us via the form on the home page of this site, choose Press contact and let us know your request. We will send you by return email the contact details of a member who can then answer your questions.
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I heard you’re closing your services! What’s going on?

Don’t worry, we will make sure it goes well for you.

We are going to close some services, progressively, by offering you to find them one click further on, to trusted hosting providers.

Everything is well explained in our blog post.

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Volunteering

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How can I help Framasoft in its actions?

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I want to join the Framasoft’s community.

To participate, register on the Framacolibris forum, think about presenting yourself, your skills, your desires… and what you want to bring in the common pot. A Frama-team will be present to welcome you, answer you and guide you in our projects and needs.
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Donations

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I have made a donation, but I do not yet have a receipt to benefit from the tax deduction.

It’s OK: we send all donation receipts from one year around March/April of the following year, prior to the period for French tax filing.

However, if you would like to receive it sooner, or if you do not have it by March/April of the year following your donation, we will gladly edit you a copy.

To get one, please contact us through this form.

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I can’t make a monthly donation, but I still wish to support Framasoft, what can I do?

Thank you for your kindness and your commitment.

First of all, please know that you can make a one-time donation. directly from the page https://soutenir.framasoft.org.

Framasoft is looking for volunteers. No matter how much available time you have and whatever your skills are, you can probably help. Let’s talk about it in the Framacolibris forum!

Finally, a great way to support us is by simply promoting our values and tools to others, and share what we do all around you.

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I made a monthly donation but I made a mistake in the amount I would like to donate. How can I modify it?

First of all, thank you for your generosity.

Technically, we cannot change the amount of a recurring donation for future withdrawals.

However, we can still stop them anytime you want!

To do so, please contact us here. We will then invite you, if you wish, to renew your donation on the next month with the right amount.

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I’m currently donating monthly but my credit card has expired, what can I do?

Normally, your recurring donation will be automatically stopped when your card is expired (and/or deactivated).

To update your payment informatons with Framasoft, just fill in the form on the page https://soutenir.framasoft.org as if it were your first donation.

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Alternative donations: can I make a donation in Bitcoin or via Lilo, Flattr, Tipeee, Benevity etc…?

These kinds of initiatives may be honorable, but for our association… it leads to an excessive accounting workload (numerous entries, checks, etc.) which in fact translates into additional costs (of )employee time and/or accounting expertise).

Our experience lead us to think that the sums that we would get from those kind of donations would not suffice to cover the additional expenses incurred by the extra accounting work.

That’s why we prefer to hold on to the donation system we propose, which has the added advantage of be able to offer a tax deduction (at least to French taxpayers).

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Framacalc

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How to delete a calc? How long will my data stay online?

Since the creation of a calc is anonymous, it is impossible to propose deleting the data, otherwise anyone could delete any calc. However, the layers are deleted after one year of inactivity (no access, no modification), in order to avoid increasing our database indefinitely. In the meantime you can select all the cells and delete the content. Be careful, however, this will not delete the content of the history (the data will still be available).
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Framacarte

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How can I print my Framacarte?

There is no such feature in umap. You have to use the Print feature of your browser.

You can follow this issue evolution here: https://github.com/umap-project/umap/issues/88.

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I can no longer edit the map I created without an account.

The map can only be edited from the same web browser and if you do not purge your profile (cookie, offline data, etc.) or by following the edit link given to you at the time of creation.

The map editing link is in the form of:

https:/framacarte.org/en/map/anonymous-edit<id of the map>:<random characters>

Perhaps you can find it in your browsing history?

Otherwise contact us, remembering to give us the public link to the map, your IP address, your web browser and the date you created your map. Since you created your map without an account, we need these elements to ensure that you are the person who created the map.

To avoid these inconveniences you can create an account. Once it’s done, you have to click the anonymous edit link while you are connected to recover map edition.

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Framacolibri

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How can I delete my account?

If your account has posted messages older than 60 days, it is only possible for us to anonymize your account (your account will be deleted but your messages will remain visible on Framacolibri - without indication of your username - in order not to “break” the conversations in which you have participated). In order to delete or anonymize your Framacolibri account, you must request it, either by sending a direct message in Framacolibri to the “moderateurs” group, or by using our contact form (in this case, request it from the email address associated with your Framacolibri account and specify your username).
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Framadate

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I can’t find my poll’s link.

From the home page of Framadate you will find the link Where are my polls?

Enter the email address you used to create the survey in the form; the administration link will be automatically sent back to this address.

If you don’t receive an email, contact us, we will send you the link.

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How do I change my vote?

It depends on how the survey administrator has set up the survey.

They can:

  • Prohibit changes,
  • allow respondents to edit their own votes
  • or allow all respondents to edit all votes (buttons appear at the end of the line)

If the survey is set up to allow respondents to edit their own votes, when you have voted, a link for further editing appears in the green box that confirms the vote. This should be copied or emailed to you so that you can change your vote later. A button also appears at the end of the line to quickly correct it after proofreading.

Later on we will make sure that the email address of the respondent is collected beforehand in order to be able to send the link automatically, but for the moment we have no other technical solution to check that the person who wants to modify a vote is the same person who voted the first time. (see issues #132 and #38 on the development site)

If you are unable to change your vote, contact the poll administrator (post a comment in the poll if you do not know their email address).

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How to delete my poll?

To delete your poll you need to use your admin link, and then:

  1. click the trash icon

  2. click Remove the poll

    remove_poll

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Framaforms

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How to extend form limitation?

The maximum duration before your form expires is set to 6 months. You may renew your form’s validity by:
  • clicking Modifier
  • clicking Autres options
  • changing date
  • clicking Enregistrer
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Is it possible to recover an expired or deleted form or its results?

No. A form is hosted on Framaforms by default for 6 months. Then it is "deactivated" for a period of 2 months, meaning that you can still access it, download the results, extend it, etc. but users can no longer fill it out.

At the end of this period and without any action on your part, it will be permanently deleted from our database.

A reminder email is sent 2 weeks before the expiration.

A form deleted by an account cannot be restored either.

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Is it possible to have english interface?

Right now, it is not. Internationalisation is an enhancement we want (in french) but don’t know when we will be able to develop.
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Does Framaforms use a third party anti spam service?

Yes, following a wave of spam on the service, Framaforms uses Akismet, an anti-spam service owned by Automattic (a company that publishes Wordpress), to block fraudulent forms.

Akismet checks the title and description of any new form created on the site.

The general conditions of use of the Akismet service are available at this address.

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Framagenda

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How to delete my Framagenda account?

To delete your account, you have to:

  1. go to your account settings
  2. then Delete account
  3. check Check this to confirm the deletion request
  4. click Delete my account

This action will be reversible by an administrator for 7 days after you request deletion.

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Framalistes

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How can I delete my account?

To delete your account, you have to:

  • go to your settings
  • enter your password into Deleting your account section
  • click I understand that I will be unsubscribed from all my lists and that my account will be permanently deleted. checkbox
  • click Submit button

Please note that you can not delete your account if you are the only owner of one or more lists. You have to choose another owner before.

Accounts without any lists (as subscriber, owner or editor) will be deleted each month.

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How do I browse my list archives?

Before browsing your archives, you need to download them on your computer. To do so, you have to:

  1. click Admin in left panel in Framalistes
  2. click Manage archives (top menu)
  3. select archives period (to select all, click first archive, hold shift touch, scroll down, click the last one / to select some, you need to hold ctrl touch)
  4. click Download .zip archive

Then, you have to install Thunderbird and ImportExportTools NG addon and:

  1. right click on Local folders
  2. click on New folder…
  3. enter the name of this folder (the name of your list, for example)
  4. click on the Create Folder button
  5. right click on the created folder
  6. click on Import / Export in ".mbox" / ".eml" format
  7. click on Import all ".eml" files from a folder
  8. click on Also from subfolders
  9. search for the unzipped archive folder
  10. click once on it
  11. click on the Open button

The mails in the list will then be imported into the Thunderbird folder.

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How to add emails massively? (.csv files, etc.)

That is not possible. We want to prevent spammers from taking advantage of Framalistes to subscribe thousands of addresses and spam them in a few clicks. We have therefore voluntarily deactivated the registration of batches of emails by the owner and limited the number of members per list to 500 email addresses.

To register a large number of members, there is no other solution than to send them a link to the subscription page of the list or to add them manually one by one with patience.

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Can I use Framalistes for my newsletter?

In one word: no. The tool would be able to do this, but it is not adapted to create virtuous lists (with a double opt-in, email verification, etc.) So, using Framalistes in unilateral mode (from one to all) can put all users of Framalistes at risk: if a list is classified as spam by large email providers, it is actually all emails from all framalistes that would automatically move to spam folders in mailboxes. We do not have the means (human, financial, technical) to manage such uses and especially their consequences; and we do not want some uses to make this shared service inoperable.

If you are looking for a free/libre service for your newsletters, we recommend using PHPList.

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How can I cutomize the signature of the emails on my list?

That’s not possible! We have configured Sympa (the software behind Framalistes) so that any email sent from this service displays a link to unsubscribe from the list it comes from.

Beyond the legal obligation, it is an important ethical and technical choice: it seems essential to us that everyone can be free to unsubscribe easily from any email list, and this prevents people on your list from classifying it as SPAM (an action that, in the long run, could classify all messages from all framalists as spam among the largest email providers).

On the other hand, it is possible to add one above the existing one, and/or to add a header to the emails in your list. An issue is opened in the sympa repository about it.

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E mails take a long time to be received.

There are many factors that can slow down the distribution of emails, especially for mailing lists. For example, we have to send emails to some large suppliers one by one (otherwise they are rejected). If there is a problem with one of them, the whole delivery chain is slowed down.

There are also sometimes simple "traffic jams" on the server, when the traffic of the lists is too high for the server to be able to send the mails as they come in… and here we are limited by the speed of the server disks, which are SSD disks. We can't do much about this.

In other words, major slowdowns can occur (10 minutes, 2 hours or 10 hours): we cannot predict them and we don't have a lot of flexibility.

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Framapad

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How to delete a pad?

Since the creation of a pad is anonymous, it is impossible to propose deleting the data, otherwise anyone could delete any pad. However, the pads are deleted after a certain period of inactivity (no modification), in order to avoid making our database grow indefinitely.

This period is 24 hours for a pad created on the https://quotidien.framapad.org/ instance, one month on the https://mensuel.framapad.org/ instance etc… Meanwhile you can select all the content and delete it. Be careful, however, this will not delete the content of the history (the data will still be available).

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I would like to include an image on my pad.

It is not possible to integrate an image directly into Framapad. However, you can use a picture sharing service (see https://entraide.chatons.org/en/) to share your images, and for example, paste the link of your hosted image into the pad.
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Framatalk

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Is there a limit to the number of connected users?

Apparently not. The only limit is the bandwidth limit (you can save bandwidth by disabling the video).

However, since Framatalk is based on the weakest Internet connection, it is not recommended to make conversations with more than 2 people (unless each participant is on a sufficient connection (fiber for example) in which case 3 or 4 participants are possible).

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Framateam

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How can I delete my account, team, or channel?

The software used for Framateam does not allow users to delete their own account, team or channel. You must send us a request at https://contact.framasoft.org/#framateam. To facilitate the procedure, please:

  • make the request from the address associated with your account (or from the address of the team administrator to delete a team and/or a channel)
  • and/or give the link of the team to be deleted
  • and/or give the name of the channel (please archive the channel: this is the same as "deleting" it for you and saves us a lot of time)

Note: we will not delete an account whose request comes from an address other than that of the account to delete.

A request to the team that develops the software we use for Framateam to allow you to delete your own account without having to go through us has been made on this page: you can vote for it by clicking on the Vote button below the number of votes. You do not need to have an account to vote.

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Can I export my team?

No, you can’t export your team datas from Framateam to another mattermost instance. There is an export command line but it only allows to export all teams.

There is a request to allow to allow team admins to export their data. You can vote for it here.

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Framatube

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How can I create account on Framatube and upload videos?

PeerTube’s instance Framatube is not open for registration. Therefore, you cannot upload videos on it.

However, you can create an account and upload videos on the PeerTube instance of your choice.

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I have a question about PeerTube, or an issue: can you help me?

Framasoft owns Framatube only (and registrations are not open)! Any other instance listed (or not) on https://instances.joinpeertube.org/instances is not managed by our association. It is therefore useless to contact us if you have a problem with your account, or with a video on another instance.

To contact the administrator of an instance, you must:

  1. click on About in the left side menu of the instance
  2. click on the Contact administrator button
  3. fill the form

If you don’t have an answer, it is useless to contact us: we don’t have any more contact with the intances than you do.

If you have any questions about PeerTube (the software), you can ask them in the dedicated section of our forum.

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Miscellaneous

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Are you GDPR compliant?

To summarize: it is ongoing. While most Internet companies and start-ups generally manage only a few services and databases, and have significant resources, we are a small non-profit organization that offers more than 30 services and even more websites. Complying with the GDPR directives will take us some time.

Important points concerning the collection and processing of data at Framasoft:

  • The data is generally backed up between 1 and 2 months on our servers after it has been deleted (in case of a crash/major problem on the server, so that the service can be restored at a given time) and is then completely deleted.
  • Your data remains on European soil: in Germany or France (see our legal notice)
  • Our statistical visit analysis software (Matomo) is configured to respect the non-tracking choices (“Do Not Track” parameter of the browser), anonymizes the data and it is kept for 6 months (and is not transferred to third parties or used for any other purpose). You can exclude yourself from our statistics on this page
  • We do not place any third-party cookies (such as advertising network) on your machines, we do not have any partnership for data collection or transmission, we do not perform any individual data analysis. In other words, we take care of your data, and above all: we are not interested in them.
  • Your data can be deleted on request via our contact page (specifying the site concerned, its identifier, and using the same email for the request as the one of the account to be deleted)

Our compliance with the DGMP is therefore still imperfect, but our association promoting privacy, we are committed to respecting it.

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A single account to connect to all services (aka SSO), is that possible?

No. We do not (and will not) offer unified accounts because the services we offer use software developed by different and independent teams (of which we are, in most cases, not part). Each software evolves on its own and maintaining a service that would unite them (in addition to our custom versions) would be particularly time-consuming.

In addition, it would create an SPOF (Individual Point of Failure): if unified authentication is compromised, everything is compromised (or everything fails if it fails).

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I have lost my codes, can you disable double authentication (2FA) of my account?

For security reasons Framasoft will not disable two-step authentication (2FA) of an account: it would be against the interest of using two-step authentication.

When activating two-step authentication, two-step authentication deactivation codes are provided to you by the site you are using. You must copy and store these deactivation codes securely and permanently.

Framasoft will not be able to provide you these codes if you lose them.

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Could you give me a user’s IP address?

If the request is not justified by legal proceedings, we do not, as a matter of principle, disclose users’ IP addresses. Even if we understand the reasons for this type of request when there is, for example, insults or vandalism on collaborative documents, in other contexts (journalism, legal proceedings, union meetings…) if we started to reveal the IP addresses of our users on simple request it could have serious consequences on their anonymity.

Moreover, the IP address is not always a sufficient indicator that it is the right person: someone may type text while the person is temporarily away.

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Do you provide an email service (like Framamail)?

We don’t (and won’t) provide email service but you can find alternatives here: https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/alternatives#gmail
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Is “Framasoft” a registered trademark?

Yes, Framasoft holds the trademark “Framasoft” in several countries for preventive purposes.

Framasoft affirms here its intention not to use intellectual property for predatory purposes or to constrain legitimate use of the software. On the other hand, Framasoft reserves the right to enforce the trademark registration, specifically in case of damage to the image of the project “Framasoft”. We recommend that you create your own digital identity, without using “Framasoft” for your project (software name, domain name…) in order to avoid confusion about who is behind the website/project.

For more information, please refer to our Trademark Code of Conduct.

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How do you protect users (and myself) on Framasoft services?

With regard to "Best Practices", Framasoft has implemented measures that it believes are proportionate to the risks identified, by acting on :

  • "Elements to be protected": the collection of data is minimised, the transport of network communications is encrypted (TLS), personal information can be pseudonymised, Framasoft allows users to exercise their rights.
  • "Potential impact": data is backed up or replicated, activities are tracked, users are warned in the event of data breaches or detected intrusions.
  • "Sources of risk": access to servers is controlled and limited to persons authorised by Framasoft, Framasoft actively monitors for malicious code, Framasoft regularly updates the latest versions of the software used.
  • The "supports": physical access to the machines is limited to authorised persons, in order to reduce software risks, Framasoft only uses free and open source software.

What happens if our organisation's activity is considered illegal by the authorities? In this case, in accordance with articles 60-1 and 77-1-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure:

  • We request a written order
  • We check the identity of the official making the request
  • We verify the nature of the documents or information requested
  • We check the legitimacy of the request (for example, in certain cases, the authority must obtain the prior agreement of a public prosecutor)
  • We ask the authority about the purpose of its request (there is no a priori obligation for the authority to reply, but we note that this was systematically the case when we asked the question).
  • Depending on the answers to the previous points, we may respond positively to the request.
  • In the event of a positive reply, we will only send the useful data corresponding to the subject of the request (for example, we will never send all the connection logs for a given day to a service, as the scope is far too wide).
  • We make a copy of the original documents sent

Note: We would like to point out that following the decision of the Constitutional Council n° 2021-952 QPC of 3 December 2021, article 60-1-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been introduced, which stipulates that requests for technical data allowing the identification of the source of connections/data/terminals are only possible in limited cases (see the content of article 60-1-2).

Circumstances can therefore vary greatly, but the main rules to be observed are as follows:

  • Framasoft responds positively to requests from the judicial police that are duly made, have a legitimate motive and correspond to a real crime. For example, if you or one of your users is using a Framasoft service to host child pornography files (without our knowledge) and we are contacted by the police, we will act immediately with the police to resolve the situation. After verifying the authenticity of the request, we will cooperate with the police or gendarmerie and provide them with the information they request (within the limits set by law) and delete the offending files.
  • In the event of a clearly unlawful request, we will refuse to respond, stating that the request is unlawful.
  • In the case of a request that is biased or based on unclear grounds, we will act on a case-by-case basis, depending on our legal experts' interpretation of the legitimacy of the request.

In any case, please do not think of Framasoft as a service that will protect your anonymity, the anonymity of your members, or the anonymity of your actions against all odds. This is simply not the case. Our commitment is not to monetise your data or your behaviour. Nothing more, nothing less.

We respect your privacy. We respect the information you share with us. We respect your actions. But if your actions threaten our goals, we have no qualms about telling you to move to another service. And if they endanger the lives of others, we will have no qualms about working with the police, the courts or the gendarmerie.

Finally, we strongly advise you to keep a current copy of all your data in a safe place other than Framasoft. We are not immune - and no one is! - to a sudden outage that makes the service unavailable for several days.

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Everything is in french! How can I get the english version?

We are currently translating our home pages, but it takes time, so not all of them are translated yet. However, the softwares we offer are mostly in English (and not developed by us). Exceptions are: Framaforms, Framasite… If you want to help us translate, please join our translation platform.
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Partnership

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I’m just getting to know Framasoft… Could we talk to see how we connect, and imagine what we could do together?

That’s very sweet, but no thanks.

Our little association maintains and develops so many actions that time is becoming a scarce commodity. We do not wish to devote our energies to “just discover” each other. We are curious, we already discover a lot of people and initiatives by contributing with them.

For better or for worse, “doing” is in the culture of Framasoft. If you want us to meet and talk, do not hesitate to propose a real contributive project (with a “who what where when how why”) that will be the occasion for a mutual discovery!

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Could Framasoft relay my information on its medias?

It depends on your info!

First of all, please note that we are not a media, but that we feed our social medias, including the Framablog. This is done according to our available energies and at the pace of the time our volunteers and staff have. If your info is to be shared urgently, Framasoft is not the right interlocutor for you.

Nevertheless, we are pleased to relay, to those who follow our media feeds, information that fits our purpose: popular education on digital issues. If your news doesn’t apply to those themes (popular & digital education), there’s no need to tell us about it.

If you think it is a fit (hint: there must be a free license somewhere in such a project), do not hesitate to contact us!

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Would Framasoft be interested in an influencer partnership? An exchange of links? A product placement or publi information?

Let’s be crytal clear: NO.

We believe that the values of popular education, knowledge and information commons and digital hygiene that we defend every day are incompatible with the advertising industry.

We see no interest in posting and distributing advertised content: we believe that our Internets, our attentions, our collective brains (yours and ours) are worth better than that.

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I had an idea that I believe could change the world. Could you put it into practice?

Bravo, and welcome to the club of people who have had an idea that could change the world! Many of us have been in your case, and it is often the first step towards an adventure that can make you reach new heights.

However, at Framasoft, we’re already overwhelmed trying to realize the ideas that we’ve had and that we think can change the world (even if only one byte at a time). There's no need to send us your idea: we won’t have no time nor energy for it.

We’ve come to believe that the world doesn’t lack ideas, but people who take it upon themselves to make sure that they become real. People who will organize and gather talents around this idea. People who will take upon their shoulders the charge to monitor how this idea grows and find what it lacks to flourish and change the world!

The good news is, if you truly believe in the revolutionary power of your idea, you’re probably the ideal person to present it to others, to create a community and get the conditions for your idea to come true.

Go for it! To change, the world doesn’t need a “new Framasoft thingy”, it just needs you 😉.

Realization and design : AyM
Illustration : David Revoy (Creative Commons By 4.0)