Comments on: How to recognize outstanding contributors?

By: Minton

Minton — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:57:47 +0000

I agree with Kevin, it was really a pleasant surprise for me when I received a “free box” letter at the first time. It really helped and encouraged me to work more for openSUSE as I saw that I am not a nameless enthusiast for it, but my work is noticed. Perhaps, all you need is to give people some more clear way to see their names written somewhere on official page, like “Now openSUSE released and we’d like to say THANK YOU to the community members who helped us working on this release. Your contributions are invaluable: John Smith I, John Smith II, etc.”

P.S. If this box-program is not person-sorted, then I’ll get two boxes and three T-shirts for my work on 11.1 and Weekly News. Maybe you’ll find the way to summarize efforts and let active contributors to change a reward to smth else in novell-shop (for instance, 2 T-shirts and a box for a branded bag or something ), cause next time I’ll get even more )))

By: Zonker

Zonker — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:32:06 +0000

“I’d like to see the community debate this and come up with some ideas, or even shoot it down if need be. ”

Hence the reason for the post…

By: Zonker

Zonker — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:31:06 +0000

I don’t think there’s much danger of forgetting upstream, but I’m specifically thinking about the people who directly work on openSUSE for the moment.

By: AlbertoP

AlbertoP — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:00:17 +0000

I agree with cb400f: what makes contributors happy is:

a) A quality release, where their work can be enjoyed.
b) A niceeee Geeko plush

Ok, b is a bit personal probably

Bye,
Alberto

By: cb400f

cb400f — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 12:29:04 +0000

The ultimate reward for openSUSE contributors is quality releases .. and that includes the x.1 ones. Tell that to your bossman.

Disclaimer: It’s the bitterness speaking, it isn’t me

By: Beineri

Beineri — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:34:44 +0000

The free box program also exists for openSUSE 11.1 release. And isn’t “People of openSUSE” about recognizing valuable contributors already?

By: Beineri

Beineri — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:32:57 +0000

Not sure what it has to do with this blog’s topic but a successor of idea.opensuse.org is being worked on.

By: Kevin Dupuy

Kevin Dupuy — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:55:17 +0000

Hmm… interesting point. We’ve had the program where the Project sends free boxed editions of openSUSE to people who have put forth good effort in creating and launching a release. I can tell you that when I received an email telling me I got a free boxed edition last summer for my work on 11.0, I felt pretty happy that my work had been recognized by the project.

But that isn’t very public (although I do hope it continues ).Perhaps a “Contributor of the week”, rolled into openSUSE Weekly News? Or make “People of openSUSE” more of where those recognized contributors are interviewed?

By: Bryen Yunashko

Bryen Yunashko — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:59:06 +0000

FWIW, this is a topic that has come across the table to those of us on the openSUSE Board. To be sure, the biggest problem we immediately encountered was “Well wait a minute… What about this person? And that person?” What is the measurement of outstanding? Number of hours? Number of articles/blogs? Code?

Generally, I like the idea of a monthly recognition, as suggested by Ciaran. But who does the work and investigation to ensure fair awarding? How do we ensure that such a panel has enough high-level overview of everything going on within the project to make the best decision, month after month?

Personally, I’m more inclined to support the notion of a categorical award system. A system where we determine the categories for awards and then have peers within that category nominate candidates for that award. But is that fair? And with a project as large and diverse as ours, would we run the risk of having too many categories?

I’d like to see the community debate this and come up with some ideas, or even shoot it down if need be.

@Dietrich. We already have that in the form of openSUSE Membership. All recognized contributors become members and you have to demonstrate contribution in order to become a member.

@everyone in the community: Regardless of if and when we do come up with a system of recognition, I hope you know you have the utmost thanks from the Project for your hard work.

By: Beineri

Beineri — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:29:29 +0000

I think Novell is well aware what it owes upstream and it’s paying member of KDE e.V., GNOME Foundation and alike and sponsoring developer conferences. And the upstream communities recognize outstanding contributors in their rows themselves (eg Akademy Awards).