What do you think is the most important single-sentence of advice that you can offer to someone who wants to contribute to the free software community? I intentionally didn’t mention what area or type of advice or what “contribute” means, interpret it how you wish and give multiple answers for different interpretations if that seems appropriate to you.
If you had the opportunity to say one sentence to someone who knows about computers and free software (EG they have used both Linux and Windows and done a small amount of programming) to convince them that they should join the free software team, what would it be?
Writing an essay about your thoughts is fine (and I’m sure that many readers of my blog could easily write an interesting essay on each of those topics). But please preface it with what you consider to be the most important sentence.
Please either track-back to this blog post or post a comment with a URL of your post (comments are moderated but I usually approve them in less than 12 hours and often much faster – I approve all sensible non-spam comments). If you only offer two sentences (and decide not to write an essay) then the comment section can contain your entire answer.
Note that by Serious Free Software Contributors I am referring to people who feel that they are serious about it. If free software matters to you and you go out of your way to help the cause in the way that best suits your abilities then it means you.
I will write another post with a summary of what I consider to be the most interesting responses (including links to any blog posts with long answers).
http://fortytwo.ch/blog/archives/2007/08/#e2007-08-08T09_16_48.txt
Which basically says “Know the community”
[…] Russel Cooker asks two questions to free software Contributors. Here is my answers: […]
Be polite and friendly :-)
Andrew.
http://blog.ganneff.de/blog/2007/08/07#russel_questions
Two Answers for All Serious Free Software Contributors…
He who does wins, so don’t let the bastards grind you down. // Imagine every bug you found could be fixed by you if you want, or a friend, or an enemy, or someone you hire, or the original developer, or whoever and that it’s your choice who you ask t…
http://laptop006.livejournal.com/37604.html
“Let the developers know how they could make their software better for you.”
Walter H. van Holst said via private email:
Since I am a mere observer on Advogato and hence can’t reply to your article I’ll give it a go through mail. I’d reply to the second question by asking him or her whether he wants his code to end up hidden in the bowels of an underappreciated corporate cog or as a testament to his or her coding skills, clearly visible to peers and perhaps as an inspiration to newcomers to the trade.
http://advogato.org/article/940.html
NCM posted the above Advogato article.
http://www.version2.dk/artikel/3506
The above Danish blog is apparently written in response to my post and has a number of comments. It’s a pity that they didn’t give an English version. If anyone would like to translate it and post it as a comment here I would appreciate it.
I will say – Come on, let’s make this world better together!
I’m just kiddin’. :)