[OSM-talk] growing the volunteer base

[Etienne]

On 9/20/06, Andy Robinson <Andy_J_Robinson at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Etienne wrote:
> >Sent: 20 September 2006 9:22 AM
> >To: SteveC
> >Cc: talk at openstreetmap.org
> >Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] growing the volunteer base
> >
> >On 9/20/06, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:
> >
> >       I had a chat with tom steinberg of http://www.mysociety.org/ last
> >night.
> >
> >       He was very much of the opinion that wiki should be www and www
> >should
> >       be edit, and also sung the praises of their volunteer button.
> >
> >
> >+1 Agree strongly.  There are some proposals for a new improved front
> page.
> >We can, and we should, switch wiki. and www. immediately.
> >
>
> I wouldn't go quite that far. I'd prefer to see the single portal page as
> the new mockup is now. The portal page (and any supporting pages) needs to
> be hosted on a server than can take a big hit. Will Bytemark carry it?
> This
> then points to the various internal OSM servers and the wiki. Then we
> should
> always on the whole always have something to say on the portal even if
> access to elsewhere is a problem when we get hit hard again. As is bound
> to
> happen.


What I mean is change it right now (this morning), *until* such time as the
new portal pages are ready.  There is good progress on the portal page but
it will be a while before it is ready.

Switching wiki. with www. is a trivial task that will make a very big
difference to all the casual visitors we are getting at the moment.  Right
now they see a map with nothing on it.  If they went straight to the wiki
they would see a featured map which shows off OSM at its best.

The point about server load is a good one.  Would a slashdotting of our wiki
server at Bytemark impact other Bytemark customers?  If so they might not be
so happy to host us.  I doubt that either www. or wiki. would stand up to a
seriously heavy load, but I rather see the wiki take the strain than the
main site (which is already strained enough).

Etienne




Cheers,
>
> Andy
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >       If you go to http://www.mysociety.org/ and hit 'volunteer' and
> play
> >       around you'll see what I mean. It's a nice pretty thing atop their
> >bug
> >       tracking system. It asigns someone to a task and alerts the
> >developers.
> >       It suggests to the new volunteer that they join a mailing list and
> >get
> >       more involved. He said it had been a big boost to their volunteer
> >       numbers.
> >
> >       Could something similar work for us? Would someone like to hack
> >       something like it on top of trac?
> >
> >       have fun,
> >
> >       SteveC steve at asklater.com http://www.asklater.com/steve/
> >
> >       _______________________________________________
> >       talk mailing list
> >       talk at openstreetmap.org
> >       http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >No virus found in this incoming message.
> >Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> >Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.5/451 - Release Date:
> 19/09/2006
> >
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.5/451 - Release Date: 19/09/2006
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20060920/3a54daed/attachment.html>