On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 7:08 AM Julian Foad <julianfoad_at_apache.org> wrote:
> Nathan Hartman wrote:
> > Also, would it be appropriate and acceptable to post this request to our
> > own users@ list?
>
> I say yes.
>
> It was said recently (as well as long ago), on the Svn PMC's [1] private
> mailing list, that a press release (PR) should be organized in private
> so it makes a "splash" (a surprise) to maximize impact in the press. I
> understand the intent behind that, from the marketing point of view, but
> in this open community I place higher value on publicly involving
> community members who are not members of the PMC. If that results in
> lower "splash" value, that's fine: community over PR.
>
> Still, while publicly soliciting testimonials (and any other ideas), we
> can minimize the dilution effect by collecting them and drafting the
> text in private: the press shouldn't be finding the whole thing is
> previously published. Let's be open that that's what we're doing, and
> endeavour to include any non-PMC-members who wish to be included. (If
> someone wants to be included in that part, e.g. seeing the draft, please
> say and we'll work to find a satisfactory way to include you.)
>
> To that end, let's ask that contacts send their actual quotes to
> private@ in the first place. Nathan is co-ordinating the drafting and
> any privately solicited quotes there anyway, aren't you?
This press release is, after all, the Subversion community making an
announcement to the world!
I agree with involving the community. I measure that against (1) what
is the purpose and (2) who is the audience?
(1) The purpose (of this PR) is to increase exposure for Subversion.
The more exposure we get, the more new users and contributors. It is
something we should do more often and my motivation in this and other
efforts.
(2) From that perspective, the audience isn't those of us who are
already community members; we need to reach beyond our community,
stepping outside of our comfort zone.
We need about 5 to 7 testimonials, preferably from the corporate
world. Testimonials help answer the all-important questions "who
cares" and "who uses you?"
We have corporate and government customers. We are a component of
various commercial products. But given that this is FOSS, there are no
licenses to buy, no registrations to fill out, and I don't exactly
have a customer list.
So, I would appreciate it very much if I were not alone in seeking
testimonials. Please, take 5 minutes and shoot a few emails to people
you know, and help get these testimonials in. We have one so far. We
need several more.
We'll ask that testimonials be sent to private@ in the future.
Thanks,
Nathan
Received on 2020-01-21 16:40:50 CET