Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: Logo Enhancements

On Sunday 14 Nov 2010 04:36:03 David Nelson wrote:
> Hi, :-)
>
> IMHO, it would be a good idea to have a competition for the logo
> choice. It's a good way of attracting new contributors. 

It doesn't work.  And if you want proof
OOo Art mailing list postings
http://www.mail-archive.com/art@marketing.openoffice.org/index.html

2006 postings 1044
2007 postings 715
2008 (Oh let's have a big contest for the OOo 3 splashscreen because it will 
bring more people to the art project, oh and Bernhard took a study sabbatical) 
postings 396
2009 (Where are all those new contributors, the contest was won by an outsider 
who didn't even subscribe to the list IMS, point was he never came back, on 
the upside Bernhard came back after getting some letters attached to his name, 
that was the single biggest difference here and then look at the number of 
individual contributors) postings 525
2010 (We're into month 11) postings:  163


> And aren't Open Source projects supposed to be founded on meritocracy?

That is a nonsense argument, merit has nothing to do with competition, it has 
to do with contribution and the quality of that contribution

> One of the rules of entry could be that, if their work wins, entrants
> should be willing to contribute to LibO/TDF in the long-term, and be
> part of the process of developing and maintaining their material.

You can't force people to contribute, you have to give them a reason.  Your 
thinking is old school corporate where people are competing for a check, the 
reason people work for FOSS projects is .

> I agree that a "hit-and-run" win is not beneficial for the project.
> But the contact-building I've started with Linux distributions tells
> me that there are quite a few people out there who'd be willing to do
> work for LibO.

You would have to be blind to ignore the opinions that Thorsten linked to, 
plus we don't want to be seen to be trying to steal contributors from other 
OSS projects.

It seems to me that you have little history in FOSS, you are not a designer or 
an artist and I see no merit in your arguments because they are not new, it's 
all been done before, but you make no reference to history and in fact seem 
hell bent on repeating all the mistakes of the past. 

Building community is our primary aim as it is for any new FOSS project.
Making it easy to contribute is one of the goals of this community, taking 
part in a competition is not contributing, it is competing as an individual 
rather than contributing as part of a community.  Outsiders then compete 
against the Community which is not inclusive it is divisive.

I'm sorry I'm having difficulty debating this in real time, my right arm is 
still in plaster so it's a little hard to keep up, plaster off on wednesday 
hopefully.  :)

Cheers
GL 


-- 
Graham Lauder,
OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ
http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html

OpenOffice.org Migration and training Consultant.

INGOTs Assessor Trainer
(International Grades in Open Technologies)
www.theingots.org

-- 
E-mail to marketing+help@libreoffice.org for instructions on how to unsubscribe
List archives are available at http://www.libreoffice.org/lists/marketing/
All messages you send to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted