Where to start?

[inode0]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 8:49 AM, Gregory Zysk <gz.int.project at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Marketing,
>
> I have pondered over the question of; 'where to start?'
>
> After receiving the comments on this list which were supplemented by emails
> supporting the fact that there is not much coordination in the area of
> marketing, but more so the unwillingness to see the relevance of it, it
> makes this a difficult mission. That combined with the questions I have
> asked through email to the group leader who never replies to those mails
> makes this impossible.

Sometimes patience is needed, people are busy and we all need to wait
for replies to email at times. You have identified some issues you
think impair our marketing effort and I wish you could keep your
resolve and continue to make your case.

> There has been talk of people not wanting to look inside the organization,
> but just want to focus on the outside. Like a doctor who takes care of the
> sick but never takes care of themselves. He may help a lot of people, but
> when he neglects his own health, he eventually ends up in a position where
> he can no longer help others.

I see your point on this. The big drop in ambassadors is the result of
an unusual event because we didn't routinely purge the group. I don't
know how to smooth the statistics to make that more clear than a
footnote. Future purges will show losses that indicate something more
meaningful to think about as they will show drops over a shorter
period of time and won't need to treated as a special case.

> I can really say that as a newbie to the FOSS community and someone who is
> not a "techie" or paid to do this but looks at it as one of this social
> responsibilities, I am really not too impressed. There is widespread
> disagreement, as their is in many other FOSS communities also which leads me
> to believe that this is a "members club" only. Those members being the
> technically inclined. These technical people have jobs that either support
> you to work on Fedora with their time and money or you are actually paid by
> Fedora/Redhat.Those of "us" who do not fall under those categories are
> putting all of our time with no supplemental payment.

Even for techies joining the FOSS community can be a bit jarring at
the beginning. Everyone needs a period to get acclimated to the ways
things work. I think it is fair to say the vast majority of
contributors to Fedora are not paid to contribute. We contribute for a
wide variety of reasons.

> Therefore, I suggest you keep this a technical distro only, that way
> everyone entering the community as well as it's users will have a foundation
> to start from. Wider user bases than that need not apply.

This is not what anyone wants. Everyone is welcome, but to get changes
adopted in a community that is built on community action does require
that you actually join and participate in the community to build up
some trust.

> After many hours contemplating it and some sleepless nights, I have decided
> where to start: Removing myself from this group!

I would encourage you to not make this decision so quickly. How many
marketing meetings have you attended? I'm afraid with a very small
glimpse into the project you are drawing some very broad
generalizations about it.

John