[TYPO3-UG US] TYPO3.us Project

[virgil huston]

Guess I am going to weigh in here, I restrained myself when I read
Jennifer's post, but now, I must chime in. First, from a personal
perspective, I contributed quite a lot of work to the effort, editing and
working manuals into proper English, writing business cases, etc. I have
never seen any of those edits appear anywhere and the same crappy manuals
are still out there and they become more outdated every second. I know, I am
trying to use them. AND the manuals simply SUCK! All I am trying to say is
that people were doing work.

But, suddenly communication from the "leadership" just stopped. I didn't
know what was going on, but it was clear that it was not much. As a
contributor, I needed to hear from the leaders from time to time to know
what needed to be done. This just stopped with no notice. I volunteered for
various things and was never informed when packages were ready to be tested,
new install manuals written, etc. I am busy, too, so time just passed and
passed and passed until I forgot about it.

Volunteer work, particularly leadership efforts like Michelle's is very
difficult and time consuming. Real life always takes priority. I didn't see
the bickering and egos that you are talking about. All I remember is one
relatively minor disagreement between two companies that was resolved. But,
then, I wasn't trying to lead this effort (which I still think is needed),
so maybe I missed all this horrible stuff Jennifer describes, and Michelle
to a lessor extent.

I would like to see this effort work out. It is sorely needed. Someone
should take it over if Michelle is out of the picture. I appreciate what you
have done, Michelle, you got it started and that is big. The question now
is, how will it carry on?

Virgil

On 9/12/06, Michelle Heizer <michelle at typo3.us> wrote:
>
> 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 outdated/nonexistent documentation and demo site package; confusion over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
>
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