A thought on how to attract new active contributors

["Youcef Rabah Rahal" <yrrahal42 at hotmail dot com>]

Salam,

Well, this is my first email as a core member. I hope it will be 
constructive :-)

I have browsed through the archives and I was astonished by the number of 
people saying "I'd like to contribute" and then simply disappear. I d' like 
to propose something to address this "contribute-disappear phenomenon".

I think this phenomenon is due to the fact that new contributors that 
discover recently the website are appalled by the tasks to perform since 
there are no specific tasks for them. They are very excited and eager to 
contribute but they don't really know how to help (well, the majority of 
them). They register for a CVS account or send a message to 'contact', 
receive a reply telling them they can help in development or translation 
etc… They hesitate and then forget about it !

I think we should find a compromise between:
1- The fact that a new contributor should be free and able to choose the 
field on which he/she wants to contribute.
2- Arabeyes should be able to direct new contributors to where we judge 
there's a lack of helping hands.

I suggest we put clear, concrete and practical details directly on the web 
page that is now linked to the 'how can I help' link. This can be done 
either by appending it to the general informations of the current web page 
or by adding links from each current section to the details developed below. 
This can also be viewed as a merge of the 'How can I help ?' and the 
'Getting started' sections.

I'm referring to my personal experience, since it is fortunately still fresh 
:-) I am trying to remember how I first reacted when I read the 'How can I 
help' page and what I would have preferred to see in it.


------------------------
| Here's how I see it: |
------------------------
(Only a general sketch)

1- You want to help in the translation efforts ?:
-----------------------------------------------

a- Register to the 'doc' mailing list 
(http://lists.arabeyes.org/mailman/listinfo/doc) and eventually have a 
general look at the list's archives 
(http://lists.arabeyes.org/archives/doc/).
b- Post a message to the list introducing yourself and specify what part of 
the translation you'd like to contribute to (see below -- link).
c- Register for a CVS account (http://www.arabeyes.org/register.php).
d- Read the CVS HOWTO (http://www.arabeyes.org/howto/cvs-howto.en/).
e- Read the translator's FAQ's (http://www.arabeyes.org/faq/translator.ar/) 
(To be updated) and the KBabel tutorial (To be done).
f- Start translating the file(s) :-)
You can at any moment participate in the discussions in the 'doc' mailing 
list and post your thoughts/suggestions/questions etc to it. The coordinator 
of the project you are working on, and the rest of the community will be all 
more than happy to respond to your questions and to share your thoughts.

Here is our priority tasks list:
(But you can start with any other file from the CVS repository 
(http://cvs.arabeyes.org/cvsweb/translate/) that's not in the below list if 
you like – you can also make a translation proposal of a new 
application/project for which you judge the translation necessary. It will 
be discussed by the Arabeyes project and approved in case it is in harmony 
with our goals).
Here are the main tasks to be done on 3(4?) main projects.

--- Maybe the following sections should be maintained and updated somehow by 
the translation coordinators ---
a – KDE (http://cvs.arabeyes.org/cvsweb/translate/kde/):
1- kdelibs ?
2- kdebase ?
…

b- Gnome (http://cvs.arabeyes.org/cvsweb/translate/gnome/):
1- ?
2- ?
…

c- Full wordlist 
(http://cvs.arabeyes.org/cvsweb/translate/misc/full_wordlist.po):
This file contains about 90000 English words and will be extremely useful in 
any future translation enterprise. It is also used by the QaMoose project 
(http://www.arabeyes.org/project.php?proj=QaMoose and 
http://www.arabeyes.org/cgi-bin/qamoose/index.cgi).
1- Letter Z ?
2- Letter C ?
3- Letter Y ?
4- Letter D ?
…

d- KDE docs ?


2- You want to help in the development efforts ?:
-------------------------------------------------

a- Register to the 'developer' mailing list 
(http://lists.arabeyes.org/mailman/listinfo/developer) and eventually have a 
general look at the list's archives 
(http://lists.arabeyes.org/archives/developer/).
b- Post a message to the list introducing yourself and specify what part of 
the development you'd like to contribute to, after looking at Arabeyes 
development projects (http://www.arabeyes.org/project.php) (we need maybe 
separate pages for translation and development ?). If you have a preference 
for a specific project, please read the TODO list for that project 
(Centralize TODO's for all projects ?). See also below – link.
c- Checkout anonymously the project(s) you'd like to contribute to 
(http://www.arabeyes.org/howto/cvs-howto.en/x38.html).
d- Start coding for one or more of the issues that need fixing/implementing 
in that(those) project(s) :-)
e- Submit a patch via Arabeyes's Bugzilla 
(http://bugs.arabeyes.org/index.cgi) after reading how to create a patch (a 
link to the developer HOWTO). Your patch will be reviewed by the project 
maintainer in order to be incorporated into the application .
f- You can also be part of a project under certain conditions and the OK of 
the project maintainer(s). You can then register for a CVS account 
(http://www.arabeyes.org/register.php).

Here are some areas where we are in a lack of developers.:
a- eDara (needs a new maintainer ?)
b- Project1
c- Project2
… (to ask projects' maintainers if they need new developers).


But you can also propose a new project of your own on the 'developer' 
mailing list. It will be incorporated in Arabeyes after reviewing if it 
fulfills the three following conditions (quoting Mohamed :-)):
+ Linux/Unix support
+ Arabic support (or the intent to implement it)
+ Open Source license.
You can then register for a CVS account 
(http://www.arabeyes.org/register.php) and start coding :-).

You can at any moment participate in the discussions in the 'developer' 
mailing list and post your thoughts/suggestions/questions etc to it. The 
maintainer(s) of the project(s) your are working on and the rest of the 
community will be all more than happy to respond to your questions and to 
share your thoughts.

3- Graphics:
We can add here some priority tasks such as:
Banner conception.
Logo for project 1.
Logo for project 2.
…

------------------------------------------------

OK, that's all for now :)

Let me know what do you think about it.

Salam,

Youcef.


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