[Actionchix] Some discussion?

[Karine Proot]

Mel Chua wrote:

> Perhaps we could pair mentors with the newcomers - still use the 
> mailing list for all sorts of general questions, but having a specific 
> person to talk to would lower the "But I can't ask, I don't know what 
> I'm doing!" threshold and result in the newbies learning how to ask 
> more and better questions.
>
That is a great idea! But it would depend on how many people are willing
to do it I guess (though some of us could mentor several newcomers if
they feel they have time).

That is really something that could have helped me when I started
contributing to open-source (like the first time you enter an irc
channel, ask politely if someone would be likely to have the time to
answer one little question from a little newbie, and then you get 10
answers 'ask your question, not the permission to ask!'). There are
things that seem obvious to me now but that did hold me back at the time
I started, because I was very afraid to show that I didn't do the first
steps before asking (googling, narrowing the problem as much as I could,
reading FAQs/howtos/....)

So. Maybe those of us willing to mentor newcomers could say so and in
what domains (mentor is quite a strong word as I still really feel like
a newbie).
I am willing to help anyone about the Linux desktop in general (where
can I search for info about that, what general rules to follow when
something doesn't work, ...) and about starting to contribute to an
open-source project (how do I find a project, where do I start, what
info to look for at first, who do I talk to, ...)

I am just wondering if this is truly something having its place in
actionchix. Is it 'action' enough ?

Karine