Cool Fedora schwag idea

[Matt Frye]

On 6/27/05, Greg DeKoenigsberg <gdk at redhat.com> wrote:
> A Fedora letterman's jacket.  You know, like the one all the jocks wore in
> high school.

I think this idea is fun, but flawed.  Letterman jackets are a great
image (think competition, champions, popular kids) and are great
recognition tools.  They invoke a sense of belonging and achievement
in the same way the green jacket does for the Masters, yellow jersey
for guys named Lance Armstrong, etc.

However, as a promotional tool, I think it's the wrong direction.  It
sets a tone of inclusion, and possibly exclusion.  Sure, people can
look up to the "lettermen," but it's only a matter of time before
people feel like they're being put into lockers.  This is only due in
part to the demographics of Linux.

Being involved in LUGs and LUG-like orgs, I've spent a lot of time
thinking about how to make intelligent discussion accessible. 
Schwag/swag/whatever is supposed to achieve that goal, but varsity
jackets don't fit the profile.

Matt Frye
Class of '93
"Letterman" in band and debate.