The Next Step for Free-DC's Future

[Dyyryath]

Well, I've heard from a lot of different people both on Free-DC and on several other teams. What it seems to come down to is:


A centralized source for DC stuff is a good idea.
At least one other group is already attempting this.
A centralized source for DC shouldn't have teams.


Lots of people seem to think the way I'd like to do things is a good idea, but most have reservations about our continuing to have teams under the Free-DC name. So now things get a little trickier.

It seems like no matter how de-emphasized those teams are, other teams are always going to see them as a threat. *sigh*

I guess I can understand that, though I think sometimes the 'competition' side of DC can get a little excessive. Don't get me wrong, the competition and stats are a HUGE part of why I'm doing it, but when people start getting upset and angy about it, I think maybe they've begun to take it all too seriously.

At any rate, that seems to leave us with a couple of options:


Drop the 'help all teams' thing and continue on the way we are.
Separate the Free-DC teams from the Free-DC 'resouce center'
Accept that some people won't have anything to do with it due to the Free-DC teams, and go on trying to help the community and keep our teams at the same time.


Obviously, the first option would be the easiest and certainly entails the least amount of risk.

The second option makes me nervous, but there *may* be a way to do this without hurting the teams themselves. Under no circumstances would I endorse simply dissolving them. Renaming them and giving them their own home, maybe, but not dissolving them entirely. I'll be continuing to contribute to them no matter what we decide to do as a whole.

The third seems like a good compromise, but do we really want to put forth all the effort that'll be required to do this right and see large numbers of people afraid to get involved because they don't want people joining a Free-DC team?

Right now, I'm just not sure what to do. With that in mind, I've set up the poll above. If you feel like posting and explaining your position, or if anyone has suggestions on how else we might proceed, I'd love to hear them.

Even if you don't have anything in particular to say, if you're a regular around here, you really should vote. I'm not guaranteeing anything based on the outcome, but it will obviously give me an idea of what the rest of you think about this whole thing.

[IronBits]

Keep the teams, try to broaden the scope and accept that many teams will be suspicious and disapprove.
I don't care if other 'teams' are suspicious... ain't nothing going on around here to be paranoid about. ;)
Disapprove? That's status quo with some, since this whole thing got started on December 23rd, 2001 at about 11pm PST. :p
We are the devil's spawn, as ColinTATOR would say. ;) :D

It would be great if folks would do write ups and email them to you so we can fill in all the blank spots and FAQs.
A few frontpage writers would be a big plus.
Try to come up with 'posistions' that can help you.
Be specific as possible, then ask for folks to help fill those responsibilies...

This whole thing on teams is good for the morale and all, but, this really is a club of sorts, where folks that share like concepts/ideas and project interests, and then work together for a common goal.
We are not in competition with other tech sites.
I was quit miffed when we wanted to build our own sand box to have fun in, if for nothing else than because other places were too full, too much kicking sand and or negative overtones [insert your own personal reasons here] . I was elated when our friends stopped by to be supportive :D
After almost one year of running, we have done alot for many teams, helped bring in others to the projects, increased all kinds of stats, tried to keep the peace, build comradery, rounded up information and piece mealed it all together the best way we could with our limited time and other participants.
Now is the time to polish it all up, it's still ruff around the edges ;) :)
I like the idea you have of hosting more Forums for others that don't have the resources or technical abilites, or resources to do so, and to embrace any project looking for help.
:thumbs:

[MAD-ness]

I think that the third option is the best.

Let those who fear Free-DC stay away, if they so choose.

It is my opinion, especially in relation to internet communities, that you can only control a certain amount of things and you can only predict a certain number of things. At some point (usually much earlier than you hoped for) you have to have faith and "just do it."

Everyone has opinions and ideas and arguments. However, not everyone has the technical skills to undertake the kinds of projects that are often discussed.

There is a point where those who have skill and ambition have to simply blaze a trail. If one properly, the solution is clearly superior than the previous status quo and the 'masses' accept the new situation.

The only way to convince people of your good intentions (and your vision) is to build the community you envision and then show it to them.

Anyways, I would love to offer whatever assistance an ignorant neo-phyte such as myself is capable of.

Everyone thinks they know what the best solution is, but the majority of people also will follow natural leaders and the people who get things done. People like IB, yourself, Heretic, Phlump, Larry, etc.

[Paratima]

What they said, only with more concise word selection, improved spelling, and proper punctuation, indexed and collated. :D
First thoughts:
I don't believe that it's necessary to separate the resource center (RC) from the teams. The Free-DC teams still fulfill the function of being homes for the otherwise non-aligned. The RC needs to be run by volunteers from the DC community at large, from as many diverse teams as possible. That should help remove suspicions from the functioning of the RC. The important part is getting people from across the board to volunteer for a subject area.

Actually, your responsible person doesn't need to be an expert, although that would be a plus. He/she does need to be someone who will take responsibility for researching and keeping up to date.

The most direct way to be really helpful to others is to become a trusted resource. You must be responsive and you must offer solutions that work. Having people with a "direct line" to project administrators like Howard would be a great plus. Actually, Howard isn't a good example, because he's so damned helpful. But take G@H... if you had someone who, when the occasion called for it, could get Stefan's attention(!), it would benefit everyone. The people who need help would get it, mostly from the RC's experts, and the admins would have vastly reduced, better focused demands for their attention.

The FAQS need to be so well put together that when a question comes in, your first-line problem handler can point to the appropriate URL and say (as gently as possible) "RTFM".

As I said in an earlier post, I would be willing to proofread and help organize information.

Is it worth the trouble? :p

[pointwood]

/me voted for the third option too.

You'll never be able to satisfy everyone anyway. Take care of your current members must be first priority IMHO.

The difficult part will be the content. Who is going to produce all the content? It takes a lot of work to produce good content - how many is willing to or have to time to do it?

With that said, I hope it will be a success :thumbs:

[TheOtherZaphod]

I voted for the third option. When you put it that way it is clear that splitting the teams off is not an option that truly benefits your members (past, present, future, or as in "Twig and berries").

[Tax Bracket]

I've voted for the third option also.

:|ot|:

The link ...

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

Should that not read '(Dictators Only)'....:jester: :|party|: :moon:

[Dyyryath]

Originally posted by Tax Bracket

The link ...

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

Should that not read '(Dictators Only)'....:jester: :|party|: :moon:

Heh, keep laughing wise guy, the Free-DC "Re-Education Team" is on it's way to see you as we speak... ;) :D

[theseum]

It seems like renaming the teams would be very much a hassle and would be a disservice to the members of those teams... however renaming the "resource site" section would be pretty easy. just register dcworld.org or something to that effect and put the site there with the new name. the "free-dc.org" domain could then be used for a site for team-specific news/info. as long as the name is the same, it's going to be "team free-dc's info/stats page" instead of "the resource for the whole community."

[FireCracker]

I like the way "thesum" sumed up the issue. (Pun intended)
FC

[FireCracker]

I vote for "galaxy-dc.org"
Bigger than the "world"
and "free-dc.org"
FC

[PY 222]

Originally posted by FireCracker
I vote for "galaxy-dc.org"
Bigger than the "world"
and "free-dc.org"
FC

How about "universal-dc.org". Its WAY bigger than galaxy.:jester:

[MAD-ness]

Meta-versal DC?

Anyways, this is another thought.

Is it to the point where we should attempt to create whatever 'content' we can? If so, I was thinking that it might be cool to just start a series of interviews.

Ideally, someone could do a good interview with the project leaders for the various DC projects (though good luck getting ahold of the Berkeley or Stanford guys).

Being a little less ambitious, though, I was thinking along the lines of interviewing some of the more active DC enthusiasts who have made or continue to make a large impact on the community.

Guys like statsman, Larry (the Weatherman), Heretic, maybe roelof. Maybe Ken_G6 would want to do a little interview about his incredible optimizations of the ECCp109 source.

Since they are trying to get ECCp2 underway, Adam Berg (the lead on the project and the guy who did the P4 optimizations for the ECCp109 client) would probably be willing to do some sort of interview.

etc. etc.

[MrTRS]

I was thinking that it might be cool to just start a series of interviews.

I'm all for using what works. Why not try to do it like they do at Slashdot? Start a forum thread with an announcement of who you are going to interview. And ask members to submit questions.

Then someone pick the best ten question for submission to the interviewed person.

The whole thing can be done with just a few emails.

Ray