[TYPO3-UG US] TYPO3.us Project

[Michelle Heizer]

I apologize for the lack of communication the past few months. My mother
recently passed away, which has left me with very little time to volunteer.

I am very concerned with certain aspects of the TYPO3.us project and
would like to share my observations. This project was meant to be a
full-scale attempt to increase TYPO3's visibility in the United States.
TYPO3 faces numerous challenges in the US market: location of its
development; lack of focus on solutions-based installations; a
developer/consultancy-centric community; too few T3 consultancies in the
US; concerns over security and open source/gpl in general;
outdated/nonexistent documentation and demo site package; confusion over
such simple things as template-building; and the general consensus that
TYPO3 has too steep a learning curve. This site was meant to address
each one of these concerns. Unfortunately, this is not what happened.

While I spent months detailing the items I needed, I got a lot of
promises, but little response. The last update,
http://lists.netfielders.de/pipermail/typo3-ug-us/2006-June/000840.html,
went almost completely unnoticed. I had one company that said they would
help, but I have yet to receive anything. During this time, Alex and I
have worked on a few of the items listed, including the Learning TYPO3
section (I've been doing the template-building, Alex --the installation
guide). I've done everything I can do short of doing it myself and in
most cases, that is what I've ended up doing. We've also been working on
the http://support.typo3.us/ site, which has seen over 2000 unique
visitors in just the last week, showing there is a definite need for
this type of support. This wonderful, but complex forum was so
graciously donated to the TYPO3 project, that we wanted to spend some
time learning the system.

Promoting TYPO3 in the US is the responsibility of everyone here, not
just one person. Although, I am a volunteer on many projects in my
personal life, I have got to say this has been the least rewarding. At
best, I get promises of help that are fulfilled by a few. At worst, I
get personal attacks and insults on- and off-list. One person, in
particular, has been on more than just this list/project, but didn't do
anything there but complain as well. In the time people spent asking
"what is the status of TYPO3.us", they could be working on articles for
the site. It seems the people that are most vocal are the ones that have
volunteered the least. It's a correlation that has been impossible to
ignore.

Over the years, I haven't had the luxury of complaining about someone
else's work on the TYPO3 project. That is because I've been too busy
helping out. I've answered countless number of emails from people
interested in the system. These emails can range from a simple question
or two to a full 20-page document of questions. I was one of the
original mailing list managers. I've written articles, press releases
and case studies. I've worked on each one of the marketing teams. I've
helped with site and documentation translations. Most recently, I've
created and edited content for TYPO3.com.

I've always upheld a professional attitude when volunteering for the
project and never mixed by business with my volunteer duties. Even when
I've answered someone's question about TYPO3 and they have asked me
about my company, I've told them that it would be a conflict of interest
for them to consider my company without considering every other
consultancy equally and I point them to the consultancy list on
TYPO3.org. Although this has come into question by some people, I cannot
think of any job I took as a direct result of being a volunteer. I
consider that type of behavior to be unprofessional and it is not why I
volunteer.

You may be wondering why I am writing all of this, and that is because I
wanted to give an official notice that I'm leaving the TYPO3 project
completely, both personally and professionally. Some of the attitudes
toward this project is one small reason because I don't feel I need such
negativity in my life right now, but I have other larger reasons for
leaving as I feel I can no longer, in good conscience, promote or
recommend TYPO3 any longer.

For the ones that have done little but complain, I hope that you will
take something from this project and learn to treat the volunteers with
more respect and to not make promises that you do not intend to keep.
Your project will be much better as a result. Volunteering for TYPO3 can
be a thank-less job, and we owe so much to the people in the TYPO3
community that keep this project going. (If you haven't already, I
suggest taking time right now to send a note to a developer or an
extension author. They will appreciate it more than you know!) To the
ones that did volunteer and actually sent me content for the site, I am
forever grateful to you as you were the only people keeping me sane
during this entire process. I will be talking with Daniel to see if I
can get your items transferred in some form or another to the TYPO3.com
website. I know it's in desperate need of case studies and I think we
can get those up.

As I move on to a new adventure, I wish TYPO3 and its contributors great
success.

Regards,

Michelle