Re-imagining

[Ralph Janke]

On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 06:54:15AM -0700, Randall Ross wrote:
> Mark Paskal wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:19:24 -0600
> > From: Mark Paskal <markpaskal at gmail.com>
> > To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> > Subject: Re: Re-imagining
> >
> >
> > I really feel that the national loco is important as the only obvious place
> > (that I know of, please someone correct me if I'm wrong.) for Canadian
> > users to get support. 
> That's a misconception. Mailing lists are a terrible support channel and
> we'd be better served if there were a "no support questions here" rule.
> IRC is marginally better, but not by much, and is unusable by novice
> Ubuntu people.
> 
> http://askubuntu.com is the official place to get support for the Ubuntu
> project. The legacy (but still useful) place to get support is
> https://answers.launchpad.net
> 
AskUbuntu is not really the place for support. The moderators there are very
fast in closing questions and new users are often disappointed and turn away.

AskUbuntu is a collection point of good re-usable questions and answers, which
can be helpful in some circumstances, but that does not amount to good support.

Support in the Ubuntu community comes on numerous places. There are mailing lists
specially dedicated for support, similar there are IRC channels solely for that 
purpose. There are fora for it. All those are  available in lots of languages
(which Ask Ubuntu is not -- it is solely English, -- there is a shapado section
for Ubuntu that is multi-lingual, but it is not very frequented).

Support can be given in lots of different forms. Every place has its purpose and
its advantages and disadvantages. And sometimes it is difficult. Not every LoCo
has the critical mass to do all of it. However, fortunately for us, if the questions
are merely about Canada specific issues, it is not overwhelming. For general 
questions there are enough other places that are contributed to world-wide in English.

I can daily questions through the contact form from the Kubuntu Germany LoCo, 
fortunately, there are places I can send people to get answers. The important point
is often not to be able to answer everything, but to send people to good places. 
> >
> > I think advocating should be left to the city groups if they exist and are
> > interested. Here in Calgary the only interaction I have ever had with
> > another Ubuntu user was making him wonder 'Why is he staring?' as I
> > eyeballed the sticker on his laptop bag in passing. (OMG I'M NOT THE ONLY
> > ONE!!) This area has two million people and I've seen the one guy.
> Given Ubuntu market share estimates, conservatively there are at least
> 20,000 people who enjoy Ubuntu in Calgary. That's enough for a *very*
> large group.

I have no clue were you make yup these numbers from. 1) 2% Linux users  is
just an estimate... nobody really knows. And the percentage is very likely
higher in Servers than in Desktops. 2) There are places that have far 
higher numbers, just look at South America, so there are also places with 
a far lower number. Making up such number and calling them conservatively
is not very credible.
> >
> >     Even if ubuntu-stickered-laptop-guy and I were to start a local group I
> > have to question the usefulness of spending time on advocacy given that
> > I'll be spending just as much time helping 90% of users I do manage to
> 
> I will close with a challenge for all reading this: If you are the
> "Sticker guy" or the "Sticker gal" in your city/town, and you want to
> see people freed from monopolists (with bank accounts the size of a
> national treasury) in your lifetime, start an Ubuntu group where you
> live. It's our best chance. The code has been written. We need to get it
> to our friends and neighbours... now.
> 
Well, recently,  Ubuntu is acting more and more monopolistic, too. Maybe
the *buntu community needs to grow a spine before advocacy in this direction
can be made again with a good conscience. 

Freeing people is not achieved by selling them used cars that do not fulfill
their needs. Freeing people is achieved by teaching them how to get the
best FLOSS product for their particular purpose. Sure yiou can have
them switch from Microsoft to some pseudo-freedom, but they will not
stay when they figure out what the real motivation was. And then, all
of the FLOSS community has been given a bad name.

Life is far more complicated than just some sound bites from a marketing
manual. Delivering what was perceived to be promised is the only way
to earn trust.

Ralph



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