Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 08:46:00 -0700 From: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net> To: jarvis@guru.wow.aust.com Cc: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: what's in a name? Message-ID: <36DEAAB8.5BA21FCD@thuntek.net> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903031706210.1032-100000@m4.stox.sa.enteract.com> <36DE10DF.3F57D6A7@guru.wow.aust.com> <36DE10F9.76429C52@thuntek.net> <36DE1AD9.17789F39@guru.wow.aust.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Jarvis Cochrane wrote:
>
> Donald Wilde wrote:
>
> > Major news orgs and trade e-zines have mailto:s on their contact pages
> > and bylines.
>
> I think we might have a minor misunderstanding here...
>
> While I'm interested in writing BSD advocacy articles and submitting them
> to news orgs and ezines, I'm not really prepared to do that without input
> and direction from... well... the core team, I suppose.
>
> I suppose I was thinking of a process more like:
>
> (a) Someone suggests a good topic for an article ("3.1 released and it's
> fabulous").
> (b) I write it.
> (c) It gets posted somewhere for comment
> (d) I submit it to... whoever... reuters :-)
>
> (I guess I'm just very cautious about writing anything for 'FreeBSD'
> rather than just for me. So, I'll happily stand up and write about my
> personal experiences and opinions and stuff in a public forum, but I'd be
> much more cautious about writing, in some sense, on behalf of a larger
> group...)
>
> Jarvis
I'm really glad to hear that. Caution is good. Too many have given us a
bad name by engaging in flame wars and blatant misrepresentation in
public forums. Fortunately, more LINUXen do that, so we still seem to
have a better reputation.
Jordan's advice to me has been to concentrate on articles for mainstream
press outlets (not news outlets). We're getting more press in Dr. Dobbs
and SysAdmin and places like that now. I've tried both InfoWorld and
Popular Science, but neither picked up my submissions. Doesn't mean it
wasn't worth trying, though, and the more we place ourselves squarely in
front of their noses, the better reception we will get the next time, as
long as we're polite and have our facts right.
This mailing list is the place to post news items for critique. We will
be glad to shoot holes in anything. ;-D As far as "writing on behalf
of...", even the core team is only "writing on behalf of". You are as
much FreeBSD as I am, as long as you ACT like you're a proud -- and
accurate -- representative. I'm NOT anywhere close to being -core, but I
keep learning and trying and making mistakes and trying some more. I get
respect because I acknowledge my mistakes and try again.
Another really positive thing you can do, which I'm working on pretty
intensely, is making demos for local school groups. You can get writeups
in local papers and LOTS of warm fuzzies from this, and you actually
reach as many people as you would if you got a national blurb.
Find -- or create -- a local Users' Group and make yourself a good
example by putting your shoulder to the wheel. Ours was started by
LINUXen, but it's now at least 50% FreeBSD and the LINUXen ask _us_ for
advice and guidance. Most Users' Groups are hungry for leadership and
goals. As long as you don't put down THEIR choices, eventually their
choices will starty to look a lot like yours, and you've got them. :-D
--
oooOOO O O O o * * * * * *
o ___ _________ _________ _________ ___==__
V_=_=_DW ===--- Don Wilde dwilde1@thuntek.net [ = = ]
/oo0000oo-oo--oo-ooo---ooo-ooo---ooo-ooo---ooo-oo---oo
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?36DEAAB8.5BA21FCD>