On 05/03/07, GerardM gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi, There may be many people volunteering their time. There is a great lack of people for specific functions.
Yes, volunteers are given tasks/responsibilities. It is however up to them to decide what they want to do and when they do them. They are volunteers, they cannot be told. The notion of relying on a specific task to be done in a certain time frame is something you CAN demand of an employee not from a volunteer.
PS I have some sort of official capacity; I am a member of the language committee. Some people say that we take our time. I would argue that this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks, GerardM
I understand what you're saying about volunteers not being obligated to the foundation and that even trusted volunteers may have a tough time justifying getting out of bed in the morning for the Foundation, but I think the level of obligation many of our users feel to the project is comparable to the the obligation felt by an employee and could be put to use.
If a volunteer strongly believes in the work of the foundation, has shown commitment to the project through positions of trust, has shown that they will do at least X hours a day, and has assumed much responsibility then I think they could be trusted with a position.
I agree, there are some critical jobs with time-sensitivity that cannot be left to volunteers, but volunteers should be used as extensively as possible.