Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

11 November 2009 Update: please read through the thread to follow the evolution of this idea. Lot of great additions! I will be ending the pilot phase very soon and start the formalizing process. Stay tuned!

After much discussion and deliberation, we are moving forward with testing the Maemo Greeters Brainstorm idea (see http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=32835). Note that the actual Brainstorm solution for this (#1) has not actually moved to the implementation stage as of this writing, but it will be.

The basic idea is that any member can volunteer for this activity, and it can be implemented by simply using the following (or similar) for your posting signature:

This renders as:

Hi! I'm a Maemo Greeter!

Useful links for newcomers: New members say hello, New users start here, Community subforum, Beginners' wiki page, Maemo5 101, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

If I can help with anything else, just ask! :)
--------------------------------------------------------

In addition, participants are encouraged (but not expected) to perform typical help desk activities in talk.maemo.org.

Some notes for participants:

• Try to remain courteous at all times
• This program is strictly voluntary
• There is no official status conferred by this "title"
• There are no offers or guarantees of any reward
• There will be no formal scoring of participation

Notes for newcomers:

• Please Thank any post that assists you, directly or indirectly
• Keep in mind that any Greeter is a volunteer
• Feel free to suggest ideas to any Greeter

It is expected that Greeter participation will result in Thanks from those who directly benefit, as well as anyone appreciative of the effort.

Since this is a pilot, it is subject to change without notice, including dissolution of the program if it has too low or no participation, or there is no obvious benefit. Constructive feedback of all kinds is welcome. You may contact any Greeter, or me directly.

Let's make this work!

Thanks! And special thanks to Den in USA, whose shining example in New members say hello inspired this idea. You guys reward him by Thanking his greeting posts when you think of it.


EDIT: code wrapper not working-- any ideas?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

You have to remove the spaces before 'url=' when copy-pasting from the codebox below.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Awesome! and our first volunteer! :)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Can one just copy/paste the sig, or does one need formal acceptance as a maemo greeter?

Is there a limit to the number you plan to have?

Do you want people with particular technical knowledge?

(Depending on answers, you have a second)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

I'll take the ring to Mordor! :P

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

I'd say you have a third, assuming Kathy is happy with the answers.

Questions of my own:
- the new-users page hasn't passed any inspection, but is it worth putting into the list?
- who is working on the FAQ, as an aside question? For beginners, it sucks, frankly.
- we know who is online when they are logged in, sort of. Can we use this information in some way to show people who to ask for help and get timely answers?

(should I ask this on the other thread? Ho hum)

S

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Answers:

- no formal acceptance required at this point. This is a pilot. Jump in and help us develop the concept!

- currently no planned limit to Greeter pool size

- technical knowledge can be helpful, but consider: the number one benefit is easy to achieve, and that is a number of people with useful links in their signatures. That's a huge start!

- It's okay to link to under "construction pages" as long as there is *some* useful content. But note I'm providing guidelines-- link at your discretion, and by all means make suggestions!

- Not sure who is currently working on the FAQ, but volunteers are welcome!

- not sure yet how we can take advantage of online/offline status. Note again that a multitude of people spreading posts around with useful links is goal number 1!

Thanks all!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Oh, another thing: Greeters fluent in languages other than English most definitely welcome! I'm even okay with the links being described in your native tongue!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

So, I added my name. A little more personal touch.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Wow, Texrat! This is a great idea! I know you didn't come up with this all by yourself. This had to require some really high intelligence! Just kidding!

You guys are doing the bang up job I expected you would. This should be a requirement for everyone for a month per year, replacing our personal siggies. Good look, Council!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

There it is :)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Wow, this caught fire faster than I'd imagined! :)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

So, hey, within the limits of the sig length, can you put some Finnish in there to show the way?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

We'll see how it works. I like the idea :)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

I think if we can get up a base of people who're fluent in a range of languages we might be beginning to address the question in the other live issue round here tonight, that of different language forums. If you are fluent in something other than English, please translate some or all of the sig. It looks really good.
(sadly, my first language is Gibberish)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

If you want to also list the links in other than English, feel free!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

So, this Polish version. There is not enough space for both language versions, how would you see it?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Ok, how's this one?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Awesome, guys! I'm really excited by the ideas and engagement here! :)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

hopbeat, what you have is fine!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Hey Tex, don't forget about the maemo.org custom google search. It works much better than the forum search b/c you can see context in results before you click.

maemo.org custom google search

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Very cool, and spot on.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Sure, Greeters, feel free to add the link Jay referenced!

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

I tinyurled it and it's in the sig below (too big for sig else...)

s

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

This is the best idea ever. I mean that. Waiting for a Swahili, Mandarin, and Spanish siggie. I can't speak anything but English, but it'll be cool to reach out like that.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Maybe I should create one in Texan... :D

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

How about replacing the "ask" in "If you have questions, just ask", by a link to the PM page?
I say this because I think it is not entirely obvious how to PM people (I know I discovered that clicking on a person's name would bring the menu by accident).

To do that, just use this URL:

http://talk.maemo.org/private.php?do=newpm&u=22922

with the "u=" part replaced by your user ID (you can find out which is yours by PM'ing yourself).

What do you guys think?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Excellent idea, tpaixao, thanks!

If this idea proves to have merit, we'll make it formal soon enough and create a wiki page for it. Once that's done, I'll ask participants to include a link there as well, in the "Maemo Greeter" text.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Depends. Stop Six/Oak Cliff Texan, Vidor/Jasper Texan, or Westover Hills/Highland Park Texan? I'm fluent in all of the above. Not so much on the Harlingen/Laredo Texan, but I understand it. ;) I'm sure you probably meant Stockyards/Waxahachie Texan, which would be, "Ya'll come on 'round here an' get yer infomation..." etc, etc... LOL

(My Texas homies are gonna kill me. We're trying to shake the common stigma that all Texans are "rednecks" when we're actually a pretty progressive urban state for the most part.)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Please keep in mind that as a spam reduction measure, new users cannot send or receive private messages until after they have made five posts. Giving brand new users a link that won't work for them may be counterproductive.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Easier way to discover ones user ID is to click your own name on the forum, the ID will show in the url (u=xxxxx).

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

oops. wasn't aware of that...
Disregard the idea, then...

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Hey Guys,

Great idea, one thought though (sorry I missed out on the brainstorm...) is there any way that we can either have a single "Newbies cool links" page, or a common code that we can include in our sig's to draw the same info in? After all, this is great right now, but since there's no real tracking of who's doing this or what links are what, how is it going to be managed down the road/as things change to make sure that people who are "greeters" are presenting the right info? i.e. if the sig's right now contain links to Maemo 5 specific info, how does everyone keep track of what to update to if Maemo 6 becomes the focus/etc.

Like if we're all just doing this to make sure we include helpful links for people, that's cool, but if we're calling ourselves "Maemo greeters" it seems like we should have at least some semblance of a united effort to present the same/similiar information right? I'm all about helping anyone I can (Maemo or otherwise), just want to make sure we're doing the best we can be

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

It's actually still a good idea. Even with 6 or more posts under their belt, many posters still feel new. ;)

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

You are absolutely correct.

Again, we're still in pilot stage so even though this was Brainstormed it's open to continual improvement. It could be that the Maemo Greeter wiki page (not yet up) might eventually be the sole link that's provided, to serve as an info clearinghouse.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Just a question that crossed my mind when talking about various languages in sigs:
is the general idea of this forum to keep it in English or is it rather 'if you can do your business in other language, do so'?
I think this is also relevant to the greeters issue, as some newcomers seeking help may feel more comfortable with their mother tongues?

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

I speak English and daft (and a little French I guess) but I'd love to see more support for other languages around. Having said that, although it does perhaps make more work for the greeter, a first language and a quick translation into English might be worthwhile because the answer can then become part of the common core of knowledge we can all draw from.

Which makes me think - perhaps greeter answers should be logged or marked somehow so that they can become a core? (Sort of an informal faq I guess). I dunno if that's sensible, but one never knows when one's ideas are sensible or not.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Hopbeat, see this thread: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33958

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Greeter has no direct Spanish translation, but I will think what I can replace it with and update my sig accordingly.

Re: Maemo Greeters Pilot
 

Thanks. Knew I've seen it somwhere :)

@smarsh I think that this would be kind of doubling already existing FAQs and Wiki's to which the greeter can just point.