[Fedora-mentors-list] Re-introduction, re-launch, comments?

[Máirín Duffy]

Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
> So this list has been basically empty this year -- no posts so far in all
> of 2006.  Which is a shame; it's an idea with potential.
> 
> Why hasn't it succeeded?  My idea: I don't think people know what is asked 
> of them, as mentors.

Is the problem that mentors aren't available, or that people aren't seeking help?

I had my first mentee contact me this week... and I've been listed on the 
Mentors page for months... are the rest of the mentors seeing a similar lack of 
mentees?

Could be that it's *really* hard to find the mentors page? There is no static 
navigation on the wiki onto which it could be added... the front page of the 
wiki, pretty much the only navigation device besides the search box, is a bit of 
a mess and not very visually digestible... there is a link to the mentors page 
there after a bit of scrolling, but it's not really explained so well either, 
e.g., when you link to it, it should be made clear - "People who need mentors, 
go here!" rather than "People who want to be mentors, go here!" I mean, 
obviously you want both, but newbies might avoid the current link thinking it's 
not meant for them.

In the short-term, assuming making new/potential contributors feel welcome is a 
high priority (which I think it should be :) ), why not have some sort of 
'banner ad' to suck in newbies, maybe point them to an intermediary page with a 
newbie FAQ (want to help yourself?), here's a list of people you can bug with 
questions (talk to a real person!), and a link to the HelpWanted page (what is 
it that you want to do?) I threw something together in inkscape, I have no idea 
of the feasibility of having it added but I have the svg for it if anyone thinks 
its a good idea:

http://people.redhat.com/duffy/misc/fedoramentor-banner.png

~m