Hey, On 10.07.24 15:57, Shawn W Dunn wrote:
I couldn’t disagree more, honestly. If “just do what you think needs to be done” worked, we wouldn’t *be* where we are right now, because that’s mostly the way the project has been operating since 2005.
If it were a viable option, that people just appear out of the blue, see a problem, and then get to work on it, all on their own volition, it would have worked by now. Hm not sure how you can get to the conclusion that "people appear out of
The project has has *a lot* of growth phases since 2005. How do you think we got to 2024? :-) So how come all of those growth phases happened despite all the "brand dilution", "lax governance", "unclear mission" or "the perception that SUSE owns openSUSE"? How come people before us, in the same situation, have been successful in growing this community and we currently are not? the blue" is what I was saying, when I wrote...
Recruit contributors manually. We can't wait for people to come to us. *We* have to go out and get them. Maybe you should read my email again?
Additionally, there have been efforts, by many, organized or not, including myself, to bring in new contributors, and our traditional “work on what interests you” sort of model is extremely intimidating for many potential contributors, and most have no clue A) where to figure out what part of the project *needs* help, or B) how they would contribute if the did figure it out. And you think it will be easier to figure out where openSUSE needs help and it will get more clear how to help, if you rebrand the project or have more governance bodies? Think again...
Am I just a garbage “mentor” at bringing people in? I certainly can’t discount that possibility, but I know I’m not the only person that has tried, and failed at various times.
Yes this is the work when actively seeking contributors: Trying and getting rejected by people *most* of the time. I'm not sure why you would think this makes you a garbage “mentor”.
Perhaps Governance, Procedure, and Documentation isn’t the way to “fix” things, I honestly don’t know, but continuing on the way we’ve *been* doing things isn’t likely to change the outcome. I did say we need more/different procedure to attract contributors. I specifically mentioned our documentation as one of the things that needs work. I drastically advocated to change how we do things around here currently.
Away from grand ideas, long mailing list threads, inventing new forms of governance/bureaucracy, introducing money and in general inventing more work for the community. Towards the work that matters: attracting new contributors and nurturing the ones we have. Henne -- Henne Vogelsang http://www.opensuse.org Everybody has a plan, until they get hit. - Mike Tyson