Re: getting new members

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

--- ahmad khalifa <ahmadkhalifa at hotmail dot com> wrote:
> im a new member... maybe you'd like my view on this subject....

By all means...

> what am i doing..?? nothing...
> im working on PuTTy's arabic support, but thats going too slow, and
> i cant help it...

I think you are underestimating your contribution !!

> i just complained about the Todo list, maybe your problem is there... 
> u dont structure the Todo list as little tasks that someone could just
> say "i did that" and report it... take a look at the GNOME bounty hunt,
> its so detailed... http://www.gnome.org/bounties/

Well our todo list is full of mystery and we can't add details to it and
specifics since we ourselves don't know what is involved.  Meanings, most
of the topics listed there are place-holders for a few people to go in
and research the topic and educate the others on what is involved to make
things happen.

> instead you have things like "Check lp, lpr's Arabic situation"...  i
> tried to do that, but then i got into trouble because of Type 1 fonts...
> i spent a few hours on CUPS's code and located the problem to be in
> the texttops filter... but then when i asked for someone to check if
> it prints or not (because i have problems due to lack of Type 1 fonts)
> i just got "see YOURSELF if lp and lpr print arabic then its supported"...
> how can u say "we'd be happy to help" all the time and you wont even
> print a Document...

I misunderstood you then.  Do please start a thread on this very topic on
'developer' list and let's get some attention on it.  Do please be direct
and give some command-lines, etc.  In other words, make it easy for people
to test things out (again, remember most don't even know what is involved
and not everyone (or anyone for that matter) might have the solution to
your problem(s) - that's where the research kicks-in).

> my point here is... im new, i dont know anything, how am i supposed to 
> evaluate the Todo list and know what i can and cant do...

I think that's the part where one is supposed to ask questions and get
involved on what is needed/required, how can I help, etc.  Things you
(and others) have done to come up to speed and get yourselves engaged.
The welcome email (sent upon registration) notes this and stresses upon
this fact, no ?

> for example... nadim asked me to help musab with PuTTY, i looked into it, 
> and actually could do a lot of help there... without nadim's hint PuTTY
> could've had just one guy working on it, now they're two...

Again, communication is the cornerstone of any progress.  Some people show
up knowing what they want to work on (Katoob/Bayani are great examples)
others are here with the "I just want to help and get this to be a reality"
attitude (which is wonderful).  As such, the best way to go about all this
is to know the person, get his/her goals and start talking about what
he/she is willing to look into or work on.

> try to assign tasks to new people and teach them... write Docs about 
> Shaping, etc... thats what core members should be doing... (Not beating
> deadlines)...

I think its all of the above.  In passing, shaping is self-explanatory
once you look at a piece of code and now we have 2 - perl and C,

  http://cvs.arabeyes.org/viewcvs/tools/shape_bidi/

What other docs are missing and would you be willing to write some of
'em to fill the need(s) that you came across ?  Mind you 90% of our
docs came about that way.

> assign the new guys tasks... dont wait for them to offer help...

If we do that, we'd have a nightmare of keeping track of who is doing
what and/or if anything is getting done.  The key to everything we do
is commitment, self-discipline and drive - those we can't attain by
"assigning" people anything.  The types of people we really LOVE and
really want to cater to are the likes of you and Musab and Al-Rasheedan
and Arafat, etc, etc - people that are driven and are hell bent on
making a difference at all costs (their hearts and limbs ache if things
don't get done !!).

Feel free to tell us how best we can improve the entire process if
you continue to see deficiencies (we are not defending anything
beyond answering to the questions noted to start/continue a dialog).
Evolution and change is a must in order to keep ourselves relevant
as a project to cater to users' needs/wants.

BTW: do please stick to 80-characters max on a line.

Salam.

 - Nadim


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