Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 10:21:22 -0800 From: "Jeremiah Gowdy" <jeremiah@sherline.com> To: "Bean" <bean@freebsd.org>, <freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Review of the FreeBSD advocacy site Message-ID: <001001c1d105$3473a3c0$a700a8c0@cptnhosedonkey> References: <B8BF5FE8.CACA%bean@freebsd.org>
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> I think the entire FreeBSD project site needs work... And I've been given > the go-ahead to start working on it in my free time (what's that?!), with > final approval from the core of course. Do you guys have any suggestions on > features/design you'd like to see in a redesign? Perhaps the handbook and FAQ links could be in bigger letters, perhaps in some ugly color like red. Too many newbies are flamed on IRC (and this discouraged about FreeBSD) when their questions are right there. I know... you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force them to drink. I'm not really suggesting you go too far with it, but perhaps a bigger link that says NEED HELP ? or something like that. Since the webpage is one of the main ways of capturing new converts, we have to figure the first thing they're going to need is help. The quickest response time would probably be the Handbook, #freebsdhelp on EFNet, and -questions. An entire page dedicated to FreeBSD help is more likely to keep these people involved. Imagine how many people try installing and setting up FreeBSD, have some kind of problem, can't find the answer, and therefore they quit, give up, and install RedHat. You might say that person has their own personality problems, or perhaps they wouldn't have made a very good addition to our community, but I disagree. I say bring on the masses. FreeBSD feels like the AMD of operating systems right now. WE know FreeBSD is the shiznit. Our core followers know. The corporations that use FreeBSD know. But if you start thinking about the hearts and minds of the upcoming generation of admins, that 15 year old kid on his DSL is tomorrow's admin. I know that's true because quite a few of us were yesterday's 12 year old kid on a 2400 baud modem. I have obviously diverged into a minor rant, and I beg your pardon for doing so, but if you're redoing the webpage, keep in mind, it's the first thing most people see about FreeBSD. Look at NetBSD's page, where they pump their architectures on the front page like a badge of honor. Look at OpenBSD's page with the use of their logo and the "elite" security vibe they try to put out. The FreeBSD homepage needs to *sell* FreeBSD to the kiddies, the alternate OS admins, and the corporate manager who is considering his admin's request to convert systems to FreeBSD. Don't give up our reserved and professional attitude (one of our more valuable assets), but at the same time, consider that we need to impress these groups of people with the very first page, because most won't follow more than 1 link on the page before they bail. I know people hate the word, but part of FreeBSD advocacy is marketing. If you win someone over with good marketing, they'll eventually learn the merits of FreeBSD through their own experience. I know that's a tall order, I just wanted to get some of that out there for consideration. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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