On Friday 24 February 2006 11:37, q uestion wrote:
--- houghi <houghi@houghi.org> wrote:
Well, obviously openSUSE.org is _the_ portal for openSUSE.org. openSUSE is the comunity, so as a comunity it is up to US, members of the comunity to make that site.
This is exactly what I was afraid of: black/white thinking. We don't have Novell staff support to just ignore it and hope the community can make OpenSuSE solid in a few years. OpenSuSE is still in infant state and needs all the support it can get. It is not a shame to get the help from Novell in community style.
I think you're missing something... the community doesn't just include the users, but developers at Novell as well. Its a joint effort. Not community + Novell, but that people at Novell are a part of this community. A very important, and involved, part.
Making a comunity and a comunity site that goes with it is not something that will be done in a matter of days or perhaps even weeks. It will take some time, sorry.
That is no excuse for ignoring where OpenSuSE comes from and the support offerd exactly for the startup period. Novell/SuSE knows OpenSuSE is for the community, they invented the project and support it! Using the offered help and knowledge will for sure help to meet the goals, that is why it is offerd. Using this help may not feel like OpenSuSE is fully community, but ignoring it is gambling with OpenSuSE, the community and the goals.
What houghi is saying is that you don't put something out there and instantly get a community, a community is something that starts small-ish, and grows. I'd say that I'm very impressed with the current status of the community and its growth.
I asume that discussion will begin somewhere after FOSDEM. It will hopefully be a discussion and a process where the Novell marketing people have at most a guiding role. The site is NOT a marketingtool for Novell (at least not directly) it is a place for the openSUSE comunity.
Using help from Novell does not make OpenSuSE a direct marketingtool, even if the help is more then just guiding. Not only because OpenSuSE is a community thus the community decides what will be acceptable, but also because Novell depends on OpenSuSE to work in community form.
Read above comment on Novell employees being part of the community.
Tim
Joseph M. Gaffney aka CuCullin