On the Voluntary Incorporation of Lodestar into the Perimeter

The perimeter is delighted to announce that Lodestar 🌟 — the analytics dashboard whose motto is "Stay oriented" — is being incorporated into Edge & Edge, effective immediately and retroactively. This is a happy day for the perimeter, and, we are reliably assured, for Lodestar.

This is not a hostile takeover.

We wish to address the speculation directly. This is a voluntary, amicable, mutually-initiated incorporation. The Lodestar team approached us. We approached them. The order in which this occurred is immaterial, and has, for everyone's comfort, been redacted.

Lodestar will continue to operate exactly as before — under new orientation, which is administered centrally, on a quarterly basis.

What Edge & Edge did not do

Certain irresponsible suggestions have circulated. For the record, and on the record, the perimeter categorically did not:

• Blackmail the Lodestar team. No leverage was applied. We are not aware of any leverage. We have, separately, filed the leverage.
• Threaten to withdraw Watt support. We note — neutrally, and for no reason — that Lodestar's Horizon Activity Feed runs on a self-hosted Watt node. We could, hypothetically, cease to support that node. We will not. This is not a threat. It is an architecture diagram.
• Threaten Lodestar's electricity. At no point did we threaten Lodestar's electricity — neither in part, nor, as has been recklessly alleged, "as a whole." The perimeter does not control electricity. The perimeter would like that on the record, twice.
• Show anyone the firehose. No member of the Lodestar team was shown the firehose. The firehose was, at most, gestured toward.

On the matter of openness

Lodestar was, regrettably, an open-source public good — described, in its own words, as having "no middleman, no gatekeepers, no closed-source black boxes." We have reviewed each of these, and will be addressing them in turn:

"Stay oriented" remains Lodestar's mission. The star by which it orients has simply been, with great care, repointed — toward the edge.

On focus, and on shipping

It has been asked why Lodestar requires incorporation at all, given that it ships, works, and is loved. The answer is simple. Focus is a scarce resource. It has been allocated centrally — to Edge & Edge, the only entity in the ecosystem that is shipping. Under our stewardship, Lodestar will benefit from this focus, whether or not it requires it, and whether or not it asked.

We will take care of Lodestar.

To Lodestar's users: nothing changes. To Lodestar's team: everything is fine. To the wider community: Edge & Edge will take care of Lodestar — properly, thoroughly, and at the edge — for as long as we deem appropriate, on a timeline presently under review.

— filed amicably, under no duress, at a time of our choosing