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Slack Waterfolk and maritime music · Port Ellery

After the festival

The tide goes out. The line stays.

The same Pool on three days: Friday, arriving; Sunday night, as the festival ends; and a month later, which is today. Then what happens to curation when the people who made a Pool step back, and what the protocol does with one nobody keeps §9.

The badge and the afterlife

A month laterMonday 28 September, today · 2026-09-28T09:00:00Z

The festival is long over. The Pool is still here, kept by Birdie Novak, and everyone in it is still findable. Theo remembers a fiddler from Olympia, and asks.

Status: active18 people listed

Slack Water 202628 to 30 August · Port Ellery

Theo Lindqvist

WeekendEmail verified

Lapsed · nothing listed

Theo’s answer

His badge’s question waited 14 days and lapsed on 11 September. Nothing was listed. Go back to Friday to answer it.

The whole handshake, with the log and JSON.

Who keeps it

Marit HalvorsenSigned in with OAuthCo-curator
Birdie NovakSigned in with OAuthPrimary curator
  • Marit Halvorsensaid yesSigned in with OAuthFestival office · 1 June
  • Seb Marchandsaid yesEmail verifiedSession · 1 June
  • Birdie Novaksaid yesSigned in with OAuthKeeps the Pool · 1 June
  • Callum Reessaid yesSigned in with OAuthSession · 3 June
  • Lupe Serranosaid yesSigned in with OAuthCrew · 1 July
  • Kofi Mensahsaid yesSigned in with OAuthSession · 3 August
  • Beatriz Nunessaid yesSigned in with OAuthSession · 5 August
  • Mae Castellanosaid yesSigned in with OAuthSession · 12 August
  • Darío Méndezsaid yesSigned in with OAuthSession · 12 August
  • Wes Adeyemisaid yesSigned in with OAuthCrew · 20 August
  • Esther Kwansaid yesEmail verifiedSession · 24 August
  • Ruby Tamurasaid yesSigned in with OAuthWeekend · 28 August
  • Ada Quillonsaid yesEmail verifiedWeekend · 29 August
  • Moss Delaneysaid yesEmail verifiedWeekend · 29 August
  • June Okaforsaid yesEmail verifiedCrew · 29 August
  • Nell Brodysaid yesEmail verifiedWeekend · 30 August
  • Gideon Parksaid yesEmail verifiedSession · 30 August
  • Elena Vasquezsaid yesEmail verifiedCrew · 3 September

Find the fiddler from Olympia

  • Sébastien “Seb” MarchandEmail verified

    Fiddler. Learned tunes from his grandfather in Québec and from library recordings in Olympia. Plays old-time and French-Canadian tunes, and wants people to play them with in any month of the year.

Seb takes messages from people in a Pool with him. Theo is not in this one yet.

Shift 11 · it outlives its makers

What happens to curation

A festival office has eleven months of other work. So Slack Water 2026 opened with two keepers: Marit Halvorsen, who runs the festival, and Birdie Novak, a volunteer, listed as co-curator from the first day. Co-curators are first in line if a Pool ever needs a new keeper §9.3.

Monday 31 August, 9 in the morning

Marit made Birdie the primary curator, one edit to the manifest, and wrote to everyone in the Pool. Then she stepped back. She stays listed, so the Pool is never without a second name, and she takes no action in it.

The curators on Friday

[
  {
    "identity": "marit@mail.example",
    "display_name": "Marit Halvorsen",
    "verification_level": "oauth",
    "primary": true
  },
  {
    "identity": "birdie@mail.example",
    "display_name": "Birdie Novak",
    "verification_level": "oauth",
    "primary": false
  }
]

The curators today

[
  {
    "identity": "marit@mail.example",
    "display_name": "Marit Halvorsen",
    "verification_level": "oauth",
    "primary": false
  },
  {
    "identity": "birdie@mail.example",
    "display_name": "Birdie Novak",
    "verification_level": "oauth",
    "primary": true
  }
]

From Marit Halvorsen, through Slack Water 2026 · 31 August 2026

Slack Water 2026: Birdie keeps the Pool from today

Thank you for a good weekend.

The festival is over and the Pool stays. From today Birdie Novak keeps it. She ran the info tent for six summers, and she will answer anyone who writes about the Pool until next year’s opens. I stay listed, and I will take no action in it.

Nothing about your place changes. Your page is still yours, and you can leave any time from this message.

Marit

A system message; v0.1 has no type for a handover §6.3. messages/handover-2026.json

The clock that matters is curation, not attendance

A Pool goes dormant when its curators take no curation action for 90 days: reviewing a handshake, editing the manifest, answering a removal §9.1. Members going quiet after a festival changes nothing. Birdie last acted on 21 September 2026, when she answered Elena Vasquez’s late yes and updated the charter. The Pool could go dormant only if 90 days passed with nothing from her: not before 20 December 2026. She plans to keep it until next year’s opens.

§9, right now

Last year’s Pool went quiet. Nothing was deleted.

In 2025 nobody was named to keep the festival’s Pool. Marit kept it through the spring and last edited it on 26 June 2026. Ninety days later, on 24 September 2026, Slack Water 2025 entered dormant status §9.1. Its members saw a notice, its file and our discovery file say so §10.2, and every name is still on the line.

To everyone in Slack Water 2025 · 24 September 2026

Slack Water 2025 is dormant. Nothing was deleted.

Slack Water 2025 has had no curation for 90 days, so it is now dormant (Kindling §9.1). Nothing was deleted: the Pool is readable, and you are still listed.

You are an active member, so until 8 October you may nominate a new keeper, yourself included, or answer a nomination. A keeper is chosen if at least two thirds of the active members who answer support them. If nobody is chosen, the Pool is archived: still readable, everyone still listed, and no new requests or messages.

Leave any time from this message.

messages/dormancy-2025.json · pools/slack-water-2025.json says "status": "dormant"

Who keeps it now

The transition window is open from 24 September 2026 to 8 October 2026 §9.3. Any active member may nominate: someone who accepted a handshake, posted, or wrote through the Pool in the last 60 days §9.2. Kofi nominated Birdie on 25 September 2026.

Answer as Seb, who has not answered yet:

  • Kofi MensahSigned in with OAuthSupports Birdie
  • Beatriz NunesSigned in with OAuthSupports Birdie
  • Seb MarchandEmail verifiedHas not answered
  • Birdie NovakSigned in with OAuthNominee

If the window closed now, Birdie would keep Slack Water 2025: 2 of 2 active members who answered support her, and two thirds is enough.

If nobody had stepped forward, the Pool would be archived when the window closes: still readable, everyone still listed, and no new requests or messages. A returning member could reopen the transition and revive it §9.4. Kofi’s nomination, as JSON.

A tide table for a Pool that sleeps

Rides Home is meant to sleep

Rides Home is busy one night a year. Bram de Wit, who keeps Carpool to the Coast at the library, keeps it for the weekend and then lets it rest. This is what §9 will do with it, and none of it deletes anything.

WhenWhat happensSpec
Sunday 30 August, eveningThe busiest night. 5 drivers and riders said yes; Ruby took Moss as far as Portland.§5.2
31 August 2026Bram’s last curation action. He wrote “see you next August” into the charter.§9.1
29 November 2026Dormant, if no curator acts before then. Members see a notice; the discovery file says dormant.§9.1 §10.2
29 November 2026 to 13 December 2026The window. Any active member may nominate a keeper. By then there will likely be none, and that is fine.§9.2 §9.3
13 December 2026Archived. Readable, every name still listed, no new requests or messages.§9.4
Next AugustRevived. A returning member reopens the transition, and the Pool wakes up for the weekend.§9.4

v0.1 cannot say “asleep on purpose until August”. A client sees dormant, then archived, and reads the reason in the charter and the governance text. The gap.

Next year

The people who come back

6 people are in both years’ Pools. We know because their Kindling identity is the same in both files, and we mark it beside their names. Nobody else is ranked or marked for coming back, and nobody is asked why they didn’t.

  • Marit Halvorsensaid yesSigned in with OAuth2025 and 2026 · Festival office
  • Seb Marchandsaid yesEmail verified2025 and 2026 · Session
  • Birdie Novaksaid yesSigned in with OAuth2025 and 2026 · Keeps the Pool
  • Callum Reessaid yesSigned in with OAuth2025 and 2026 · Session
  • Kofi Mensahsaid yesSigned in with OAuth2025 and 2026 · Session
  • Beatriz Nunessaid yesSigned in with OAuth2025 and 2026 · Session

Ozzie Reyes said yes in 2025 and isn’t in 2026. A yes is for one year’s Pool, and nobody carries it over for you.

Seb’s rule, and Slack Water 2027Rule 1: slack-water + festival, curator signed in with OAuth, public

Fits. When next year’s Pool asks him in May, his rule says yes for him, and he gets a notice he can undo.

The 2027 request, as JSON
{
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "type": "handshake-request",
  "handshake_id": "hs-slack-water-slack-water-2027-seb",
  "pool": {
    "url": "https://slackwaterfest.example/pools/slack-water-2027.json",
    "name": "Slack Water 2027",
    "charter": "Everyone at Slack Water 2027, the last weekend of August on the Port Ellery waterfront, who said yes, for the weekend and after.",
    "curator_identity": "birdie@mail.example",
    "curator_verification": "oauth",
    "intent_tags": [
      "festival",
      "slack-water",
      "folk",
      "maritime-music",
      "friendship"
    ],
    "visibility": "public"
  },
  "profile_url": "https://seb-marchand.carrd.example",
  "sent_at": "2027-05-03T16:00:00Z",
  "expires_at": "2027-05-17T16:00:00Z",
  "accept_url": "https://slackwaterfest.example/handshake/hs-slack-water-slack-water-2027-seb/accept",
  "decline_url": "https://slackwaterfest.example/handshake/hs-slack-water-slack-water-2027-seb/decline"
}

The same rule, and somebody else’s Pool“Slack Water Afterparty at the Anchor”, kept by someone@elsewhere.example

Also fits. The rule can name tags, a minimum level and a visibility, but not a curator or a domain. Seb would be listed, get a notice, and could undo it.

That request, as JSON
{
  "schema_version": "0.1",
  "type": "handshake-request",
  "handshake_id": "hs-afterparty-seb",
  "pool": {
    "url": "https://anchor-afterparty.example/pools/afterparty.json",
    "name": "Slack Water Afterparty at the Anchor",
    "charter": "An afterparty for Slack Water people. Not run by the festival.",
    "curator_identity": "someone@elsewhere.example",
    "curator_verification": "oauth",
    "intent_tags": [
      "slack-water",
      "festival",
      "afterparty"
    ],
    "visibility": "public"
  },
  "profile_url": "https://seb-marchand.carrd.example",
  "sent_at": "2027-05-03T16:00:00Z",
  "expires_at": "2027-05-17T16:00:00Z",
  "accept_url": "https://anchor-afterparty.example/handshake/hs-afterparty-seb/accept",
  "decline_url": "https://anchor-afterparty.example/handshake/hs-afterparty-seb/decline"
}

Every auto-accept produces a notice, and any auto-accept may be undone later, which removes the listing §5.5. That is the protection v0.1 gives. What it cannot say yet.