The Portal Group Onboarding

How do I access the other channels?

New members automatically receive the Newb role upon entering the server, which limits them to posting in the #lobby-and-introductions channel. If you demonstrate an interest in making or contributing, or show something you've previously made, you will receive access to the rest of the server.

If you don't have much to show, consider contributing to the wiki. We aim to aggregate agentic people, who take lead with their work and can show instead of tell with minimal outside direction, and can also collaborate with others.

How can I contribute?

The Portal Group is not here to tell you what to do, it is here to remove obstacles and make your work easier. Veteran members of the community, who have contributed to a project or accomplished an ambitious task, are to be sought out for advice. Those who do work are quickly integrated.

The only "hard" requirement for any project is that it should be in line with the goals of the Portal, as best outlined in Episode 2 and Episode 18 or in the telos above.

There is much freedom in selecting your approach these goals, but the ones that tend to last are overall simple. An idea's simplicity does not imply it is unintelligent or incapable, but rather it has a large impact relative to its underlying assumptions and complexity in execution.

How shouldn't I contribute?

Conversation without an aim distracts from productivity, so we have little open conversation on the Projects server. If you want to have wandering conversations about the Podcast, see The Portal Discords. We aim to exclude disruptive behavior, that which distracts or is disrespectful to members.

Additionally, if your ideas cannot be given a strong form or body, then they cannot act on the world. We wish to focus on ideas that generate results and avoid areas that don't. Areas that especially don't pay off include arbitrary permutations of crypto schemes or the purchase of an island.