On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 12:00 PM Jarek Potiuk <[email protected]> wrote:
> Just a comment. > > I hadn't realized (remembered) you've been doing it, but this is fantastic > job you've been doing Rich. I think this is really cool that a human is > sending these messages and responding to questions, even if it's 50% of > acknowledgment and 10% follow-up questions > This is exactly how you build communities: not by automating things with > mindless bots and automated workflows, but by having actual humans spending > time and pay attention to newcomers. > +1 > > This is what makes those - eventually maybe 5% of them - who join > actively engaging later on. > > J. > > > On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 1:43 AM Rich Bowen <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Esteemed Board, > > > > For close to 2 years, I have emailed each newly-elected PMC member, > > welcoming them to the larger life of the Foundation, and pointing them to > > onboarding information for PMC members. This is triggered by the [NOTIFY] > > emails but each one is individually sent, not automated. > > > > Roughly half of the recipients respond with an acknowledgment/thanks for > > the message. Roughly 10% have some kind of followup question. > > > > I’m assuming that the Board wishes that this continue, but it makes sense > > to me to change hats, and send this as a member of ComDev. If the Board > > would prefer to designate one of your members to continue this, I’d of > > course turn it over, but I’ll assume, unless you tell me differently, > that > > I can and should just continue under my own authority as a welcoming > member. > > > > (Full text of email included below, and would of course be updated to > > reflect the new sender.) > > > > ComDev, (copied) do you wish to have visibility of these messages (ie, > > Cc’ed to dev@community)? The volume varies of course. There were 17 in > > February, and 11 in January, for example. This does not include PMC > members > > of newly graduated projects, which the Incubator handles separately. > > > > — > > Rich Bowen > > [email protected] > > > > > > > > Template: > > > > Dear __NAME__, > > > > I see that you have been added to the __PROJECT__ PMC. Congratulations! > > > > As a PMC member, you’re entrusted with the direction of the project, as > > well as its ongoing relationship with the Board and the rest of the > > Foundation, so we wanted to welcome you to the larger ASF family. > > > > And in the same way as you have been added by the existing PMC members, > > remember that part of your duty is now to be the one who is on the > lookout > > for potential committers and PMC members for your project, and to mentor > > those people into project leadership, to ensure the sustainability of > your > > project, and of the Foundation. > > > > We’ve put together some resources for PMC members at > > https://community.apache.org/pmc/ That’s still a work in progress and we > > hope it will improve over time. We’d like to hear your feedback on how > this > > resource could be improved, based on information that you learn and wish > > someone had told you. > > > > If you have any questions about any aspect of the Foundation, or want to > > chat about how the Foundation can better serve your project, please reach > > out to myself, or any other Director. > > > > Rich, on behalf of the Board of Directors > > > > >
