[TERPELAZIUN] Ministreu dàl Tec'hnoloxhà (2023/03/18)

[Üc R. Tärfă]

Estimat Túischac'h, me alçéu à terpelar el þon. Ministreu dàl Tec'hnoloxhà.

Tandi qe

• in the Budget bill submitted in the Hopper the Ministreu dal Finançù is proposing to appropriate 133¤20 ($200 USD) to his Ministrà; and
• the Ministreu dal Finançù, replying to my question, specified that those are in addition to the ℓ60 ($90 USD) permanently authorized each year by Lexh.D.2.8.4.1 «for the specific and sole purpose of paying for the annual domain name registration of talossa.com and for associated webhosting services as selected by the Seneschal or their designated representative»;
• Lexh.D.2.9.2.  says «The Government shall own the domain name talossa.com, and may purchase and maintain any other Talossa-related domain names as they see fit, following normal budgetary procedures.»;
• the Ministreu appointed himself as Registrar;
• both the Seneschal and the Distain said multiple time that the Ministreu is working on a detailed report on both what happened in the last week and what he is planning to do for the future of our hostings;

terpeléu el Ministreu per säpar

• which domains will expire during this Cosă term, which will be renewed and what is the estimated cost of their renewal;
• when the Ministreu expects his report to be ready and can be submitted to Ziu;
• if the Ministreu expects part of the appropriated money to be spent before the report will be ready;
• where are at the moment hosted the state-owned web services;
• where is hosted the website on talossa.com and who has access to it.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

[Danihel Txechescu]

1a) The following domains will expire during this term:
* kingdomoftalossa.com
* kingdomoftalossa.net
* kingdomoftalossa.org
* talossan.com
* talossa.net

1b) The assestment date for their renewal is 2023-05-04, but it's very likely that all of them will be rewewed, including talossa.com.

1c) US$64.22

2) While the report will echo pretty much what Lüc has already said, I'm deferring this report until after all systems are validated to be fully backed-up and restorable.

3) No.

4) DigitalOcean.com

5a) DigitalOcean.com

5b) Lüc and myself to the backend; whoever the Wittmeister/Webmaster allows on the frontend; the public in general.

[Üc R. Tärfă]

Estimat Túischac'h,
I thank the Ministreu, If I may I'd like to add that in the 5th question I made a mistake: I wanted to ask about talossan.com and not talossa.com. If the Ministreu would answer to that as well it would be helpful.

I'll add a follow-up question after that.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

[Danihel Txechescu]

Estimat Túischac'h,
I thank the Ministreu, If I may I'd like to add that in the 5th question I made a mistake: I wanted to ask about talossan.com and not talossa.com. If the Ministreu would answer to that as well it would be helpful.

I'll add a follow-up question after that.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

I do not have information of where that site is hosted nor who has access to it.

[Üc R. Tärfă]

Estimat Túischac'h,
I thank the Ministreu for his replies and I'll add supplemental questions:

Tandis qe

• the Ministreu said that talossan.com will expire this term and will be likely renewed;
• indeed according to whois services that domain is registered to the former Web Registrant for the organization "Kingdom of Talossa";
• the Ministreu also said that, and I quote, «I do not have information of where that site is hosted nor who has access to it.»;
• the Distain on discord #gleþ-dev on the 7th said «i have server access» and he certainly has access to the WordPress
• according with Lexh.D.2.9.2. «The Government shall own the domain name talossa.com, and may purchase and maintain any other Talossa-related domain names as they see fit, following normal budgetary procedures. These domain names and their associated webhosting shall be administered by the Ministry of Technology.»;
• in sight of these, as the talossan.com domain is State-funded it should fall under the administration of the Ministrà;

terpeléu el Ministreu per säpar

• after a consultation with the rest of the Cabinet, where talossan.com is hosted, who has access to the webhosting, server and wordpress site;
• who's paying for the hosting of that site as, according with the answers previously given, clearly its not hosted on the national hosting space;
• what his plans will be to fully bring talossan.com administration in compliance with the law and who's going to be in charge of its contents;
• who's paying for the hosting of the other state web services on digitalocean.com and for as long he thinks they will be hosted there.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

[Danihel Txechescu]

Estimat Túischac'h,
I thank the Ministreu for his replies and I'll add supplemental questions:

Tandis qe

• the Ministreu said that talossan.com will expire this term and will be likely renewed;
• indeed according to whois services that domain is registered to the former Web Registrant for the organization "Kingdom of Talossa";
• the Ministreu also said that, and I quote, «I do not have information of where that site is hosted nor who has access to it.»;
• the Distain on discord #gleþ-dev on the 7th said «i have server access» and he certainly has access to the WordPress
• according with Lexh.D.2.9.2. «The Government shall own the domain name talossa.com, and may purchase and maintain any other Talossa-related domain names as they see fit, following normal budgetary procedures. These domain names and their associated webhosting shall be administered by the Ministry of Technology.»;
• in sight of these, as the talossan.com domain is State-funded it should fall under the administration of the Ministrà;

terpeléu el Ministreu per säpar

• after a consultation with the rest of the Cabinet, where talossan.com is hosted, who has access to the webhosting, server and wordpress site;
• who's paying for the hosting of that site as, according with the answers previously given, clearly its not hosted on the national hosting space;
• what his plans will be to fully bring talossan.com administration in compliance with the law and who's going to be in charge of its contents;
• who's paying for the hosting of the other state web services on digitalocean.com and for as long he thinks they will be hosted there.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

As I have learned about the subject I can share that:

1) Talossan.com is hosted by a citizen of the realm who compiled all the related linguistic resources and created a website for that purpose. This citizen, Ieremiac'h Ventrutx, has access to this website, and so does Baron Alexandreu Davinescu; this access list is certainly not comprehensive.

2) What I know is that the Royal Treasury is not paying for it. Who actually pays for that hosting, I do not know. That information can probably be obtained by asking the aforementioned citizen.

3) The law specifies that domain names and websites be administered by the MinTech, so my plan to bring that website into 100% compliance is to have an official delegation of responsibilities over it; the domain name remains a property of the Kingdom, while website administration will be delegated to the current maintainer of that site.

4) I am paying for the hosting on DigitalOcean.com out of my own pocket. My plan is to have services remain there at least until everything is documented properly. Data security, stability and documentation are the three objectives of this endeavor, and I'm very happy with the first two and the partial work that's been done on the third.

Thank you.

[Sir Txec dal Nordselvă, UrB]

Azul. I'm not a member of the Ziu, so I would understand if you simply refused, but may I ask a question in regards to this terp, S:reu Túischac'h?

[Danihel Txechescu]

Azul. I'm not a member of the Ziu, so I would understand if you simply refused, but may I ask a question in regards to this terp, S:reu Túischac'h?

By all means, Sir Txec -- even if the rules don't allow it I'll be more than glad to hear your question.

[Üc R. Tärfă]

Estimat Túischac'h, ingrascheléu el þon. Ministreu per sieux respunsen.

I will formulate supplemental question to him very soon.

[Üc R. Tärfă]

Estimat Túischac'h, me alçéu à cumpientar această terpelaziun eftir Lexh.H.2.6.

tandi qe

• the Ministreu gave in his answer an acess list to talossan.com which was, by his own definition, "not comprehensive.";
• the Ministreu said that he doesn't know who's paying for the hosting of that website;
• the Ministreu said his "plan to bring that website into 100% compliance is to have an official delegation of responsibilities over it; the domain name remains a property of the Kingdom, while website administration will be delegated to the current maintainer of that site.";
• the Ministreu also said that he is "paying for the hosting on DigitalOcean.com out of my own pocket. My plan is to have services remain there at least until everything is documented properly. Data security, stability and documentation are the three objectives of this endeavor, and I'm very happy with the first two and the partial work that's been done on the third";
• Lexh D.2.9.3. says "The Talossan Web Registrant shall inform the government of any payments due or made towards domain registration and hosting of any government operated websites and domains and shall be reimbursed for any payments made as soon as is practicably possible and in accordance with all law relating to the governmental budget";

terpeléu el Ministreu per säpar

• fullfilling his duties according with the law, the full list of those who have access to that site and who's actually paying for its hosting;
• why S:reu Ventrux and S:reu Davinescu privately administer and have access to the backend of a website that shall be administered by his Ministrà and should have come under Kingdom contol when other domains and hostings were incorporated;
• when the Distain had access to that website while both current and former Ministreux dàl Tec'hnoloxhà weren't given access contra legem to the associated hosting of a State-funded domain;
• as the Ministrà must administer talossan.com in accordance with Lexh.D.2.9.2. if the Ministreu will ask, in compliance with Lexh.A.20, that the Government enforces the transfer of that website to the Kingdom's hosting;
• if the Ministreu will then direct members of the same Cabinet he is part of that have access to that website, in compliance with the above, to move its contents to the Kingdom's hosting;
• if the Ministreu does agree with me that, given the nature of the contents of that website devoted to our national language, its contents management should be better delegated by his Ministrà to el Büreu del Glheþ Talossán and/or SIGN that have official duties related to el glheþ, and they might delegate other people to perform the manangement of the webiste it if they see fit, and not to the current mantainer(s);
• if the Ministreu believes that the Kingdom's websites under the administration of his Ministrà should be hosted on the hosting spaces that is paid for by the Treasury;
• if I am right in assuming that as I speak all Kingdom's websites whose domains are State-funded are now hosted on privately paid webspaces;
• the exact date when talossa.com and its subdomains were redirected to digitalocean.com and the Kingdom's website hosted there;
• if the Kingdom's websites on DigitalOcean.com are hosted on an ad hoc bought hosting space or on an hosting space already bought and paid for by Ministreu before the transfer there of the Kingdom's websites;
  
• if the Ministreu has and can provide us a timetable for the transfer of all Kingdom's websites to an hosting that is or will be paid for by the Treasury.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

[Danihel Txechescu]

Estimat Túischac'h, me alçéu à cumpientar această terpelaziun eftir Lexh.H.2.6.

tandi qe

• the Ministreu gave in his answer an acess list to talossan.com which was, by his own definition, "not comprehensive.";
• the Ministreu said that he doesn't know who's paying for the hosting of that website;
• the Ministreu said his "plan to bring that website into 100% compliance is to have an official delegation of responsibilities over it; the domain name remains a property of the Kingdom, while website administration will be delegated to the current maintainer of that site.";
• the Ministreu also said that he is "paying for the hosting on DigitalOcean.com out of my own pocket. My plan is to have services remain there at least until everything is documented properly. Data security, stability and documentation are the three objectives of this endeavor, and I'm very happy with the first two and the partial work that's been done on the third";
• Lexh D.2.9.3. says "The Talossan Web Registrant shall inform the government of any payments due or made towards domain registration and hosting of any government operated websites and domains and shall be reimbursed for any payments made as soon as is practicably possible and in accordance with all law relating to the governmental budget";

terpeléu el Ministreu per säpar

• fullfilling his duties according with the law, the full list of those who have access to that site and who's actually paying for its hosting;
• why S:reu Ventrux and S:reu Davinescu privately administer and have access to the backend of a website that shall be administered by his Ministrà and should have come under Kingdom contol when other domains and hostings were incorporated;
• when the Distain had access to that website while both current and former Ministreux dàl Tec'hnoloxhà weren't given access contra legem to the associated hosting of a State-funded domain;
• as the Ministrà must administer talossan.com in accordance with Lexh.D.2.9.2. if the Ministreu will ask, in compliance with Lexh.A.20, that the Government enforces the transfer of that website to the Kingdom's hosting;
• if the Ministreu will then direct members of the same Cabinet he is part of that have access to that website, in compliance with the above, to move its contents to the Kingdom's hosting;
• if the Ministreu does agree with me that, given the nature of the contents of that website devoted to our national language, its contents management should be better delegated by his Ministrà to el Büreu del Glheþ Talossán and/or SIGN that have official duties related to el glheþ, and they might delegate other people to perform the manangement of the webiste it if they see fit, and not to the current mantainer(s);
• if the Ministreu believes that the Kingdom's websites under the administration of his Ministrà should be hosted on the hosting spaces that is paid for by the Treasury;
• if I am right in assuming that as I speak all Kingdom's websites whose domains are State-funded are now hosted on privately paid webspaces;
• the exact date when talossa.com and its subdomains were redirected to digitalocean.com and the Kingdom's website hosted there;
• if the Kingdom's websites on DigitalOcean.com are hosted on an ad hoc bought hosting space or on an hosting space already bought and paid for by Ministreu before the transfer there of the Kingdom's websites;
  
• if the Ministreu has and can provide us a timetable for the transfer of all Kingdom's websites to an hosting that is or will be paid for by the Treasury.

Méirci, smestéu el tarleu.

1. This question can be asked directly to the administrator of that website.

2. I don't think they both manage that server, only S:reu Ventrutx as far as I know. The answer to this question, of course, comes from way before I was appointed Ministreu here. Maybe a former Minister of Technology could answer why that was accommodated that way, but all I know is that that's delegated to a S:reu Ventrutx now, as we mentioned a few days ago, and will be countersigned by the Seneschál now to bring it back into compliance.

3. Well, access was not denied to me, I didn't ask for access. I don't know about the past, but I know I could direct changes in that website if needed.

4. This Ministrà does indeed manage talosssan.com as per El Lexhatx D.2.9.2.

5. Nope.

6. This is a really interesting point which, might need to be developed further, but I would definitely support such an idea. In fact, if there is a formal proposal we could work on enabling it.

7. No, not exactly. I believe Talossan.com, in particular, is hosted from home, so there is no "host provider" as such, and no payment for hosting either. Then on DoRoyal we're going to pay US$0.00 for the foreseeable future, as compensation for out data loss. So, I don't think this needs to be either chiaro nor oscuro but something in between. In the end we're trying to do what's best for the Kingdom.

8. Yes.

9. 2023-03-07, around the time of the second colapse of DoRoyal.

10. DigitalOcean specializes in infastructure as a service (IaaS). In our case, they charge US$0.009 per hour with a cap of US$6.00 per month for the cheapest server they've got. This can be canceled at any time.

If I may share some more, there is another server with them (a "staging" server), where I run tests before deploying to the actual, production server, and where our documentation is validated. The advantage with IaaS is that staging/test servers can be created and destroyed just as easily.

The documentation on how to enable all of our digital presence is a work in progress, with at least the basic services fully validated. This is a step-by-step guide to make it easy for anyone after I'm run over by a bus, it's sort of Talossa-in-a-box for our online presence.

11. That translates to when the Treasury will be spending money on hosting. Well, I have no rush in making the Kingdom disburse money on that. We can always go back to DoRoyal where we'll be paying US$0.00, but trust there has been shattered -- twice. No plans for now to pay for hosting in the upcoming months. Domains will renew in June, so that'll be our only expenses for now.

Thank you.

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

Estimat Túischac'h, if it is possible I would like to add some context to the topic of talossan.com.

The main issue with the site is not primarily who does or doesn't run it, but rather that its contents have been incorrect and/or out of date for almost 10 years. Far from being an "invaluable resource to scholars from all around the globe" as the Minister puts it in his Delegation of Website administration notice an hour ago from the time I write this, the website has been a source of misunderstanding and confusion for new learners for ages, and as time moves on and the language changes and matures, this descrepancy will only widen. I personally remember how frustrating it was to find out that things I thought I knew about Talossan, all of which I had learnt from talossan.com, turned out to be either incomplete, out of date or straight-up false, which required me to relearn it multiple times over.

There have been attempts to modernise its contents by myself, though last time I checked there were technical limitations that made any significant progress impossible, specifically how the letter Ă could not be rendered correctly. I don't know if the problem persists.

What can or will the Minister do to ensure that the contents of the website are factual and useful for learners and scholars, living up to the tagline that he gave it in the Delegation of Website administration notice today?

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

If I might?  I've been working on this for the last few months. I got the problem fixed on a mirrored version of the install, so now the next step is backing up the current install and doing it on the current live server. It's a work in progress. It's a weird problem with how the whole site is encoded, since WordPress changed over at one point but it's not easily possible to just change it as a setting. JP was going to try it last week, and I'll keep you updated.