The future of Ubuntu IRC

[Daniel Holbach]

Hello everybody,

these are important and exciting times for Ubuntu's (very!) wide-ranging
IRC landscape. Not only did Ubuntu IRC never span across more channels,
involve more users, IRC contributors, activities and events on IRC than
ever before, but also do we discuss a variety of improvements as the
general community.

It's incredible that after only five years we went from two channels
(#ubuntu and #ubuntu-devel) and maybe a hundred users to a fantastic and
gigantic community on IRC. A lot of important discussion happens on
mailing lists, bug reports, forums and the like, but the lively part of
Ubuntu, what sets the pace of the whole project is all the #ubuntu-* IRC
channels.

Given the sheer size of the IRC world and its complexity it's very easy
to underestimate the amount of hard work that goes into it. It's your
fantastic work that makes the whole undertaking run as smooth as it does
today. It's easy to take that for granted.

We all have different backgrounds, come from different cultures, from
different parts of the world, are of different ages, but we all share
the same passion for bringing the world the better alternative; by
helping out like that we give everybody access to a free operating
system to get their work done and stay in touch with friends, just like
we do. Despite the differing ideas and ideals we have, we make all of
this happen, because we share the same passion and believe in the
broader goals we set out with. In addition to that we try our best to
invite everybody in to share the great experience of being part of this
community. Taking a few steps back and looking at it from this
perspective it strikes me again and again, how amazing and unique this is.

As I said in the beginning, these are exciting times. It's only natural
that with extreme growth, we face issues and might disagree about the
path ahead. In times like these we might find out that the way we
structured our community as we went ahead might be unwieldy and not work
for us anymore and we might need to change things. In these cases, it's
important for us as a community to look at how other parts of Ubuntu
dealt with this, listen to each other and each other's advice and stay
calm and focused as a team. Focus and common ideals are essential
ingredients for the success of the team, but they're not the only ones.
There's simply no substitute for respect, shared optimism and a general
generosity towards everybody else who is involved in this undertaking,
in whatever way. I have full confidence in you all and our broader
community that we can figure these problems out and make Ubuntu even
more fantastic, inviting, interesting and fun.

I personally am very excited about what lies ahead of us all, the role
that the IRC community plays and our constant task of staying efficient,
transparent, friendly and inviting.

The new IRC Council has the important job of leading all these
discussions and come to good conclusions together with you, but I'm
confident that they will meet the challenge and make it happen. Of
course they will only be able to do this with your help and support.

I'd very much appreciate if we all could take a few steps back and think
about how we can best give that support and help to make Ubuntu's IRC
world even better.

I'm proud of all the work you have put into this so far and I have high
hopes on all of you and am happy to help where I can.

Have a great day,
 Daniel