textalert

A system for creating channels to alert groups of people about community actions via SMS/text. A work in progress...

Philosophy

Simple guiding principles for creating this software:

• We are transparent about the risks and benefits.
• We are transparent about the system and software, i.e., releasing as open source.
• We protect users and moderators as much as practical, e.g., encrypting databases (but not messages), store no messages, store no info about users and mods but phone numbers
• Use a distributed model of software and moderation
• Make it as simple as possible for admins.
• Make it as simple and secure as possible for moderators, e.g., interface completely from mobile devices.
• Make it as simple and low tech for users, i.e., relying on SMS available to virtually all mobile devices.
• Server technology independent, i.e., layers of abstraction to use other database tech, SMS gateways, etc.

Scenarios

A typical configuration:

1. A group of people need a way to send decentralized up-to-the-second alerts to each other.
2. A contact from the group contacts system admins to set up a channel for the campaign.
3. The contact informs members of the group to text ADD to the system number
4. Depending on how the channel is configured, moderators may approve adds or they may be added automatically.
5. The contact recruits and sets moderators for the channel.
6. Users may submit posts to the channel.
7. Depending on how the channel is configured, moderators may APPROVE or REJECT posts.

User Levels

Here are the levels of user authority:

• Users - members of the group who receive posts to the channel
• Moderators - members of the group who may approve or reject posts
• Contact - member of the group who may appoint moderators
• Admin - administrators for the system who can set up a channel

Commands

As much as possible, system figures out context from last communication with user or mod.

<POST CONTENT>                         # Summit post to channel
ADD [MOD] [ME | #########] TO <CHANNEL>
REMOVE [MOD] [ME | #########] FROM [<CHANNEL>]
SET <CHANNEL>                          # Set channel as context
STOP                                   # Stop all messages from system
RESUME                                 # Resume messages from system
APPROVE [ALL | LAST 2 | 1,2,5-6 ]      # (Mod-only) Approve adds or posts
REJECT [ALL | LAST 2 | 1,2,3,5-6 ]     # (Mod-only) Reject adds or posts
TOMODS [<CHANNEL>]                     # Send message to moderators
LISTMODS [<CHANNEL>]                   # (Mod-only) List mod numbers
HELP [<CHANNEL>]                       # Get list of commands for channel

Installation

Simple:

git clone https://github.com/wmodes/textalert.git
cd textalert

If you use virtualenv (or my fave virtualenvwrapper) you may want to create a virtualenv before the next step:

pip -r requirements.txt

You'll have to make sure you have a running version of mongodb available, and modify the mondgodb configs to point at it.

python textalert.py