----- message from "Andrew K. Bressen" <akb+lists.netrek-dev at mirror.to> ----- > Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:29:07 -0400 > Subject: Re: [netrek-dev] "rado to -dev translation gateway" > > > >> Right now we have a resource shortage, not an organization > >> shortage. > > > > Like what resource? > > Like the ones I've been trying to tell you about since December. > Players, Programmers, Sysadmins, Web developers. Players is the goal, we can't simply provide them. Web dev: you've taken it over already? What more do you need? Once the wiki is there, there will be some action. Sysadmins: what for? Aren't things already working fine? Programmers: ... well, to do what? The clients work/ the game is fine, no? > If you want to see the changes, set up a darcs repository for > yourself. When you want to see what's happened lately, update your > repo; you will be presented with change logs and patches you can > read. As much as we need outward advertizing, the same we need inward. You don't wait for players to stumble over or actively search for the homepage because they've been looking for it specifically to join. You or rather Joe goes to the places where the players are to catch in your ads nets those unaware/ lazy to actively search for trek on their own, but who might jump on some bait that happens to be attractive enough to take and small enough effort to risk a try. The same is required for potential helpers. Small steps can become a big help in total (wiki-idea). On average the community has the same share of commited and lazy folks as every other group. So potential contributors, too, have to be attracted and spoonfed (or nose pulled) for starters till they develop enough own commitment. > People in software development projects always dispute and have > personality issues; adding another organizational level increases, > not decreases, that overhead. We're progresssing slowly, but > definately progressing. Because of random chaos; But that's the problem ever since we're too low on active commitment: it's too slow. If it has been fast enough, why push Dave for web-access? Because letting the new wave of mac-newbies pass without adequate support would have been a pitiful loss, and the former web-admin left a vacuum behind for a too long time. The next single commitment will come again and might pass inefficiently because of lack of support in time. Having passive commitment from all the guys in the background (Dave, Bob, ...) is nice, but ... you've read yourself: they don't have the time (or will) to get more involved again. > Narcis wrote a Mac client, someone else is doing a Nokia port, I > rewrote a lot of webpages. Any of us bothering to vote on > directors would have just eaten more effort and detracted from > that progress. a) You wouldn't have had to vote, just cooperate with the directors. b) Voting is simple, if you know what you are up to. Acting likewise. c) The director's job (next to defining the game) is coordinator of and campaigner for those very efforts. For success you not only need the product but also a seller to sell it, to both customers and fellow workers to support you. > You seem to like Wikis. They mostly don't have directors, and make > a lot of progress. Their whole advantage is flexible > self-organization with easy access. Yet you miss the editors and owners in the background, who check stuff and ask for corrections when things go wrong (see spammers or other abuses of the _original_ intention for the wiki). You're free to do whatever you want, _within_ the limits strictly defined and controlled. They might be subject to interpretation to some degree, yet they clearly exist and are well known and checked. And that's exactly what I'm asking for netrek: the final authority and commitment to decisions and control, and the definitions about trek, on which they're based on. -- © Rado S. -- You must provide YOUR effort for your goal! EVERY effort counts: at least to show your attitude. You're responsible for ALL you do: you get what you give.