Unified practitioner guild

One guild. Three ways to talk.

FDEUp is a platform-of-platforms for Forward Deployed Engineers and adjacent operators: one community across email, chat, and retro-social.

Signal over feeds Practitioner-first Vendor-neutral Durable knowledge No algorithmic theater

Choose your platforms See the model Different conversations deserve different mediums.

What FDEUp affords

Short-form and long-form practitioner exchange when an answer should outlive the moment.
Comms coordination for people shipping real systems under real constraints.
A human directory and retro-web layer that is not optimized for outrage, ads, or dopamine loops.

FDEList.com for email discussion via mailman3

Email listserv for durable discussion. Powered by Mailman3-style mailing lists.

FDETalk.com for mobile+web customized chat app

Private chat for desktop and mobile. Built around customized Campfire-style rooms.

FDESocial for lightweight professional networking in desktop browsers

Desktop-first professional social network for profiles, discovery, links, and weak ties. Works on mobile in a pinch.

Email for depth Useful threads, field notes, and hard-won answers that should remain searchable.

Chat for immediacy Fast rooms for live coordination, troubleshooting, and high-trust operator exchange.

Social for identity A directory-like graph for finding practitioners without turning the community into a feed.

Request access

Select the surfaces you want. Verify once with LinkedIn; use a pseudonym where each tool allows it.

Invite request

I request being added to these separate platforms:

FDEList — email listservEmail discussion list; uses Mailman3 FDETalk — chat platformMobile (PWA) + desktop apps; uses customized Campfire by 37signals FDESocial — lightweight professional networkDesktop-first professional social network; uses a custom 2000s-style site

Choose at least one. You can request more later.

To keep the network high-trust, verify once with LinkedIn:

1) LinkedIn profile with a verified ✔ badge.

2) “FDEUp” somewhere on that profile so we know it is yours. You can remove it later.

3) Invite email must match an address listed on your LinkedIn profile, even temporarily.

LinkedIn profile verified ✔ required

Must include FDEUp somewhere on the profile before requesting access. You can remove it later.

Email must match LinkedIn contact info

Invite email must match an address listed on your LinkedIn profile, even temporarily. FDEList uses this email for list delivery.

Why you’d like to join

What you can give

What you want to receive

I’ll keep it useful: no spam, no scraping, no pitch decks, no engagement theater. ABOVE ALL I WILL DO MY BEST TO KEEP IT PROFESSIONAL AND NICE EVEN WHEN WE DISAGREE. I am 18 or over.

We review requests manually. If approved, you’ll receive access instructions by email.