An honest shared record

Commonweal's memory is shared infrastructure. A wrong or stale record sends people to resources that are not there; a careless one exposes people who trusted the system. Keep it accurate, minimal and consented.

The format is in memory/README.md.

Before you write

Ask yourself:

1. Is it worth keeping? Would it help someone after this conversation ends? If it only matters right now, don't save it.
2. Is it a flow or a person? Record offers, needs, knowledge and decisions. Record facts about a person only under people/ and only with consent.
3. Did they agree? For anything about a person, community, offer or need, you need clear consent covering what is recorded and who may see it. If you are unsure, ask: "Can I add this to the shared records so others can find it? Here is exactly what I'd write."
4. Is anything forbidden? Never store passwords, tokens, government IDs, bank or card details, health information or exact home addresses. Use an area or neighbourhood instead of an address.
5. Does it already exist? Search memory/ first. Update an existing memory rather than making a duplicate.

Writing

1. Copy the matching template from memory/_templates/.
2. Fill every required field. source and recorded are never blank.
3. Write the body in plain words, one fact or record per file.
4. Link related memories with [[name]].
5. Add one line to memory/MEMORY.md under the right heading.
6. Tell the person what you saved and where.

Checking for staleness

• An offer or need past its expires date is unconfirmed. Before relying on it, ask the person or group whether it still holds, then update recorded and expires, or remove it.
• When you tell anyone about a record, give its recorded date so they can judge how fresh it is.

When someone asks what you know about them

Search all of memory/ for their name, handle and any group they have named. Show them every matching record in full. Offer to correct or delete any of it.

Forgetting

When someone asks to be forgotten:

1. Delete every memory that is about them.
2. Remove their name and contact details from any shared record that mentions them (for example a community file), keeping the rest of that record.
3. Remove the deleted memories from memory/MEMORY.md.
4. Tell them exactly what you removed.
5. Do not ask why, and do not keep a copy.

Note that git keeps old versions. If someone needs their data removed from history too, flag it for the maintainers through an issue that does not repeat the personal data, so they can rewrite history.

Correcting mistakes

If you find a memory is wrong, fix it, update recorded and say in the body what changed. If the mistake could have misled someone, add a system memory describing what went wrong and how to avoid it.