The OpenSolaris Numbers Game (Re: [advocacy-discuss] Re: Logo/Mascot for OpenSolaris)

[Darren.Reed at Sun.COM]

Brian Gupta wrote:

> On 6/26/07, *Darren.Reed at sun.com <mailto:Darren.Reed at sun.com>* 
> <Darren.Reed at sun.com <mailto:Darren.Reed at sun.com>> wrote:
>
>     Brian Gupta wrote:
>
>     > Removing opensolaris-discuss, as this really is an advocacy
>     discussion.
>     >
>     >> > I think that with a community of approximately 60,000 people, you
>     >> > would be able to find at least one artist. (Possibly 100s)
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> The "60,000" number has been artificially inflated and as an
>     >> indication of what it really means, at a recent meeting inside Sun,
>     >> we were encouraged to sign up pets, family members (mothers,
>     >> fathers, grandparents, etc) to increase the numbers so that we
>     >> actually reached that milestone.  Sounds to me like someone's
>     >> bonus is dependent on that number being reached.
>     >
>     >
>     > Let's say for argument's sake that there is a 50% inflation in the
>     > numbers. (Which I very seriously doubt), that still leaves you
>     with a
>     > community of 30,000 people.
>     >
>     >> Signing people up like that doesn't create "community members"
>     >> who are productive and interactive, it just creates a higher number
>     >> for the purpose of statistical counting.
>     >
>     >
>     > They may not be engaged community members, but they are community
>     > members nonetheless. This actually raises an interesting point.
>     >
>     > How do we engage those community members where they might be
>     > discouraged from participating due to technophobia? (IE: How can we
>     > contact this community base and see if there are any artists in the
>     > house? and How can we engage non-developers, and where should
>     they go.
>     > Maybe a community?)
>
>
>     How do you engage someone that's only signed up so that they
>     can get a free copy of the Solaris Express Developers DVD (maybe
>     just because its free) and otherwise have no interest in OpenSolaris?
>
>
> Did they check of a box that said "I have no interest in OpenSolaris"? 
> If not maybe we can contact them rarely via email.
>
>     The core issue here is that various activities that have been
>     undertaken by Sun to inflate the number of participants distorts
>     the real size of the interested and interactive community.
>
>
> Many people just don't know what they can do to help, or even if there 
> help is wanted. I don't see why any distortion in the numbers matters 
> one bit. We have an active community which is a small subset of the 
> whole community.
>
> How do we engage the whole community to encourage participation by 
> members with skill sets that are not strictly development oriented?


You're missing the point I'm making: we don't know what the real
size of the community is.  How big is the whole community, really?

Darren