[Fedora-ambassadors-list] Fedoraproject Meeting Importance?

[Tejas Dinkar]

On Thu, 2006-01-12 at 23:24 +0500, Nayyar Ahmed wrote:
> Hi Thijs:
> 
> I appreciate the way you are supporting fedora, as for as Pakistani
> people behavior goes it is same as you described in Netherlands :), i
> have criticise the way fedoraproject grants the support stuff, because
> i found problems in doing a good and real work, and there might be
> many other who may get same problems as i do. My comments are not just
> to get free stuff, but i want you people attention to start a proposal
> based grant to fedora ambassador, in my opinion it is more practical
> way then being an active member.
> 
> thanks

See, but understand this.

How can a member of the fedora steering committee be sure if the person
requesting fedora stuff is really asking it to distribute if for free?

As someone posted earlier, Fedora T-Shirts are selling for nearly $10-15
PER SHIRT. And in India, Fedora Core DVDs are selling for Rs 500 (~10$).

We cannot afford to lose any Fedora Goodies at all. In particular, if a
member of the Ambassadors team abuses his power to make a sum for
himself (other than a t-shirt or two), then the publicity WILL be
devastating.

You will have the news on SlashDot: 'Robbing Fedora for Fun and Profit'.

Now how can anyone be sure that someone is worthy?

The same way the rest of the Open Source world works. Titles and
position and prestige are awarded to those who DO. Those who take
leadership. Those who put their own necks on the line, and provide
useful input.

Even if that input is just 'Here are the slides I am using for my talk
on Fedora'... that is still a CONTRIBUTION. And those who CONTRIBUTE are
trusted. That is the way that things work in the FOSS world.

If someone joins the Fedora-Ambassadors, and then the next day says:
"Please send me 500 DVDs and 100 T-Shirts", will naturally be treated
with suspicion. It is equally suspicious when a person has been on the
list for months, and never says a word, except for "give me...".

Yes, an ACTIVE MEMBER is not very well defined. But I think that if you
point out an Ambassador, you can say if they are active or not.

Yes, you may be busy and cannot attend meeting. Not everyone can make it
to meetings, and the timings may be such that it interferes with with
work. But the decisions are NOT made in the meetings always. Decisions
are made on this list. On the wiki, on fedoranews.org. At least make it
known that you are an ambassador, and not just hope that you will be
sent stuff 'Because you name has been in the wiki's edit group for a
while'

Contribute your best, whatever you have time for. You will be alarmed at
how many people will be helped, even by an article that took you 15
minutes to write.

See, this is a form of collateral for the project. Now, when we send you
stuff, we are not sending it free.

You have already paid for it.

Not with money, but with Blood, Sweat and the Hard Work that you have
put in to improve the Fedora Project.

So it is a profit to us, no matter what you do with the CDs.

Gja

--
Tejas Dinkar - tejasdinkar AT gmail DOT com

The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the
stupidity of your action.