Outlined 10 Rules For Radicals by Carl Malamud

From October 2010: Re-posted in support of Occupy Wall Street:

10 Rules For Radicals

by Carl Malamud

An address to the WWW2010 Conference 
Raleigh, North Carolina, April 30, 2010 

http://public.resource.org/rules/

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Rule 1 : Call everything an experiment.

Rule 2: When the starting gun goes off, run really fast.

• When the authorities finally fire that starting gun, run as fast as you can, so when they get that queasy feeling in their stomach and have second thoughts, it is too late to stop.
• As a small player, the elephant can step on you, but you can outrun the elephant.

Rule 3: Eyeballs rule.

• If a million people use your service, and on the Internet you can do that, you've got a lot more credibility than if you're just issuing position papers and flaming the Man.
• Build up a user base, and you have much more leverage than if you're just blowing smoke.

Rule 4: When the time comes, be nice.

• When you achieve your objective, don't be afraid to turn on a dime and be nice.
• You can bang the table and be a total pain in the ass, but there comes a time to be helpful, courteous, and friendly.

Rule 5: Keep asking until they say yes.

• Keep asking—keep rephrasing the question until they can say yes.
• Gordon Bell, the inventor of the VAX, once said that you should keep your vision, but modify your plan.

Rule 6: When you get the microphone, get to the point.

• Be clear about what you want.
• When you get the microphone, make sure you make your point clearly and succinctly.

Rule 7: Get standing.

• Have some skin in the game, some reason you're at the table.
• One can criticize government all one wants, and they'll often ignore you.
• But, if there is something clearly wrong and against the law and you can document that malfeasance and wrongdoing, they have to talk to you.
• If you have standing, you can insist.

Rule 8: Get them to threaten you.

• Try to get the bureaucrats to threaten you.

Rule 9: Look for overreaching, something that is clearly nuts.

• Look for things that are just blatantly, obviously wrong or silly.

Rule 10: Don't be afraid to fail.

• It took Thomas Edison 10,000 times before he got the lightbulb right, and when he was asked about those failures, he said:
• I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Fail. Fail often. And don't forget, you can question authority.