Re: bad press in the G+ circles/press
Sriram Ramkrishna s...@ramkrishna.me wrote: We've been getting a slew of psots on G+ and in the press. Started by Linus, has now caused a stampede of well known Linux kernel developers feeling the need to reject Gnome 3 in public. Since the press now senses red meat, I wonder if we might be ready with canned messages if at the Desktop Summit we are approached to comment on Linus and other's rants against Gnome 3? The main thing is to set out our positive story rather than to tackle the negativity head on. There's a standard line that goes something like: 1. GNOME 3 was a change, there were always going to be some people who didn't like it. 2. But it has been a huge success. Insert evidence: - We've been regularly contacted by people telling us how much they like it. - There have been good reviews in the press. - Fedora received a massive boost in popularity due to including it. - We've subsequently seen other major OSs following the same design trajectories - FOSS leading rather than following for once. 3. But we know there's more to do. 3.0 was the first step; it will get better and better with subsequent releases. The most damaging thing that's been said so far - which we need to counter where possible - is the suggestion that no one likes GNOME 3. That's a really nasty meme. A straight statement along the lines of 'X is entitled to his/her opinion, but it goes against the reality that GNOME 3.0 was hugely successful for that kind of release' is needed. Keep up the great work Sri! Allan -- IRC: aday on irc.gnome.org Blog: http://afaikblog.wordpress.com/ -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: bad press in the G+ circles/press
Hi, On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:40, Allan Day allanp...@gmail.com wrote: Sriram Ramkrishna s...@ramkrishna.me wrote: We've been getting a slew of psots on G+ and in the press. Started by Linus, has now caused a stampede of well known Linux kernel developers feeling the need to reject Gnome 3 in public. Since the press now senses red meat, I wonder if we might be ready with canned messages if at the Desktop Summit we are approached to comment on Linus and other's rants against Gnome 3? The main thing is to set out our positive story rather than to tackle the negativity head on. There's a standard line that goes something like: 1. GNOME 3 was a change, there were always going to be some people who didn't like it. 2. But it has been a huge success. Insert evidence: - We've been regularly contacted by people telling us how much they like it. - There have been good reviews in the press. - Fedora received a massive boost in popularity due to including it. - We've subsequently seen other major OSs following the same design trajectories - FOSS leading rather than following for once. 3. But we know there's more to do. 3.0 was the first step; it will get better and better with subsequent releases. The most damaging thing that's been said so far - which we need to counter where possible - is the suggestion that no one likes GNOME 3. That's a really nasty meme. A straight statement along the lines of 'X is entitled to his/her opinion, but it goes against the reality that GNOME 3.0 was hugely successful for that kind of release' is needed. I don't really like these canned answers. So one says G3 is an unholy mess the other one says G3 is hugely successful. It sounds to me like keep talking, I don't listen. It's like a discussion between two death persons. It is perfectly fair to say G3 is bad without any argument, it's freedom of speech. The answers of GNOME people I could read were not fair. (We could wonder why GNOME people are so sensitive on the subject.) What about? - be open - listen to the feedback, - don't give canned answers - engage in constructive discussion, - avoid derision - show interest in feedback - get to the facts; - go to the source, tackle rumors; what is it founded on? - if needed, go through a few levels of why to reach the point - use numbers - avoid vague quantities so many, a lot, several, etc. - encourage people to report more formal feedback (mailing list, buzilla, wiki) - really, listen to the feedback I did not see much of this in the unholy threads mentioned above, sadly. -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: bad press in the G+ circles/press
Luc Pionchon pionchon@gmail.com wrote: What about? - be open - listen to the feedback, - don't give canned answers - engage in constructive discussion, - avoid derision - show interest in feedback - get to the facts; - go to the source, tackle rumors; what is it founded on? - if needed, go through a few levels of why to reach the point - use numbers - avoid vague quantities so many, a lot, several, etc. - encourage people to report more formal feedback (mailing list, buzilla, wiki) - really, listen to the feedback That's a really good list! (It would be awesome if you or anybody else wanted to do a wiki page on dealing with feedback... ;) ) One thing I would say though - some of those things (constructive discussion, get to the facts, go to the source) don't work so well on public discussions in my experience. They're great things to do, but they only tend to work when you're have a discussion with a small group or even on a one to one basis. Allan -- IRC: aday on irc.gnome.org Blog: http://afaikblog.wordpress.com/ -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Suggestion that the Gnome Foundation start accepting donations through Flattr
Hi my name is Oliver Propst I have a suggestion, namely that the Gnome Foundation start using Flattr for rising founds for the Gnome Foundation. I also have a basic plan on how to integrate Flattr on gnome.org. *What is Flattr.* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zrMlEEWBgY. The user can either donate though a bottom on a homepage or though a portal on Flattr,com where a Flattr user can browse and search for content to donate to. https://flattr.com/browse/all/all/1 *Why should the Gnome foundation** use Flattr* I would ask why should the Gnome foundation not use Flattr. Noticeable free software project that is using Flatttr include GNU, dpkg, phpMyAdmin. Other charities include Green Pace, Amnesty international, American Red Cross. The service is gaining momentum. https://flattr.com/browse/software/all/1 https://flattr.com/browse/charity *How can Gnome benefit from using Flattr. * Increasing the revenue of of the Gnome foundation. Allowing people to show their financial support for Gnome. The Gnome Foundation will be exposed on the Flattr portal. Connect people who give financial support to Gnome foundation. *The risk that Flattr cannibalize on the Friends of Gnome program.* I am aware of that there is a certain risk that Flattr donations could take revenue from the friends of Gnome program but I don't see that being a major risk. I also think it is possible that people start donating a small amount of money using Flattr and then move over to the Friends of Gnome program, maybe we can promote that in some way. I also see it as possibility that existing Friends of Gnome members donate a small amount of money just to show the world their support for Gnome. *Financial details* Flattr takes 10% of the donations as a fee, a fairly standard amount I guess. The fee is taken when money is withdrawn form the account. *How to implement* First the Gnome Foundation must of course get a account at Flattr witch is trivial. There is basically two ways to implement Flattr on gnome.org, the super easy one and the medium easy one. The super easy way is to use this Wordpress plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/flattr/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/flattr/installation/ The medium easy way is to use Flattr api witch of course gives more detailed control, but I am not sure how big the benefit is to use the api on a Wordpress site. That is a decision that the web team has to take. https://flattr.com/support/integrate https://flattr.com/support/integrate/js *Where to put the Flattr button* My suggestion is to put a Flattr button GNOME foundation startpage for maximum exposure. *No* *Flattr button on the homepage* It is also possible to not put a Flattr button on the homepage and only expose GNOME foundation on the Flattr portal (my own name). The GNU project has done that , even if I personally think that's kind of boring and will probably led to a smaller amount of donations, and potential Flattr donors will not sign up for Flattr. If we chose to do that all that has to be done is basically to set up an account, write (or copy) a description of the foundation, and wait to getflattered (of course we have to do a little more then that but you get it). Terms of use https://flattr.com/terms General FAQ https://flattr.com/support/faq About Flattr . https://flattr.com/about I want to make it clear that I have no personal connection to Flattr ltd, I am just a regular user. -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: bad press in the G+ circles/press
On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 2:59 AM, Allan Day allanp...@gmail.com wrote: Luc Pionchon pionchon@gmail.com wrote: What about? - be open - listen to the feedback, - don't give canned answers - engage in constructive discussion, - avoid derision - show interest in feedback - get to the facts; - go to the source, tackle rumors; what is it founded on? - if needed, go through a few levels of why to reach the point - use numbers - avoid vague quantities so many, a lot, several, etc. - encourage people to report more formal feedback (mailing list, buzilla, wiki) - really, listen to the feedback That's a really good list! (It would be awesome if you or anybody else wanted to do a wiki page on dealing with feedback... ;) ) One thing I would say though - some of those things (constructive discussion, get to the facts, go to the source) don't work so well on public discussions in my experience. They're great things to do, but they only tend to work when you're have a discussion with a small group or even on a one to one basis. The thing is, I want to also educate. Designing a desktop is a completely different space than kernel development and a lot of these kernel guys are trying to apply principles they learned hacking on the kernel to a user facing software eco-system. Not the same thing. We have one high profile kernel developer after another standing up and publicly talking about switching to XFCE. I don't particularly care, but it's creating a trend that will be hard to ignore for marketing. I promised myself that I would not allow what happened from 1.x - 2.x to re-occur because we botched it badly because we didn't engage with the community. The other observations: they use our own words against us. For instance, someone said that extensions are not welcome and then posts a link to a post by Allan seemingly supporting that. Or GNOME is not inclusive then a post by hadess seemingly supporting that conclusion. It's a bit of a mess. And the thing is, I cannot allow only one side of an argument to be present in high profile threads without challenge. Because journalists are watching and they'll write some creed to generate page hits. Linus's offhand remark has generated an article after article on a number of trade rags. In the old days, we weren't as connected as we are now. The twitter feed was constantly showing links. What might be nice is to release some screenshots of new features or talk about the development platform, something to get the focus out of Linus. If he's in a dunk tank somewhere I'm going to be first in line to throw a ball to dump him in there. -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: bad press in the G+ circles/press
On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 12:59, Allan Day allanp...@gmail.com wrote: Luc Pionchon pionchon@gmail.com wrote: What about? - be open - listen to the feedback, - don't give canned answers - engage in constructive discussion, - avoid derision - show interest in feedback - get to the facts; - go to the source, tackle rumors; what is it founded on? - if needed, go through a few levels of why to reach the point - use numbers - avoid vague quantities so many, a lot, several, etc. - encourage people to report more formal feedback (mailing list, buzilla, wiki) - really, listen to the feedback That's a really good list! (It would be awesome if you or anybody else wanted to do a wiki page on dealing with feedback... ;) ) This is easy to do. Where would you put it? One thing I would say though - some of those things (constructive discussion, get to the facts, go to the source) don't work so well on public discussions in my experience. They're great things to do, but they only tend to work when you're have a discussion with a small group or even on a one to one basis. I don't quite get it (sorry). Do you mean that discussion between many passionate partisans tend to be messy? What I mean is that, if you enter the discussion, do it in a constructive way. It's about tackling empty, fallacious, or too vague statements ; and get to the point. It's about pro-actively extracting valuable feedback. Unhappy users clearly have something to say. But they do not have to wear white gloves and serve it to you on a plate. It is their freedom to just vomit it. On the other hand the authors of a project should be open to feedback, it's then up to them to go and extract the feedback. -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Linus Torvalds Says Gnome 3 is Crazy and Goes for Xfce!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/5T7gAd/techhamlet.com/2011/08/linus-torvalds-says-gnome-3-is-crazy-and-goes-for-xfce/ -- Danishka Navin http://danishkanavin.blogspot.com http://twitter.com/danishkanavin http://identi.ca/danishka http://www.flickr.com/photos/danishkanavin/ -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
