Rex, I completely agree. You can't just build a site and expect people to show up and enjoy it. However MV FOSS repositories have been created predicated on the idea that the internet has been around for a while and most developers should already understand the value of community collaboration, FOSS, etc. The "grandiose, targeted result" is high quality, free software for all of us to simplify our lives and help our bottom line (whatever that might mean). It's assumed people already "get" that. The one or two people trying to admin a FOSS repository shouldn't also be charged with educating people on the value of FOSS. Most people pretend to support FOSS but they don't get the "free as in freedom" part, nor the "open source" part, they are enamored with "free as in beer". The message of the bazaar vs the cathedral has been around for a long time but Pick people just don't see it as applying to BASIC. Once again, it's a mindset of a community, not the fault or responsibility of people who do get it and who try to create resources to support others who also get it.
To keep this all in context with this U2UG technical forum, I often wonder how many questions here could be eliminated or processed more quickly if only we could point to open source projects and documentation for examples, rather than answering every question like it was the first time it's been asked. Best, T > From: Rex Gozar > Collaborating just for the sake of collaborating is a > dead end. So is setting up an infrastructure with the > goal of simply encouraging collaboration. People need > to be excited about the *end results* and potential of > a project, and out of that group a tiny percentage > will want to actively contribute. I don't think past > collaboration projects died because of a lack of > proper infrastructure; they died because they lacked a > grandiose, targeted result. _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
