[Foundation-l] Volunteerism Was: Google Analytics test

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 10/3/07, SJ Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Leon has been away for some time. Remember that almost everybody is a
> > volunteer and volunteers generally take longer than paid people.
>
> This last comment is a nonsequitur.  'Asking about this and not getting a
> response' is a systemic communication problem, which can be fixed
> regardless of who is directly working on a given project.
>
> It is also untrue.  Volunteering and speed of response are also not
> directly related; some of the most reliably responsive people, outpacing
> official staff, are volunteers - in WP as elsewhere.
>
> The commitment and reliability of volunteers varies with context, as
> might be expected; the most committed people in the world are zealots
> who, more often than not, are volunteers for their cause of choice.
> And organizations dealing with daily life and death situations have
> long relied on the courage, stamina, and dedication of volunteers.

I agree with SJ's comments.  This idea that we can't expect
responsible and professional behavior from volunteers is highly
misguided, and I think it's harmful to our community.

That said, sending private emails to someone who is 'out' is not going
to get you much anywhere.  We have a bug tracker. There is a ticked
for wikinews opened Sunday.  I don't think a few days response on
something like a site traffic tracker is a problem.

Bryan Tong Minh <bryan.tongminh at gmail.com>:
> I'm not saying that volunteers can't do things quickly. I'm saying
> that you can not expect volunteers to work quickly.

I don't agree.

What you can't expect is volunteers to put in more effort than they
are willing. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't avoid slow results
by better managing our volunteer resources.

Lots of other volunteer groups manage to perform very reliable. But as
far as I can tell none that do make the mistake of presuming that you
can assign everyone the title of CEO and and that the volunteer crew
will self-direct themselves in a way which achieve important goals and
deadlines.