On Thursday 12 Jun 2008, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote: > On Thu, 12 Jun 2008, Arun Khan wrote: > > On Thursday 12 Jun 2008, Kapil Hari Paranjape wrote: > > > Which is why having a community supported service sounds > > > increasingly like a good idea. Let's see if there is some "prior > > > art" which can help. > > > > This works when there are a number of volunteers who can fill each > > other's roles. > > I agree that a lot of people must chip-in. Each person using the > service can (in a small or big way) contribute to its running. Part > of the "prior-art" question is how does one set up things so that > this contribution is possible. For example, bug-reporting must work > well. Some sort of user upgradation system is required. And so on. > > > My general observation (including LUGs), when there is a call for > > volunteers most step *back* leaving the one who proposed holding > > the baton. > > Such pessimism is unwarranted. How do volunteer supported services > (use Debian?!) work? The point is to make the service so vibrant that > no one can do without it.
Easier said than done. The point is any service to be vibrant needs help (a lot) - ideas, organizing, execution .... Professional services charge lacs for comparable happenings. I am an optimist; over the past 28 years or so, I have volunteered myself in community activities, sometimes paying for travel, board and lodging from my pocket. Likewise, I do it for promoting/advocating open source. It is not pessimism but ground reality. Volunteer supported service like Debian is global and thus the volunteer pool of dedicated individuals is large. They have a different mind set. IMO, there is no comparison. My observation/comments are specific to smaller and local activities. Case in point, the FOSS related conferences I have attended. Only handful of volunteers come forward to organize, execute, and manage the events. Invariably, I have seen the same few faces (of the dedicated individuals) working their a** off. -- Arun Khan _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
