Disclaimer

Not trying to blame anyone here. I‘m just taking an idea I‘ve read and spinning it further:

Intro

A lot of people use free open source software (foss), Linux being one of them. But a lot less actually help make this software. If I ask them why, they always say „I don’t have the coding skills!“.

Maybe its worth pointing out that you don‘t need them. In a lot of cases it’s better to not have any so you can see stuff with a „consumer view“.

In that situation you can file issues on github and similar places. You can write descriptions that non technical people can understand. You can help translate and so on, all depending on your skills.

Other reasons?

I‘d really like to know so the foss community can talk about making it worthwile for non coders to participate.

  • BOMBSEnglish
    7•1 year ago

    I would be happy to give feedback, but I have no idea how to do so. On a few occasions, I have responded to posts, such as like on Lemmy where someone asked for suggestions to improve KDE. I still have no idea how to use GitHub at all, much less to provide feedback. I know GitHub is something I can work on to learn to interact with the FOSS development community, but it’s probably a major barrier to the non-tech people that use FOSS.

    Now that I think about it, I’m thinking it would increase non-tech interaction if developers of FOSS engaged the community through social media. Like, get on Lemmy, Mastodon, even Reddit, FB, and Instagram, and engage the community in these discussions. I think that will definitely increase engagement from the non-tech users, though some of those sites may feel like a betrayal of values. It seems like an interesting ethical dilemma.

    Edit: So I looked into it for KDE in particular. They actually have a Wiki that simplifies user engagement. Maybe promoting these avenues will also help engagement.

    • hauiOP
      2•1 year ago

      Thanks for the elaborate explanation. Learned a lot today. :)

      We definitely need more integration between say github and social media. You can already comment on github stuff but devs would probably puke if john commented that he‘d like the button in red.

      Not sure myself how this would work. Probably a sliding scale of integration and ease of use so peeps dont just comment for fun or to let off steam.

      Edit: DUDE! I just realized its you! Hahahaha thanks for replying! :)

      • BOMBSEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        You’re welcome! The more I think about it, I think it’s mostly an exposure thing. Unless I’m really invested in tech, I’m not going to be going to those sites regularly. But I do go to my social media sites often, so if I regularly saw discussions/posts on the topic, I’d be more like to engage since it’s in my awareness more often.

        DUDE! I just realized its you! Hahahaha thanks for replying! :)

        Right‽ Isn’t it exciting when you see someone you know doing there thing? It’s like, “Hey, that’s my friend!”

        • hauiOP
          2•1 year ago

          Yeah! Absolutely. Actually, a couple people are getting inspired by this and I‘m very happy to have made a little difference. Your message helped as well.

          Lets see where this goes. Would you want to beta test some new approach as well? Someone is making a python questionaire or such.

          • BOMBSEnglish
            2•1 year ago

            Would you want to beta test some new approach as well?

            Yeah, for sure! I can’t be using this awesome OS without contributing to it somehow.

            • hauiOP
              2•1 year ago

              Neat! Will let you know once i hear back!

      • @andrewta
        2•1 year ago

        Stupid question who is he? Sounds like you either know him or know of him.

        • hauiOP
          2•1 year ago

          A friend! :) also someone with great ideas and a lot of insight.