home.md

-Welcome to social.coop's GitLab group.
+Welcome to [Social.coop's][Social.coop] public wiki! This domain is
+where we keep general public information, guides and references to
+other resources.
 
-General public information and references go here.
+# What?
 
-- [Getting an account](getting-an-account) in order to participate on this GitLab instance
-- [Guidelines, rules and bylaws](rules-and-bylaws) for social.coop
-- [Guides for the tech working group](https://git.coop/social.coop/tech/operations/wikis/home) (some of this information may be sensitive so you need to be a member of the tech group to read this)
+[Social.coop] is is an experiment in user-controlled social media. It
+is a community hub for people interested in co-ops and development of
+free/libre social media - these define the common core field of
+discussion, though they are far from the only things discussed.
 
-- ~~Our other wiki https://wiki.social.coop/~~ *(this was Mayel's server and has now been shut down)*
-- Our (publicly visible) Loomio group http://socialcoop.loomio.org/ (some sub-groups are private)
-- Our Open Collective page https://opencollective.com/socialcoop
-- Our [general matrix chat channel](https://riot.im/app/#/room/#SocialCoop:matrix.org) (first public point of rendezvous if social.coop has problems!)
-- Our [tech matrix chat channel](https://riot.im/app/#/room/#tech.social.coop:matrix.org) (invite-only; switch to here for private tech matters)
+We primarily run a [Mastodon] social media server: one node in the
+[Fediverse], a federated network of social media applications which
+communicate using the [Activity Pub] and [OStatus] protocols.
+
+[Social.coop]: https://social.coop/about/more
+[Mastodon]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(software)
+[Fediverse]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse
+[Activity Pub]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub
+[OStatus]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OStatus
+
+# Why?
+
+What distinguishes us from most other social media there is that we
+are both funded and governed by our members: we are a
+co-operative. The organisation and running of the site is accountable
+to its members, and not only will we not be monetising our users by
+selling their data to third parties, but they get a say in what we do.
+
+# Where?
+
+Besides here at http://wiki.social.coop, you can find us at the following places:
+
+- Our main [Mastodon] social media instance: https://social.coop
+- Our groups on [Loomio], a forum with decision-making tools for governance:
+  https://www.loomio.org/socialcoop/ <i>(sub-groups for various
+  working groups and operations teams can be found there too)</i>
+- Our [GitLab] code/documentation projects and issue trackers: https://git.coop/social.coop
+- Our [Matrix] chat channel, for informal discussion and a rendezvous point when service outages occur:
+  - General (open): https://riot.im/app/#/room/#SocialCoop:matrix.org
+  - Tech Working Group (open): https://riot.im/app/#/room/#social.coop.tech:matrix.org
+  - Tech Working Group (private): https://riot.im/app/#/room/#tech.social.coop:matrix.org
+- Our [Open Collective] page, where we raise funds: https://opencollective.com/socialcoop
+
+[Loomio]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loomio
+[GitLab]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitLab
+[Matrix]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(protocol)
+[Open Collective]: https://opencollective.com/
+
+For details on joining [Social.coop], see the link in the navigation bar above.
+
+# How?
+
+- Our [Code of Conduct]
+- Our [Bylaws]
+- Our [Op teams] structure
+
+[Code of Conduct]: rules-and-bylaws/Code-of-conduct
+[Bylaws]: rules-and-bylaws/Bylaws-for-social.coop
+[Op teams]: rules-and-bylaws/Admin-ops-teams