package shepherding

[Erik LaBianca]

Alexander Wrote:

<snip>

> > You have vast amounts of possible volunteers on these lists, which
if
> > managed well could take some of the burden of your shoulders. I can
see
> > that individual developers are taking part in managing these
resources,
> > but I don't see an overall strategy. But then maybe I am expecting
too
> > much of a BSDish approach...
> 
> All the possible volunteers on this lists are great, but the fact is
> that if I have to personally hand-hold them I won't have time for
> anything else, which might be a net loss to the project. Its very much
a
> fact that volunteers in free software projects have to be very driven
> self-starters. It might be an unfortunate fact, but its been true for
as
> long as I've done free software, and I don't see it changing.
> 

I think this is the real issue. It took me many years of using open
source to even attempt to make a contribution. I think what people are
hoping for here is some guidance as to how to make it easier to get
people started with the project. I think that's what Jef's been trying
to do with triage days, and for my own part, I'm trying to make the
Extra's QA process more straightforward with my quickstart guide.

If fedora can come up with a set of simple tasks, that nonetheless
provide real help, the barrier for entry will be drastically lowered.
Expecting everybody to actually "fix a bug" means you eliminate many
potential contributors due to the sheer background knowledge required. 

The trick IMHO is figuring out ways to give input that are easy AND
useful.

--erik