[Foundation-l] Re: What "community" ?

Tue Sep 27 05:07:20 UTC 2005

Poe, Marshall wrote:
> Re Angela's mention of the "community" discussing and deciding things.
> 
> Just how many folks are subscribed to Foundation-l?  What percentage of
> them actually contribute to Foundation-l when a new project is proposed,
> or a question is raised?  I've spent a lot of time on a lot of lists
> (founded and moderated one for three years), and this one is, well,
> quite inactive.  And not only that, it's sometimes not very civil (e.g.
> "Do it yourself").
> 
> Communities are groups of individuals with common interests who unite to
> further those interests.  They have to contribute.  They have to be
> helpful.  Do the subscribers to Foundation-l contribute?  Are they
> helpful?  A more basic question: do they even have common interests?
> 
> All the Best, Marshall

Hi

When I look at it overall, I can't say there is one area from which most 
of the significant information/feedback is coming. Generally, I assume 
that there is an important number of editors registered to this list, 
enough to get a significant and interesting feedback. However, I also 
know that

1) there are not enough editors subscribed to it to be certain 
information given through this ml will be reliably passed along in all 
projects. So we need other channels for information.

2) there are not enough editors subcribed to it for it to be a reliable 
subset of opinion of all editors. So, we need more subsets before making 
a decision.

3) many of its subscribers do not read all mails.

4) many readers dare not participate to it (ie, there is a perception of 
a very large room, in which it is tough to speak aloud).

For all these reasons, you must be aware that this list is only one 
amongst many channels of discussion. Many discussions occur on irc as 
well. Many on other lists or even "private" lists. Once a small group 
has recognised a common interest, they also start private email and 
private irc channels. Add to this meta, and our subgroups here and there 
(such as for me the french community).

Keep in mind that a very small percentage of our participants is 
actually really interested and willing to do things for the Foundation. 
In most cases, people just do not care AT ALL. As long as things are 
running, they are happy. They will just pop their heads when the website 
is running slow, or when we put a fundraising banner at the top of their 
favorite pages. Otherwise, they happily contribute to articles and are 
quite glad to leave the administration stuff to others to take care of.

And this is probably fine :-)

For a newcomer, it implies two things. If you want to participate to 
Foundation issues, you must dig up your way (sometimes the hard way) in 
the current subset taking care of it. And if you are very careful, you 
will notice after a while that many of those actually doing things do 
not participate to this list. You can also try to get the help of a 
god-mother to get you in the labyrinthus. But mostly, you have to get 
noticed in being bold in doing things, so that you begin to get involved 
in internal matters. And this list is one of the place where we can 
notice people. If there is ONE interest in it, that might be this one.

The other point is that "Community discuss and decide things", but the 
project is now to large for the "community" to be a simple entity. It is 
rather a set of moving subentities, each having a common interest of a 
sort. It is a slow and sometimes difficult process to navigate between 
all these subsets. But when a board takes a decision, it has to. It has 
to try to really jaudge the amount of support and opposition on a 
certain issue, so as to try to take the best choice between what the 
editors would prefer and what is strategically, economically and 
socially best. Editors often complain how slow this process is, but I 
think there are no other way. For example, we can see the last proposals 
for new projects. We will not react to them because we first need people 
feedback. If a project really interest the editors, we will know soon 
enough. A person will say "yeah, good idea", another will approve, one 
will write us privately, a next begin a vote... and the ball will get 
rolling; We can sometimes help the ball running or trying to slow it 
down, but generally, once an idea gets a supportive community and a 
champion, it is likely to succeed. Otherwise not. Observe this process 
happening during a couple of months, and you will understand better I think.

Ant