[CoLoCo] new t-shirt / help idea

[Neal McBurnett]

> On 10/11/07, Neal McBurnett <neal at bcn.boulder.co.us> wrote:
>     On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 02:50:32PM -0600, Alex Comer wrote:
>     > Futhermore, I vote for the formation of a small web group within our
>     ubuntu
>     > group to tackle the web end of this problem, since it sounds like a few
>     folks
>     > have an interest. So far, I'm hearing that currently Darrin, myself,
>     Phillip?
>     > others?
>     >
>     > My company leases a dedicated Linux server which runs a handful of web
>     sites.
>     > I'll be happy to donate the hosting and domain registration if need be.
>     This
>     > sounds like an interesting project to me, I say we roll with it while we
>     have
>     > momentum! Can we get consensus on a domain name?
> 
>     If we're really doing tshirts I think we should stick with a site that
>     will be around a long time, maybe with a catchphrase about colorado
>     ubuntu support.  Using our coloco address sounds much more widely
>     usable and beneficial to me, and if we don't like it we can change it.
> 
>     -Neal

On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 03:28:28PM -0600, Alex Comer wrote:
> If by "our coloco address" you mean http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/, I would
> disagree, unless we're going to paste a giant green button on it that says "if
> you are here for free support click here" right in the middle of the top. http:
> //coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/ is a community site for our group, while this
> proposed site, if I am understanding the idea, would be more of a marketing
> site, to market the idea of switching to ubunu, promote the feasibility of the
> idea to people. This is a different goal than http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/
> has, which is more about connecting a network of geeks. It seems to me that the
> site referred to on the shirt should definitely link to our group site (ie:
> sponsered by ubuntu colorado team, click here: http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/
> ), but it has a distinctly different purpose. Joe Schmoe wouldn't know what to
> do next at http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/ . The proposed site would need to
> be, in my mind at least, insanely easy to understand for the common user with a
> clearly targeted goal of converting computer users into ubuntu users.
> 
> Just my $0.02
> Alex

[I'm also a fan of bottom posting, and even more so of getting rid of
the stuff that isn't relevant to your reply.  Like the 787 (!) lines
of previous conversation that I just got rid of, and should have
gotten rid of with my first reply....]

One thing I'm trying to say is that I don't want yet another t-shirt
with a site on it that will fade away like so many sites do.  It takes
a lot of effort to keep a site current, inviting and functional
enough, and _marketed well enough_, to matter.  And remember that if
you put our advertising and reputation into a new domain name, you
don't want that domain name to EVER expire.  Or else you'll end up
with some damn advertising site grabbing it up and from then on anyone
linking to our site will curse our memory....

I also think some attention to our "sphere of influence" would help.
The main thing WE can influence with this team is Ubuntu in Colorado.

There have been a bunch of posts about how to create the latest
greatest advocacy site ever for Ubuntu and free software.  My guess is
that there are already sites out there that have taken each approch
that folks are suggesting here.  I'd suggest some more surfing to see
if there are existing sites, with which we can partner or give input.

In the end, I'd ask what our goal as a loco is.  Is it to hang out as
a group, and have a web site that caters to us?  Or is it to fix Bug
#1 by helping our fellow Coloradans??

 https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1  
 Bug #1 in Ubuntu: Microsoft has a majority market share

Well, I imagine different folks have different takes on that, but what
if we designed the front page of the web site to fix bug #1 for
Coloradans, with the sort of content and design that others have been
talking about, and advertised that, and then had a link on there that
would let the more clued-in folks find our coloco collaboration part
of the site, perhaps that would be more effective.

I'll also pass along this reference for advice on Ubuntu Loco-specific
configuration of Drupal, Wordpress etc.

 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCreatingWebsite

And if we don't think our URL is the best, this is a good time to fix
that....

Cheers,

-Neal