My suggestion was to reach out to a small number of these to learn a bit more about what they needed. As the majority of these postings are for ‘icons’ (and we know it’s often more than that) the goal was to not make any assumptions and just ask and learn about these requests. The goal, hopefully, to encourage higher quality job requests.
I wanted to reach out to @ei8fdb to get any history of previous outreach. This could have already been done and I’m just coming in late to the party.
That sounds interesting – it would be great to learn what makes people request what they request and also what makes it unlikely that they request any “classic” interaction design work, user research or usability reviews.
Open question here. I’ve pinged @ei8fdb but haven’t got a reply. Is it rude to call this out (like I am now)? If so, sorry! I could reach out via email (which is more discrete of course) but I’m using this as an open question on team dynamics. If you reach out to someone and don’t hear a reply, what is the right thing to do in this community?
I must say: this is a great question! This is my personal take on things.
I’ve pinged @ei8fdb but haven’t got a reply. Is it rude to call this out (like I am now)?
Yes! I never do it. The reason being that in FOSS we are all volunteers, so there is no case for demanding (or even expecting) a reply. I always assume people want to reply to me, but something more urgent is getting on the way (work, life, that kind of thing). I have adjusted my expectations to not expect a reply. If it comes, then great. If it doesn’t, well, that’s expected, so no issues.
If you reach out to someone and don’t hear a reply, what is the right thing to do in this community?
In any FOSS community, I either ask someone else, or I take action myself if applicable. For instance, if I asked about doing something and nobody replies saying yes or nay, I go ahead and do it. I assume that, if someone were strongly against, they would have said something. If I was asking for information, I look for an alternative source.
I do not think it is particularly rude to say “I have not gotten a reply, what can I do next” and would not see it as against norms as long as it does not imply a failure of the person you asked (One could also say “They have not replied, I wonder why they do not care for this!” or so which would ot be nice)
A second @belenbarrospena’s suggestions for “right thing to do in this community”.
(Some ideas on this:) The whole “What can I expect, what should I follow up upon” is a very interesting question. This is, in my experience, also an issue in non-open source, non-volunteer organizations. However, there the possibilities to enforce clarity are greater as you can talk to your or their superior and thus get gifted the “right way” via authority. This might be more often a need for designers, as their need for ordered collaboration and having others do specific things is probably greater – it is a very labour-division-ish discipline, with its origins of designing goods that are mass-produced in factories.
Thank you both for replying, that was helpful. I hear you clearly that expecting (or even demanding) a reply is “not good form” and to be discouraged. However, this does come at a cost. You seem to agree. This is a cost of how FOSS works.
That doesn’t mean I have to be overjoyed. If I must wait 2 weeks after every question and then “just do it” anyway, that just feels like a tortuous way to work. What I’m learning from this is that the next time I ask a question I will:
ask my question
Specify a reasonable time frame
Specify what I’ll do if I don’t get a reply in that time frame
This is fairly close to what @belenbarrospena just said! I’m just compressing it into a single message instead of it being a flow chart.
Does that sound reasonable? I realize I might be coming off a bit strong here, I’m trying to figure out what I can do within your community guidelines without demanding anyone else to change.
That sounds completely reasonable And in fact, it’s a strategy we often use in Open Source Design for tasks or initiatives that have deadlines or require action within certain time periods (e.g. conference submissions and the like).
I never do it. The reason being that in FOSS we are all volunteers, so there is no case for demanding (or even expecting) a reply. I always assume people want to reply to me, but something more urgent is getting on the way (work, life, that kind of thing). I have adjusted my expectations to not expect a reply. If it comes, then great. If it doesn’t, well, that’s expected, so no issues.
And in fact, it’s a strategy we often use in Open Source Design for tasks or initiatives that have deadlines or require action within certain time periods (e.g. conference submissions and the like).