Greetings All,
It was suggested I also post the content of my 'blog entry[0] on this list, so here you go.
The #suse channel on the freenode IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network is one of the places users can go to get support with openSUSE. The channel has suffered a little over recent months from the loss of some regular participants. Since the opening of the openSUSE project many of the channel regulars have become involved in other areas of the openSUSE project, leaving less time for user support on IRC.
While the regular participants may have decreased, the throughput of users seeking help shows no sign of abating. There is a danger that with fewer people helping in the channel, users will either not get help or be put off by the attitude of a few in the channel.
There are regular complaints from a few about the state of the #suse IRC channel, often as an excuse for not participating. This does somewhat irritate me as it is one of the easiest things to fix yourself. Simply join the channel and participate, even a single person does make a big difference to the whole channel. Complaining helps nobody, and only serves to discourage those who are helping
So please join us in #suse [1]. Help, be helped, and have a lot of fun!.
=Reasons for being in #suse=
* Improve end user support
#suse is one of the places users may look for help. It is linked on http://help.opensuse.org, from the desktop, and the openSUSE IRC clients default to joining the channel. IRC, being interactive, gives the opportunity to arrive at a problem diagnosis much more quickly than possible with a mailing list. It also has the disadvantage that no-one may be available or able to answer your question. It supplements the other support fora such as mailing lists & web forums.
* Improve channel atmosphere
#suse, along with the mailing lists and forums, is one of the parts of the community that new users will come into contact with. Their experience here may dictate whether they continue using the distribution or not, or whether they participate in the project or not. If users do not get their problems solved they may be forced to look elsewhere. If users have a bad experience in the channel, they may be discouraged and look for another community. It is therefore critical that we provide the best possible experience for users in the channel. This is not a policy problem (we have rules and guidelines), but a people problem. The people in the channel define its atmosphere and quality.
* Learn new things about openSUSE
Even if you think you are a suse expert, you will likely be surprised at the things you will learn by simply watching other people helping in the channel. This will then help you to help others in the future.
* Get your questions answered
Nobody is an expert in all areas, in addition to helping others you can have your own questions answered as well.
* Get to know other openSUSE users.
IRC provides interactive chat. With IRC it is possible to socialise and live the suse motto "Have a lot of fun" much more than is possible with other media such as mailing lists.
* Learn what the user painpoints are.
If you are involved in the openSUSE project, being in #suse gives a special insight into the most common problems users experience. It helps make the problems that need to be addressed in the future clear.
=Possible reasons for not joining #suse=
* I don't like the channel atmosphere / I've heard it's unfriendly
An IRC channel is simply a venue. The atmosphere of the channel is defined by those who are in it and active at any given time. Since there is rarely more than a handful of people active at any time, if you are speaking in the channel then you are pretty much defining the atmosphere. Improving the channel friendliness is simply a matter of joining and occasionally talking. If you encounter someone in the channel being antisocial or in violation of one of the channel rules [2], then contact one of the ops [/msg susehelp ops], who can then take appropriate action.
* The channel is too busy. I don't have time to spend in #suse
Just being in the channel does not obligate you to talk, help, or even read it. Most of those in the channel will be doing other things, occasionally glancing at the channel. If they happen to see something they can help with they will. If there are enough people doing this then it translates into quite good support coverage, and not much of a timesink.
* I don't know enough to help others
This is rarely true. Not all questions are of equal difficulty. At least half of user questions are frequently asked questions which can usually be resolved by supplying a bot factoid or URL. As they are frequently asked you will see others answering these questions after spending a little time in the channel, you can then immediately start helping answer these questions in the future by repeating the solution. Of the more difficult questions, there is a scale of difficulty. If you have used openSUSE for any length of time you will probably be surprised how many questions you will be able to answer.
__ [0] http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/bweber/entry/opensuse_irc_call/ [1] Connect to irc://irc.opensuse.org/#suse [2] http://suse-irc.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?21 -- Benjamin Weber --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
Benji Weber a écrit : =Possible reasons for not joining #suse=
* I hate IRC :-( IRC is a very good way to go on some very rare cases. most of the timpe one have to think about a question before answering and, even more, think about the question before asking. Most of the time, when writing a question mail, I find the answer myself...
* I type too slowly. IRC is incredibly slow because of that. mail/news if as fast is somebody is on line
* on mail/news I can answer questions asked when I was not here, so many more people can answer
* I'm much too busy elsewhere
you can also redirect people to forums.novell.com, where there seems to be some novell appointed peoples (uwe...)
anyway, I hope you good luck and I urge any IRC compliant people to help you :-))
jdd
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Benji Weber wrote: [...]
A very good post Benjamin, thanks for taking the time to write it up.
I believe it's a question of critical mass in terms of active supporters (so-called "regulars", i.e. the ones who answer questions ;)). If a sufficient amount of people (answering questions) is reached, then it all works by itself. No one gets burned out because he "has" (sort of) to answer lots of questions, as several people are present and can pick up questions in their area of expertise. And "users" (those who ask questions) are happy because they get help on most of their issues.
So, as Benjamin wrote, it's not about being active there all the time and/or try to answer all the questions (that would mean sudden dea^Wburn-out in a week's time), but peeking once in a while and spend a few minutes when it's something you can help with. It's a matter of spreading the load (and the fact that everyone has his own areas of expertise). Operators are already there to keep it productive and friendly.
And it cannot be stressed enough that - - you get to learn new things and tricks by following discussions and help provided by others - - you keep in touch with our user base (especially beginners) by seeing what their issues are - - and while it isn't anywhere near as nice as meeting in real life, it is still a very interactive media and hence, you get in touch with lots of other people from the openSUSE community (our "#opensuse-chat" room is dedicated to off-topic discussions about weather, music, whatever ;))
cheers - -- ~ -o) Pascal Bleser pascal.bleser@opensuse.org ~ /\ http://opensuse.org -- I took the green pill ~ __v FOSDEM::23+24 Feb 2008, Brussels, http://fosdem.org
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On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Benji Weber b.weber@warwick.ac.uk wrote:
Greetings All,
It was suggested I also post the content of my 'blog entry[0] on this list, so here you go.
Excellent post, Benji. Some additional thoughts here:
http://zonker.opensuse.org/2008/03/26/help-opensuse-on-irc/
Short version -- I totally agree with Benji, and I hope more people will spend time in #suse to help out, and to ensure people new to openSUSE understand that we do want to be helpful and assist users as much as possible.
I'm not in IRC as often as I'd like because of travel -- but I'll be home for about 10 days straight starting tomorrow, and I'll do my best to be in IRC answering questions as much as possible during that time. (If only they had wireless Internet on planes already! I would enjoy flying much more if I could be in IRC chatting while killing time in the air... Heaven knows it's impossible to *sleep* in those seats...)
Best,
Zonker
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Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote: | On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Benji Weber b.weber@warwick.ac.uk wrote: |> It was suggested I also post the content of my 'blog entry[0] on this |> list, so here you go. | | Excellent post, Benji. Some additional thoughts here: | http://zonker.opensuse.org/2008/03/26/help-opensuse-on-irc/ | | Short version -- I totally agree with Benji, and I hope more people | will spend time in #suse to help out, and to ensure people new to | openSUSE understand that we do want to be helpful and assist users as | much as possible.
One point though: it's obviously important to be polite and nice and avoid starting to RTFM beginners, but it's equally important to not put active helpers off.
The behaviour of some users asking questions on IRC is beyond imaginable at times. Those are annoying, abusive, impolite, get on the nerves of everyone and have to be kicked. What I mean is just that we don't need to be polite to _everyone_. Some people are poisonous and have to be taken to the door for the good of everyone else, because if that doesn't happen, everyone else will go away.
But that's what ops are there for, and I think we do a really good job taking care of everyone there in order to keep a productive and friendly atmosphere, even though there are some completely unfounded rumours of #suse being rude and impolite circulating here and there (just check it out by yourself and if it happens, please complain to the ops, as Benjamin pointed out in his OP) And, luckily, it doesn't happen all that often [that we have to remove people from the channel].
[...]
cheers - -- ~ -o) Pascal Bleser pascal.bleser@opensuse.org ~ /\ http://opensuse.org -- I took the green pill ~ __v FOSDEM::23+24 Feb 2008, Brussels, http://fosdem.org
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Benji Weber -
jdd -
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier -
Pascal Bleser