Steven Yeager (YoDude):

1. [Mandor]: In your opinion, what should happen to Maemo.org after the merge ?


Answer:
From what I understand, the operating funds required to run maemo.org’s day to day are provided by Nokia. Any speculation about the future would depend on Nokia’s plans to continue those funds and for how long. Since our community council is charged with managing some of maemo.org’s operation. I would think that determining this time line, that is asking Nokia, would be one of the first administrative duties our next council should accomplish in order to effectively allocate time and energy.
Maemo and Nokia will always be considered one set of the grandparents to this new MeeGo OS. I don’t see the grandparents getting divorced right after their first grandchild is born.
In my perfect world where the sky is always blue BTW, I see the Maemo community continuing to support the independent developer community and continuing to support and enhance the Maemo user experience.
In the end it will be this expertise and legacy that maemo.org will eventually offer to the MeeGo organization.


2. [VDVsx]: Do you agree with the Extras QA process ? In your opinion, we should lower, raise or maintain the current entry barrier for extras ?

Answer:
I most definitely agree with the process. In my opinion we should maintain and enhance support for this process particularly now that it has evolved to include more engaged users through “testing squads” and the 2nd “Testing Marathon” that was conducted on Saturday.


3. [GaryHT627]: As a new comer here I have sensed a culture clash. It seems the history of Maemo was largely a hangout for those well skilled in Linux and there was an assumption of what was understood and more importantly how the “community” worked. Now with the N900 there is the introduction of those, like me, who are not experts at Linux and do not have a long history of working in the “community” environment. Things like voting for what bugs to fix first, are totally foreign concepts. And yes, there will be some questions that make your eyes roll to the back of your head because many of us lack the skills you have. As this will likely get worse over time as more devices are introduced and the customer base grows, what would you change to facilitate a smoother and more productive co-existence?


Answer:
That right there Gary, really is the heart of the matter; different cultures. The forums are a noisy place. However what I have found having had most of my maemo.org experience from the forum side of our house is that just as some engaged users from the forums have ventured into the alien mailing list/IRC developer dominated world, knowledgeable aliens… um, I meant to say developers , have ventured into the forums. Many were already there when I started over three years ago with the N800 and many are still there willing to help as needed. In fact, just about everything I have learned about these devices, I have learned through the forums with the help and guidance of these guys and gals.
As the devices became popular forum membership has grown dramatically. Many of the previously developed apps simply needed to be ported over to the new devices and much of that work has been done by the original developers. As a result the developer side of the house hasn’t grown as much. This then spreads the helpful folks very thin and to a first time user, the help and guidance I experienced is now much harder to find. It is still there, it is just much harder to hear now in this now much noisier forum environment.
I think we would agree that the best forums are the ones that are produced and maintained by the people who use them as their primary source of information. Members who find useful information will post that information. Just as we see now in the developing Sygic threads. Other members will collect specific information from a general thread and open a new thread for only that information. Forum users will do this naturally regardless of the forums subject in order to make the forums easier for them to use. Since we are all there pretty much for the same reason, the forums then become easier for all to use.
This is why I proposed that forum administration and moderation be separated from the council’s duties. I believe that when we stop trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole, active forum members will allow the forums to evolve into a more useful place for all. As a bonus, in my blue sky world I believe more independent developers will be produced from the forum side of the house as forum members learn more about their devices from within an environment that is more “natural” to them.

I’ll close now with another proposal:

The first “Long Weekend”, Maemo event that I know of in North America …and if it’s held in Philadelphia, [PANDER] I’ll even bring the doughnuts! [/PANDER]

Thank you all. It has truly been my pleasure. Please VOTE! I believe a vote for any of the candidates will contribute towards a better community.