Re: DW (was: Re: [gnome-women] Getting a Web Site Up & Logo Contest status)

[Clytie Siddall <clytie riverland net au>]

On 11/08/2005, at 4:00 PM, Mary Gardiner wrote:

> Is it possible for you to summarise these issues on this list as
> positive suggestions for GNOME Women? For example, instead of saying
> "D-W doesn't do X", you could simply suggest to us that "G-W should  
> do X
> because it would have Y benefits" without referring to D-W at all. (On
> the other hand, if there's things that D-W does that you see as good,
> praise them everywhere ;) )

Of course.

From talking to other women translators and developers, mostly new  
ones, who don't feel they have the confidence to take on "mainstream"  
groups, I think our group needs:

1. to be welcoming: make a point of welcoming new people, show an  
interest in their background, invite them to share about what they do  
and what they want to achieve

Post: Welcome, X, to the Gnome Women list! It's great to see you  
posting here for the first time. So you're working in Y? That must be  
interesting, bearing in mind the Z situation. We'd be interested to  
hear what it's been like for you, as a woman in that field.

As for your question about AA, there are several options you could  
usefully investigate... (etc.)


2. to be tolerant: we all make mistakes. If someone is unclear, makes  
a mistake or hasn't looked at the usual information, be polite and  
helpful, give them good examples and encourage them to follow  
effective models of practice

Example:

New poster: I dont knnow where find group to tryanslate (language X)

Response: Welcome to the Gnome-Women list! Gnome has a vibrant and  
welcoming translation community. Please look at the main translation  
project page (Y). I notice on the teams page (Z) that there isn't a  
team for your language yet, but you can contact (ZZ) and ask about  
forming a team. Please tell him/her you're a member of Gnome-Women,  
and please keep asking questions here: we help each other. :)

as opposed to:

(link)

I'm happy to do that for translators, but I think it helps any new  
enquirer, so perhaps other Gnome Women could volunteer to be focal  
people for different Gnome areas.

New people don't _want_ to look silly or ignorant: most of the time  
people are doing their best under the circumstances. Cut them some  
slack.

Example:

Poster X advertizes her company on the group.

Response: We're really interested to hear about your company, but  
this list isn't the place to advertize. Please have a look (here).  
We'd really like to hear about what it's like for women workers at  
your company: what has it been like for you?

This may all be obvious, but somehow it doesn't happen. :(

3. Read emails carefully. It sounds crazy to have to say that, but so  
often I've seen new posters put off by having their questions  
ignored, and being confused and upset by suddenly receiving responses  
about something else. If we're not entirely sure what someone means,  
we can ask polite questions:

Poster: I can't find gnomewomen page

Respone: Hi, X. Good to hear from you. Which Gnome Women page are you  
looking for? (Of course, they're all equally wonderful. ;) ) What  
information are you looking for?

as opposed to:

(link)

These types of responses take more time, but I think it's worth doing  
one post like that, than sending in several that aren't welcoming and  
helpful.

Everyone has their own style, but welcoming and helpful should be  
part of it in a group like this, IMHO.

4. Celebrate achievement.

Example:

Package X is gnomewomen member Y's first package. It's in testing.

Post: Our new Gnome Woman package maintainer, Y, has her first  
package in testing now! It can be a long trail, but worth it in the  
end. Keep all your non-keyboarding fingers crossed for this possibly  
nervous package. (How would _you_ feel if you were in testing? ;) )

Y, how has it been getting your package to this stage? What have been  
the high points and low points, so far? I had awful problems with A,  
but B was pretty easy, considering C. D helped me a lot with that.

Example:

Post: We want to hear what you're doing this month. Do you have  
anything you really want to get out of the way in (month)? Let's put  
up a page of current projects, and highlight milestones. In my case,  
I want to get Y done. I need to start (here), and do (this) first,  
but I think I can get (this) done by (then). My best resource is  
(this), and in time management I focus on (that). How about you?

This is a way to help spread good models of practice, reinforce skills.

Post: Gnome Woman X popped up on our IRC channel for the first time  
last night, Y time. Good to see you there! We had a very useful chat  
about Z, in between bad jokes about AA. Is there anyone here who  
would like to chat on the channel, but doesn't know where to begin?  
We've got an IRC primer (here), but please ask questions on the list,  
too. We all had to start at the beginning once. ;)

etc.

5. Keep it cool.

Post: (non-welcoming, abrupt, not reading the original etc.)

Response: Z, I know you can help X with her question: (question  
restated). We need to remember that different people have different  
levels of expertise. Where do you think she should start in  
addressing (question restated)?

Then the original poster isn't confused by wondering if she's  
expressed herself properly, and can keep hoping to get some actual help.

Managing poster behaviour is _not_ easy, but if there are a core  
group of Gnome Women consistently being welcoming and helpful, I  
think the occasional less-accepting post will be bearable for new and  
less confident people. They're looking at the majority behaviour, and  
thinking, "Can I do this? Can I take the risk that Z will talk like  
that to me? But X and Y are always helpful, I can ask, and at a pinch  
I might be able to email one of them. It feels like an accepting place."

6. Invite people to join the list. My i18n coordinator for Debian  
invited me to join the D-W list, which I didn't even know existed,  
and I really appreciated the invitation. Let's target one or two  
invitations each month per Gnome Women, and see whom we find.

That's just a few ideas, anyway. I hope they are useful. :)

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm  
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN