I'm a rabbi that found Drupal about four + years ago, I'm user 50259, fwiw. I fell in love with the process.<div><br></div><div>Now I'm 65% freelance Drupal site builder, 25% stay at-home-dad, and 10% freelance rabbi.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I am totally inspired by the "elite" of this community. Just read Earl's blog post from yesterday if you want to be inspired about how some of the leaders in this community solve problems, adjusting egos on the way to make room for new input:</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://angrydonuts.com/views-for-drupal-7-enters-a-new-era">http://angrydonuts.com/views-for-drupal-7-enters-a-new-era</a></div><div><br></div><div>Time out for a shout-out to Angie: the following is said with a hug and smile: D7 is out, girl. You did IT! Won't someone give you like a three month paid vacation or something? And I promise you, there will be people to work on Drupal 9.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">Some "elite" will want to spend time in support channels, others will not. I'm fine either way. That's where the chaos of open source works just fine. I don't want to mandate how people will help.</div>
</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Where I do think we could have some improvement is in dealing with the size of the community. We could be more intentional and professional.</div><div class="gmail_quote">
<br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><b>I think it would be a great project for the Drupal Association to <i>hire a community manager</i></b>. First the community manager would actually do some research. Ask new people about their experience. Set up automated emails that reach out to people who created user accounts at d.o. but have been absent for a while. "We see you are not around, is there anything we can help you with. Where did you get stuck."</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">I floated an idea a few months ago about having people sign up for support shifts, you take two hours and man (person) as many support channels as possible. I think a paid community manager managing that would make it really effective. It's well know in the non-profit world that you usually get more out of volunteers if there is someone paid to provide support for them. It's been amazing how much we have gotten from volunteers with very little organization. I'm not saying we should add a lot... but a little paid leadership would go a long way.</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Finally, I just want to say that, in the vast majority of the questions that I have answered at <a href="mailto:support@drupal.org">support@drupal.org</a>, the recipients of that help have been <i>incredibly graciou</i>s. I find that gratifying even if those people never contribute.</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Finally I'd like to return to the research issue. We have so much data at our disposal. Can't we find a Ph.d student studying online communities to evaluate posts and crunch numbers and let us know about what percent of people go on to be contributors after having been consumers of help? And maybe, "what are the factors that determine whether someone will go on to be a helper?"</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Pat on our collective backs everyone!</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Shai</div>