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Hi Justin,

Thanks for raising this. I just want to offer my perspective:

I closely monitor the social media channels for LibreOffice and TDF
(Twitter with 23,000 followers, Facebook with 54,000 page likes, Google+
with 16,000 followers), along with Reddit and other sites.

I've read many hundreds of feedback messages across those channels since
the release of LibreOffice 6.1, and haven't seen a *single* complaint
(or even mention) relating to the "Get involved" infobar. (Of course,
there's a chance I've missed something, especially over the Christmas
break, but I hope you see my point!)

Now, that's not to deny that some people may find it a bit naggy. But I
just want to add those data points -- that it doesn't seem to be
bothering the vast majority of users.

Another data point: the infobar in the app brings around 800-900 users
every day to the "Get involved" page on our website. Of course, we
cannot easily measure how many of those visitors become active
contributors in the project, but it's a good start IMO.

And now my personal view: I think we are absolutely right to keep it.
Even if a few people find it naggy (and again, given that I've seen no
mention of it on social media, I don't think it's many), I think it's
extremely important that we remind people: this software doesn't just
happen by magic. It's the hard work of a community and ecosystem
members. If you want it to keep improving, contribute back.

One thing I *do* see a lot on social media is a rather entitled attitude
of "LibreOffice should do X" or "Why hasn't LibreOffice got Y?". I
gently remind those people that changes and improvements only happen if
someone steps up to do them :-) So a very occasional reminder in the app
is fine by me. People are getting a massively feature-rich office suite
for completely free, after all -- they should bear in mind who makes it!

Mike




On 30/01/2019 06:21, Justin Luth wrote:
Someone on ask.libreoffice.org wrote:

“Lately, in LibreOffice 6.1.2.1 I get a nag window on top asking me to
get involved. Are you trying to become obnoxious windows-like software?
How do I get rid of that thing?” This succinct post is very revealing,
and perfectly mirrors my own initial and ongoing impressions.


First, note the user perception of this new “feature”. It is classified
as naggy. It is not seen as a legitimate request for help, but as an
untargeted and intrusive irritant.

Secondly, it is totally unwanted. This user terms it as obnoxious, and
references the disrespectful and heavy-handed Windows attitude that has
driven so many of us to FOSS in the first place.

And that all leads to the obvious reaction of “how can I never see this
again.” Seeing it once is already too much, and every 90 days is not an
improvement.


Do we really want to market LibreOffice as yet another piece of
unprofessional[1] beggarware? Everyone already acknowledges that
“GetInvolved” irritates us, but now imagine the scenario where someone
has donated to LibreOffice and a week later the donate message pops up!
That will feel extremely offensive!

Having places (like help - get involved/donate/about) where the user can
discover and actively seek out ways to support LibreOffice is fine, but
intentionally irritating the user base is sure to back-fire. Please, let
us remove the infobar advertisements before they cause too much damage.

Thanks,

Justin - volunteer developer, promoter, user-support  (who is damaged in
each of these capacities by this adware), and self-appointed end-user
advocate.


[1] It is completely unprofessional. Speaking about the “get involved”
pop-up, Michael Meeks writes that “No vendor (or in-house team)
providing an actually supported version would show this to their users”.


P.S. Sorry for not realizing that the ESC decision to remove GetInvolved
from 6.1.5 Stable should have been confirmed by other bodies before
being acted on.



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