Yes, like many before me have done, this is my inaugural planet post. At the Community Council meeting Tuesday morning (for me), I was granted membership. Thanks to the Council members who thought I made significant contributions, I hope to keep doing so.
This may seem like a speech for winning an Academy Award, but bear with me, because there are a few people I need to thank.
At the beginning of the year, I was trying to figure out how to set up the online resources for the Georgia US Team. I logged into Freenode, looking around some the Ubuntu channels. Someone going by the nickname Vorian popped up and helped me set up #ubuntu-georgia, then pointed me to Launchpad. We’ll come back to Vorian later.
Once John Von Hollen and I got some of the online things for the Georgia US Team figured out, I looked for other things that I could help out on. I came across the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter and joined #ubuntu-marketing to see if there was anything I could do. Immediately, beuno (Martin Albisetti), along with Jenda VanÄura, put me to work! Its been two months plugging away at the UWN and its been fun. Its awesome to find all the great press Ubuntu has been getting, plus the wonderful reviews from the blogosphere. With the release of Feisty, the accolades just keep on coming. It was Corey Burger’s idea for me to go up for membership and I’m glad I did.
Christer Edwards was in town a couple of weeks ago and I got to have dinner with him along with a couple of fellow Georgia LoCo members. Christer gave us some great advice on how to get the word out and I hope the Georgia US Team will continue growing and get approved in the coming months.
Back to this morning. I pinged Vorian, prodding him to add a testimonial on my wiki page as the Community Council meeting was starting. He did much better than that. Vorian went around to different channels, telling everyone to join my fan club. Christer, Eric Lake, Richard Johnson, and Aaron Toponce all came out to support me and the rest is history.
I just wanted to say a special thanks to Stephen Stalcup, I couldn’t have done this without you!
Thus ends my speech.
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Welcome aboard. Now the real work begins!
While I feel that Ubuntu is the best Linux distribution available, I must state that being “a member” means very little, in my opinion. So you get to use a “ubuntu/member” cloak, so what? Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the most important people in the Ubuntu community are people like me; the ones who:
* use Ubuntu and actively spread the word
* those who sit in the irc channels answering questions
* this who sit in the ubuntuforums answering questions
* those who add to and edit the wiki and other documentatio
I have helped almost 200 people and businesses in my area switch from Windows to Ubuntu Linux and I hold classes in my area.
Some of “the members” act as though they are better than the rest of us, which sheds a bad light on the entire community. This “Ubuntu member” status feels too much like a “ranking” system and some members use it as such
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the “real Ubuntu members” are those who actually help others regardless of their alleged “member” status.
Ian MacGregor (aka ardchoille)
http://www.imacgregor.com
Ubuntu user # 112 (http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net/)
http://ubuntuforums.org/search.php?do=finduser&u=221672
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ardchoille
https://launchpad.net/~ardchoille42
ardchoille,
I don’t think a “member” should feel superior to anyone else and its unfortunate if some people think they are better than other folks in the community. The cloaks and email addresses are just tokens of appreciation really, but I don’t think most members just stop advocating and helping Ubuntu once they are recognized as such.
We are all in the same boat, we want Linux to succeed everywhere and I hope I can make the impact that you have made.
Congrats, you really earned it.
Keep up the great work on the UWN, couldn’t have done it with out you the past month
Hi Nick,
congratulations on your approval!
(I do not have anything to add on Nick’s above statement.)
regards
Yes indeed nicholas, much well recieved compliments should be bestowed upon you for your grand membership. =)
Congrats!!!!
This is a well deserved achievement!
other than an IRC cloak, you get a kewl @ubuntu.com email address!
Don’t let a troll make your membership approval less than what it actually is!
Hey Boredandblogging!
Grats duder, thats really awesome…. I am hoping to be in the same situation soon, once we get Florida up and running, and get our approval straight.
I know how much you’re around, and how much youve helped… you really deserve the recognition
Chris (bordy)
ardchoille: you can come to the next Community Council and voice your concerns about members behaving against the Code of Conduct. I feel a lot of frustration in your post, unfortunately this may not be very helpful when doing any advocacy for Ubuntu, when you have such conflicting opinion on Ubuntu volunteers and their work.
How painfully ironic of you ardchoille, to declare a class of people self-righteous, then claim yourself the most important Ubuntite. If you want to make the case that your contributions are substantial, wouldn’t the Community Council be the place to declare yourself a member?
There probably is a ranking system. No need to go hiding against the accusation. Core developers are more trusted than MOTU in making technical decisions etc. Members were created to recognize the contributions that non-developers have made, and the reason its necessary is the big point you’ve missed: all members have a vote. Without this recognition votes are slanted towards developers, and entire groups of people working to improve Ubuntu are neglected.
Personally, I just want a better system, and will jump through hoops only as needed. Oh, and maybe a job in the future. But thats at least a few months from now ^_^
Congratulations Nick! No jealousy here, nope, none at all. YOU SUCK! haha just kidding, congrats to you my friend, I will shake your hand at the next meet!
~j
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