[Foundation-l] Volunteerism Was: Google Analytics test

[Bryan Tong Minh]

On 10/3/07, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
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I absolutely agree with you that volunteers can responsible and
professional. I probably should have said "demand" instead of
"expect", because that is what I meant. What annoyed me was that
people seem to expect volunteers who are who are not so active to act
when they ask.

Bryan