What about post-installfest support?

[William O'Higgins]

On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 07:09:38PM -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:
>  So a Windows user comes to our installfest, and gets some version of
>linux going.  What do they do when they run into a problem?  Can we
>offer some sort of support?  Maybe not house-calls, but perhaps a combo
>of a new-user support list and limited phone support for new-users who
>suddenly find they can't get online.  The worst PR for linux is people
>who've tried linux, and given up because of "trvial" problems *THAT THEY
>COULD NOT SOLVE*.

A very good point - I have gotten as far as I have by having a couple of
people (at least one on this list) to turn to when stuff got weird.  I
have also gotten myself in and out of trouble a lot over the past few
years, but I was freer to experiment when I had a means of bailing
myself out.

I think what I am suggesting is mentorship - a gateway guru to get you
going, or to help you figure out how to bootstrap to low-noise lists or
groups.  I am hoping to come out to the installfest, but I use Debian,
so I haven't installed a system in 2+ years :-)  I just figure I might be
of some use, can drag a laptop around and show the flag, etc.  Whether I
make it out to the 'fest or not, I hereby offer my services as
mentor/"available guru" to two or three new users while they are working
through the growing pains.  I figure it's the least I can do to give
back to community that gave (who are we kidding, gives) me so much help.
More than two or three could get overwhelming in a hurry for the first
little while, but once people know more they become better
information-seekers, so demand drops.

If I help two friends, and they help two friends...
-- 

yours,

William

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