UK-BASED* DREAMWIDTH VOLUNTEERS (AND VOLUNTEERS IN POTENTIA)

[kaberett]

* offer is non-exclusive, not least because I know perfectly well that it's faster and cheaper to get to my house from Paris than it is from where swaldman lives

I really enjoy the hanging-out-and-getting-shit-done that happens when I'm at Whatever The Dreamwidth Conference Is This Year. I would like to have more of that in my life. Ergo I propose to begin hosting volunteer parties, concentrated on a Saturday but with tendrils into the rest of the weekend.

I can mentor for documentation and support work. I can help people get started with dev work, from never-coded-before to getting-set-up-and-letting-you-run-with-it. I have a wishlist of problems that aren't yet sufficiently well defined to work out a solution to (and want help characterising), problems where the information necessary for a specification's been gathered but the spec hasn't been written yet, and problems from "three-character fix" to "please write me this feature I will bake you a cake while you're coding it up". I didn't code at all when I started working on DW, and I still mostly don't.

Might you be interested? And if so, how does the 7th-8th of November sound for round 1? (I will need to check with my housemate whether that's okay.)

We have a square metre of tea, three sofas, and I like feeding people. If a couple of you holler interest then I'll start working out how to sort out crashspace and will advertise a bit harder in uk and shit. ;)

Comments

[kaberett]

(Alas the teleporter bug got RESOLVED - FIXLATER; remote attendance via the magic of the internet naturally very welcome, but I haven't yet worked out the mechanics of food-over-IP.)

[ghoti]

+1

[liv]

I think this is a really brilliant idea and would love to join you. I really need to get restarted with DW dev and an in person gathering would help me a lot. I suspect 7th-8th November is likely to be hopeless for polymer reasons, but I'd like to hear about any future events, please.

[kaberett]

I am going to be aiming to run one every couple of months or so if they go well, and will continue to advertise them loudly. :-) Thanks for expressing interest!

[sfred]

This me too, (but 'started' rather than 'restarted').

[kaberett]

Good to know; want me to prod if you don't comment on future date-announcements?

[sfred]

That would be great if you can/think of it.

[kaberett]

Will do my best!

[hunningham]

Um. Interested over here. Remind me where you are geographically - I can't remember.

[kaberett]

London, Zone 2! So at least relatively easy to get to, if not necessarily fast or cheap.

[hunningham]

Count me in. I'll make sure I don't double book that weekend.

[kaberett]

\o/ Looking forward to seeing you!

[kaberett]

Date confirmed!

[hunningham]

And I have now crossed out the question mark in the diary. Barring emergencies such as sick cat, I will be there.

[kareila]

I should be mostly available for telepresence during your evenings on those two days, if that would be useful <3

[kaberett]

Awesome, thank you! We'll have a couple of experienced Perl programmers kicking around for on-the-spot handholding but particularly if I get a goodly lot of new devs in (which it's starting to look like I might) it might be nice to get a couple of babydev-bait-style PRs merged for the purpose of HURRAH YOU DID A THING + momentum. Plus, you know, general cheering and advice for bit of the codebase I don't know how to find... >_>;

[kaberett]

Dates are a go, will definitely be hosting contributor party :-)

[pseudomonas]

Works for me!

[kaberett]

\o/

[pseudomonas]

In my diary.

[kaberett]

And definitely going ahead!

[sgsabbage]

I am definitely in for this. As far as I can see I have no other bookings that weekend, but will need to confirm when back home on Sunday.

As probably previously discussed, I will definitely need a place to crash, sofas work fine :)

[kaberett]

I promise you you do not want to sleep on our actual sofas (they're all two-seaters) but there is A Sufficiency Of Cushions Etc to make nests! Will mentally mark one crashspace as taken. :-)

[sgsabbage]

If it is at all helpful I have a sleeping bag I can bring as well

[kaberett]

It'll be starting to get cold enough that might be an idea, but I will see how things look to be shaking out :-)

[kaberett]

We are definitely going ahead; housemate's okayed the dates. :-)

[sgsabbage]

Hurray! I have changed 'Potential DW London' in my calendar to 'DW London' :)

[silveradept]

Shoot. That's work days for me, but I might be able to check in a little in telepresence - getting going on docs and/or support would be a good thing.

[kaberett]

Hurrah! Dates have been confirmed; there'll likely be some prep hanging out etc on the evening (UK time) of the 6th, too, if that's any better for you. (Otherwise, you are always welcome to grab me, and I'm usually around afternoons-evenings UK time!)

[azurelunatic]

November is usually dodgy for my spare time, but may check in telepresently. Always interested in docs parties etc.

[kaberett]

Hurrah! Dates are now confirmed, also. :-)

[swaldman]

This is a great idea that I fully support despite, for reasons that you note, probably not being able to attend.
(was thinking about telepresence, but not really sure how or how well it would work for this purpose)

This feels a tad arrogant, but if I were to let you know the next time I have time in London on a weekend, perhaps you could consider proposing that as a future date, if convenient for yourself & others :-)

[kaberett]

Yes, absolutely! V happy to try standing around you :-)

[me_and]

Potentially yes…

[kaberett]

Housemate has okayed dates so this is a go :-)