Welcome Wagon hitchin’ up
Jane and I had a great chat about what our hopes and dreams for this team can be. One of the things discussed is a Welcome Wagon.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a welcome wagon is a small organization that traditionally welcomes new people who move in to a neighbourhood. Often a basket is dropped off with some food, maps of the area and coupons for local businesses.
Since we are a virtual organization spread out all over the world, that’s not really possible, but there are some things we can do to make new members feel welcome and want to contribute.
What are some ways we can do this? Think back to other communities you have joined up in the past. What did they do that you really liked? I’d like to focus on positives here, instead of don’ts. 
Some things I thought of which we might be able to do:
- a nice email when someone signs up for WordPress.org, outlining both help resources and contribution areas
- a nice email once a certain threshold of forum posts occurs
- a nice “Congrats! Your patch is accepted and you’re now an official contributor!” kind of notice for when that situation occurs
- some way to team up new contributors with a buddy to show them the ropes
- have the front page of http://make.wordpress.org/ be a little more directional and specific. Right now it shows feeds from each team blog, but as a newbie, there’s no real explanation of where you should go or what to do.
- when a contributor submits a plugin or theme to the repo, a reminder that it now shows up on their profile
This is by no means a definitive list. We’re looking for community feedback as well as possibilites.
John Saddington 9:03 pm on January 1, 2013 Permalink |
we are virtual but could it be possible to setup geo-local groups…? just thinking aloud. wouldn’t it be neat to have meetups (or some type of gathering) that’s centric to a specific region?
Andrea Rennick 10:23 pm on January 1, 2013 Permalink |
You mean like the current meetup we have? Ooo! Or maybe if they have a field to fill in their profile where they are, send them info on meetups & wordcamps in their area. That would *ROCK*.
Amy Hendrix (sabreuse) 10:33 pm on January 1, 2013 Permalink |
Oh, now THIS I like.
And as a followup thought — make it (optionally) viewable on public profiles. If I enter my location, I can find out how to get in touch with my local meetup (a learning tool for me as a new community member); if I’m interested in reaching out to meet other people locally, a checkbox to expose “you can find me at XYZ meetup” (a professional networking tool, as well as a bit of advertising for the group).
John Saddington 11:41 am on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
That’s what I’m saying – it would be neat to be able to find (very easily and quickly) send them to the local groups that they could engage with directly. AWESOME!
Amy Hendrix (sabreuse) 10:31 pm on January 1, 2013 Permalink |
Are you thinking of something separate from existing meetup groups? Seems to me that a better approach might be to work with those groups (or at least with the folks at make.wordpress.org/events) on ideas for recognizing the contributors in their midst, event programming aimed at how to contribute, or the like.
At least in my area, there’s already a well-established meetup group, but I haven’t seen a lot of talks that are specifically aimed at how to give back to the community — most are how to do something with WP for yourself/your business, not how to do something for WP, if you see what I mean. And there are SO MANY tech-related meetups popping up every week that a whole new group often tends to get filed as “oh, no, another thing to juggle on the calendar…”
Andrea Rennick 10:35 pm on January 1, 2013 Permalink |
Yeah this is something else Jane and I discussed. What about reminding current meetup leaders to mention giving back?
Japh 1:22 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
At the local meetup group I run, we regularly discuss how to contribute to WordPress (not only in a code sense, though that too), and what’s happening with the current state of development, etc.
I think it should be something all meetup leaders discuss periodically at least! As their members become more capable at using WordPress, they also become more able to give back
andrea_r 1:24 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink
I always say – if you can install WP and navigate the admin area, you know enough to help someone else
Japh 1:25 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink
Yes, so true. This is actually something some of our members have commented on as they realise from meeting others, that maybe they knew more than they thought and could actually help someone else!
Charles Frees-Melvin 7:25 pm on January 6, 2013 Permalink
I have been doing the Canadian English version of WordPress for 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5. One thing that I have found is the current rosetta system is great for sites that are non-english in the overall system. But for Canadian and I would assume British English, they tend to be dead ends and not elegant. Also it is difficult to refer people back to the existing wordpress.org support that is in english. The with the default contact form I tend to get 5-6 e-mails a month looking for install help, or requests to take down other peoples sites that are offending them, etc.. I have been attempting to feature the Canadian WordCamps and looking at linking to Canadian Meet-up groups but to be part of something of a hub for activity rather than just an exaggerated download site.
Japh 1:23 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
I really like this idea! A way to hook people up with their local meetup is all kinds of win. I’ve often wondered how we can make local meetups more findable to the right people. This would do the trick!
Jane Wells 1:16 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink |
Setting up the central meetup.com account paid for by the foundation was the first step of this. Getting meetups moved onto it (we have about 20 so far, will be working on rolling more in bit by bit) and then pulling a feed onto a page on wordpress.org with event listings is next.
Cátia Kitahara 10:50 am on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
I commented that on Jane’s “Action Items” page on the summit site. That’s what I said about it (I figure that’s where this idea came from):
I’ve talked about this with Zé Fontainhas on the Polyglots IRC meeting and he agrees with me. And I also thought that maybe this make home page should be translated and be the main part of the locale.wordpress.org home pages, since (at least in Brazil) they’re useless a part from the locale package download button.
Andrea Rennick 12:29 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
We could certainly use something to direct non English speakers to the appropriate resources as well, yes. Thanks for the reminder.
Cátia Kitahara 2:41 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
I’ve done a mockup of how I think the make homepage should look like. Please, take a look at it: http://www.catiakitahara.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/make-home-page.jpg
Helen Hou-Sandi 2:47 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
Jane already has a mockup that George Stephanis was working on coding up, if I recall correctly. Don’t know if it was meant as a final version or anything, but I think it’s a matter of actually wiring it up.
Andrea Rennick 2:53 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink
I’d love to compare the two.
so far, this idea is awesome.
Cátia Kitahara 2:55 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink
What I’m proposing isn’t only a new make homepage, but also a way to include non-english native speakers and to think of it as a “global” make homepage. I was trying to conciliate the global site idea we talked about at the Summit with Jane’s worry of not segregating international groups. But where is it so we can have a look at it, please?
Cátia Kitahara 10:59 am on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
Oh, other thing the welcome wagon could do is to somehow keep track of unanswered comments across the make sites. Sometimes I comment and there’s no answer, I have the feeling that I said something stupid or that I’m being ignored, that’s not a pleasant feeling.
Andrea Rennick 12:28 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
I’m not sure how we’d do this part though. Each site is individual within multisite. The comments are site specific, there’s nothing built in to keep track across the board.
Siobhan 12:40 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
This is definitely an issue. I’ve been someone who has commented and received no response and have ended up feeling stupid or ignored. I’ve also been someone who just hasn’t got time to respond to every individual comment – it can be really hard to do when you’re juggling lots of different things at once.
Maybe it’s something that could be noted as a potential issue for new reps and people taking the lead on projects, who could be asked to make sure that everyone feels welcome on their particular P2 and that all comments are responded to.
Andrea Rennick 1:46 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink |
Right – most people just want to know they’ve been heard. Just an acknowledgement, really, most fo the time they are not even looking for a full decision.
Cátia Kitahara 2:43 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink
Exactly, that’s what people need. I agree with Siobhan, maybe it should be the team reps resposability.
Andrea Rennick 2:54 pm on January 2, 2013 Permalink
As a first response, yes the team rep and / or the person who wrote the post should make sure all comments are responded to.
Jane Wells 2:18 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink
The traditional rule is that the post author is responsible for the comments on their post.
I think the issue is that people stop going to look back after a while and if comments aren’t set to auto-close after two weeks or something, then they miss comments (people miss notifications, etc). We can look into better ways to make sure authors keep up with comments.
Cátia Kitahara 4:22 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink
We also could try to mention people with their @usernames too more often. On the post above I’m waiting for Jane’s or Helen’s answer about the existent layout for the make homepage. I think Jane hasn’t seen that yet. Maybe if I mentioned her she would? Actually does this mention thing works here?
Cliff Seal 1:18 am on January 3, 2013 Permalink |
I think this is a good starting point. One thing that front page doesn’t get across is that getting involved in one of the areas is fun. Instead, the feed aggregation (or anything of that sort) feels unapproachable.
Perhaps we could consider, in some way or another, having a vocation/talent-based approach to getting involved instead of solely relying on the terminology in place (core, UI, support, etc.). Asking people what they’re good at and giving them ways to give back using that skill seems much more joyful and exciting. Like: Are you a designer? (yes) What kind? (front-end) Checkout Make UI!
I like this idea, but it’d have to be done well.
I really think some great, simple design (of all kinds) for make.wordpress.org would go a long, long way towards giving folks a central place to find out how to get started.
Cliff Seal 1:20 am on January 3, 2013 Permalink |
And since I can’t edit this…
…it pertains to the “Welcome Wagon” because you could get some more useful information on folks. Showing up on the front porch with cookies is awesome, but knowing that the mom’s a doctor and the kids are 8 and 11 makes you #1 best neighbor ever.
Andrea Rennick 6:47 pm on January 3, 2013 Permalink |
Yeah not everyone ferrets out all those details like I do.
Jane Wells 2:16 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink |
We’ve been talking about creating interest groups (design, possibly accessibility, js, etc) that would cross all the teams. What’s not yet decided is where/how to put these groups so that they’re easily accessible but we don’t wind up with confusion between project teams and interest groups. Would expect this discussion to come up with the team reps within a few weeks.
Cliff Seal 2:18 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink |
Great!
As a follow-up to your most recent post here, I’m willing to help with what I’ve suggested. I’m a UX Designer full-time, but have been doing WP design/development for about four years. I’ve got ample time to give, especially if it happens in Q1.
Jane Wells 2:19 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink |
Awesome, thanks!
Cátia Kitahara 4:39 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink
I’ve volunteered to this task/project too. I’ve even sent a mockup to the make homepage on these comments above. Have you seen that? I haven’t included your suggestions, Cliff, because I’ve done that before your comments, and my biggest concern was a way to include a call for international people. But I think your idea is great. However, I believe the action groups aren’t connected to only one interest area. I mean it’s not just like if you are a designer get involved with UI action group. If you’re a programmer get involved with Core. I think there are many possibilities. People with different skills can help on the same action group. So I think maybe it’s easier to explain what each group does than the other way round.
Cliff Seal 7:05 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink
@Cátia Kitahara
Totally agreed on your non-linear paths for getting involved—I was simply giving examples.
Andrea Rennick 6:46 pm on January 3, 2013 Permalink |
one more:
when someone files a trac ticket, some sort of immediate response to let them know someone will get to it. I’m hearing complaint sof “I made a patch and it got ignored”. We need some way to say “yes, we saw it” so the person feels acknowledged at least.
Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 9:36 pm on January 3, 2013 Permalink |
Arguably changing the status to ‘needs patch reviewed’ would suffice for this.
But the volume of tickets in the ether (my new band name) is daunting.
Love WordPress Newbies? Then Join Welcome Wagon Team! - WP Daily 11:50 am on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
[...] and with the support they need so that adoption can be even more successful. The proposed new WordPress Welcome Wagon initiative is aiming to do just that – and they need your [...]
Jason Hoffmann 3:27 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
I’ve just gotten started with contributing very recently to the Support group and I can say that it was very daunting at first. I read over IRC logs and just kind of followed along for a few weeks before saying my first thing. A welcome email is definitely a great step, and once the handbooks are done we can definitely add links to them in this email (want to contribute to Plugin Review, check out this handbook, etc.).
But really what I felt like I needed was to feel like there was plenty of other newbies around. Of course, once I made my first comment, I was made to feel very Welcome and everything became much easier after that. It was taking the plunge that was so hard, and in retrospect feels silly.
Don’t know how the Welcome Wagon can fix this, but maybe appending an area to the Make homepage where people can introduce themselves, or talk about what and how they would like to contribute? Very vague, I know.
Andrea Rennick 3:35 pm on January 4, 2013 Permalink |
Ooo! Like a Lobby of some sort!
I like this too.
(I’ve heard from many people that taking that first step is often the worst part.
)
Jane Wells 1:39 pm on January 7, 2013 Permalink |
Comments on this post veered off to meetups pretty quickly, and I agree that meetups are a major channel for community development.They’re not, however, in the purview of the new-contributor-welcome-wagon. We’re discussing whether meetup organizing should live in Events or Community, but for now the welcome wagon should focus on the online experience, as that’s where the biggest pain points are, and it’s the reason we decided to create the welcome wagon. Expanding the meetups program will be a separate project. Our biggest challenge this year is to stay focused on discrete projects rather than trying to lump everything into one, because then we always wind up not getting anything done very well, because we let the scope get too big. If we keep things specific and smaller, then we can get things done and move on to new projects. It’s the same problem we have with core development, but for 2013, let’s call it the year of No Scope Creep.