[wp-forums] Titles/Promotions/Labels

[Lorelle VanFossen]

Gee, I thought the whole idea of having volunteers recognized was a good 
one. It reinforced the idea of WordPress being made up of volunteers. I 
personally was stunned when, upon "registering" I was now a "member" of 
the Forum.  I carry a LOT of agenda over the word "member".  As a child 
actor, being a "member" of the Screen Actors Guild was IMPORTANT and 
earned. With no effort I'm a "member" of WordPress or at least a member 
of the Forum. Hmmmm. Doesn't say much for the group if they let "me" in, 
does it? ;-)

As a long time "member" of organizations, and one time  member or on the 
board of directors for 26 profit and non-profit organizations, and too 
much experience - recruitment and avoiding attrition is the MOST 
important job next to fundraising. Without volunteers there is no 
fundraising. Without volunteers, nothing gets done.  Volunteers are the 
life force of any organization and they need to be recognized as 
"members" or "volunteers" of the group as supporters. Recognition in 
almost all of those groups came by distinguishing the difference between 
a member and a volunteer. Members paid dues which entitled them to 
specific benefits and rewards. Volunteers were members who gave of their 
time, money, and energy beyond the basic dues to help the organization 
continue. Volunteers got recognition through titles, awards, gifts, and 
public recognition, whether they wanted it or not. In the end, they were 
proud of the recognition, if uncomfortable.

I've also been involved with bulletin boards, forums, chats, and other 
online groups since, well, let's just say pre 1990 ;-). The majority of 
these online groups had some kind of score card, usually measured by the 
number of posts or length of time, or a combination of both.  WordPress 
does similiar with "Member Since" which could easily be used under a 
person's name on their posts. When I got high stars and increases in 
titles without doing anything more than participating, no one said "Hey, 
Lorelle, you're now at the 'head honcho' level and I resent that." It's 
"earned" automatically or by moderator control and deserved. No one 
argued about it. It recognized time and effort not power and control.

Whether or not you personally believe there should be some kind of 
hierarchy or class structure, it is CRITICAL that WordPress acknowledge 
it's volunteers.  Give 'em all a t-shirt, publicly or individually thank 
them, have a conference or giant annual meetup, or give them the title 
of volunteer or whatever silly title you want to come up with.  People 
continue because they get some kind of feedback from the process.  A 
simple thank you is enough for some, or the joy of helping another, or 
helping the code develop....or recognition that whatever you do, even if 
it is a small thing like stuffing envelopes (metaphorically), earns the 
title of volunteer.

People are already calling themselves by their group association.  
Hackers are hackers, developers are developers, docs are the 
Documenation team, #wordpress - well, they are still working on what 
they are, but there are a few who want to be "something", so let them 
develop the process of cohesion. If we title "ALL" of these folks as 
Volunteers, then we will have Volunteer hacker, Volunteer developers, 
Forum Volunteers, Documentation Volunteers, #wordpress Volunteers, and 
so on. ALL VOLUNTEERS, all even, equal, but titled. As volunteers, all 
have a voice in what happens with WordPress. 

The REAL reason behind the push to title volunteers as volunteers is the 
promotion of WordPress is a VOLUNTEER organization, run by volunteers, 
developed by volunteers and needing volunteers to continue. If it is not 
and is moving towards a corporate structure, then you will have 
different titles to contend with. But you will have and need titles 
whether or not WordPress stays volunteer or not. Do it now and there 
will be less fuss than when you do it after 1 million downloads. 
WordPress needs to work together as a team and team members need to know 
who the other team members are, who the key decision makers are, and the 
public needs to know who they are too.

I see the "structure" on the forum and the organization very simply.

1. Maven/Moderator/Coordinator - the person overseeing the project's 
coordination - the one you go to when there is a problem
2. Volunteer - an active contributor
3. Member - you signed up, this is your title.  Consider yourself a 
member of WordPress. Do with it what you want. Benefits of membership: 
free downloads and support for life.

If Podz decides to step down as Maven, then he would become a volunteer, 
just like everyone else.  Don't want the "title" of volunteer, then 
don't accept it. But giving "Volunteer"more status, power, or agenda 
than there is, well, is silly. WordPress needs to recognize volunteer 
effort and labeling volunteers where we find them is the first step in 
the process. Without volunteer effort, WordPress will die.

The easiest way to do this would be to change the "member" status in the 
forum for EVERYONE now to volunteer and then let anyone who signs up 
from here on out become a "member" and then establish the process of 
promotion to "volunteer" which can be as simple as having posted 100 
posts AND been on the forum for 3 months or through recommendation, or 
whatever combination or process each group chooses to use to call 
someone a volunteer.  If they show up three times, that can be good 
enough.  If they spam, vandal, or cause problems, then block them, as is 
currently done. No longer a member OR volunteer.  Set up simple 
guidelines and make it easy to participate.

Labeling volunteers is going to happen. They are the life blood of the 
organization's continued existence.

Lorelle