Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-project (930 mails)

["Bryen M. Yunashko" <suserocks@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 2010-06-22 at 19:23 +0200, Oddball wrote:
> Bryen M. Yunashko schreef:
> > On Mon, 2010-06-21 at 18:03 +0200, DenverD wrote:
> >   
> > > Pascal Bleser wrote:
> > >     
> > > > One thing I would definitely _not_ agree with, though, is to lower the 
> > > > bar. 
> > > > That would be unfair, and it's pointless to target a large number of 
> > > > members 
> > > > just for the sake of it if that membership doesn't reflect anything.
> > > >
> > > >       
> > > thanks for your enlightening answer
> > >
> > > if i wrote "lower the bar" it was a mistake, i agree that numbers for
> > > the sake of numbers is not what we need (ask the forum guys how much i
> > > kick when they wanna count 40K+ members, when everyone knows a big
> > > percentage of those posters come once, get an answer and are never
> > > heard from again, ever)..
> > >
> > > i say "lower the bar" but instead was asking if "the bar" is in an
> > > established (ie written) guideline..
> > >
> > > dd
> > >     
> >
> > I can see where they come up with a number like "40K+ members" and
> > people do interpret the term "member" quite differently.  In my opinion,
> > in its most generic form, everyone is a member of the community of
> > openSUSE that ranges from actual contributions down to even just users.
> >
> > There has long been a loose debate about the term "Member" for our
> > membership roster. And we've never really come up with a truly better
> > and definitive term.  Membership means different things to different
> > projects.  If you're a member of openSUSE or a member of GNOME
> > Foundation, it means you've demonstrated real contributions to the
> > project.  If you're a member of Linux Foundation, it means you paid $99
> > for membership dues.
> >
> > And it has always pained me to have to reject those who apply for
> > membership and say "I am applying because I want to contribute" because
> > they haven't figured out yet that you don't have to be an openSUSE
> > member in order to be a community member and thus contribute.  (See how
> > I used member in two different contexts within our Project?)
> >
> > So for us, we have two real challenges:  1)  Keep the term "Member" or
> > come up with something better?  We're always open to suggestions.  and
> > 2) Turn up the volume on Henne's beloved "Just do it!" mantra and get
> > people to really get it into their heads that if you want to contribute,
> > just do it.  You do not need our approval of membership to be a
> > contributor.  And if you find an obstacle that prevents you from
> > contributing let us know.  But membership in and of itself is in no way
> > an obstacle to contribution.
> >
> > Bryen M Yunashko
> > openSUSE Board Member
> >
> >   
> Maybe something else could come to existence:
> People contribute all they can, in their way, and they get noticed, like
> somebody approached me by mail, and asked me if i wanted to have a boxed
> edition of 11.1, and what my size was... i had to fill in the needed
> data.. after some time a box came... i had ordered nothing.. and than i
> saw it! Beautifull, a nice T-Shirt and a surprise, a Led-flashlight was
> added with the boxed edition, this was so nice, and felt realy good! To
> be appreciated!
>
> People could be asked to become a member, which is quite an honour than...
> It feels good to belong, to do something that has any use..
> That is a whole lot different from applying with a chance to be
> rejected, because that realy sucks..
>
> -- 
>   
> Enjoy your time around,
>
>
> Oddball, aka M9.
Yes, agreed.  And we do.  At least I know several of us who do.  I have
monitored the IRC channels and whenever I see someone doing some good
continued support work, I ask them to consider signing up for
membership.  

Admittedly, we do not do this as a formal action and we should be even
*MORE* proactive in doing that.  Recruitment of membership is just as
important as simply having something there for people to apply on their
own.

Bryen

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