[epo-core] What are we going to -do- with this non-profit we have, anyway?

[J. Shirley]

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 3:51 AM, Matt S Trout <mst at shadowcat.co.uk> wrote:
> Ok, I guess somebody needs to try and outline what we're trying to achieve.
>
> First off, there are a bunch of projects that will want to run under the
> enperl banner. I'm going to ignore those, because they'll happen as we
> make them happen.
>
> The thing we really want to decide is: what do we do with the money we
> collect?

Probably the least favored response: marketing

I'm viewing that aspect more as an investment.  If we market, and get
people interested in what we're doing (which means we have to do a
good job) then it stands to reason that we'll get more people and thus
more money.

The downside is this could very well be subject to trends, which
allows the coffers to overflow one season and the next bubble we'll be
right back where we're at.

>
> Providing project hosting stuff isn't something that really needs funding
> right now since SC already has the servers up for it and are happily
> sponsoring it.
>

Right, and between Google Code and others it's a saturated market anyway.

> Small code bounties appear to be fail - the beer rewards stuff basically
> got completely ignored.
>
> Medium sized bounties might be a good idea.
>

Rather than bounties, limited edition prizes may have better results.
Work with YAPC on getting an Enperl Awards, etc.  Make them scarce so
demand goes up, even if it isn't a monetary prize.

Respect of your peers, resume building and all that.

> I'm not sure I see us having the money for proper grants -yet-.
>
> But I can see us being able to do $1k or similar sized things.
>
> I'm wondering if enperl shouldn't focus its money on getting stuff visible
> rather than advancing the project's codebase?
>

Right, marketing :)

> So for example there was some talk about getting a new design for some of
> the perl.org sites - maybe we could Just Pay A Damn Designer for that.
>

Please.  I think it's imperative to understand that in order for us to
appear as good as "those guys" it is imperative for us to look as good
as those guys (I'm not speaking of any "those guys" in specific,
really, so please don't take that as a rails reference).  Talking to a
usability person would also make sense.  How do we make the site
accessible for the various demographics we've discussed before (Green
coders, converts, business folks, system admins, etc)

> I think documentation bounties would be good but I'm not sure how to make
> them workable - anybody tried this and got suggestions?
>
> I think also maybe a -small- stipend, UKP50 or so, for useful articles
> that contribute to the cause might be good. My experience is that people
> don't tend to write these for the money anyway (I know several perl.com
> article authors who never actually chased them up to get paid) but I suspect
> it might be worthwile having a small cash chunk anyway.
>

Imagine people in other countries, though.  If they could write an
article a week, that would nearly cover living expenses.  That's good
incentive.  I agree this is a good point, but we should have
publishing guidelines (as well as licenses).  Something along the
lines of we get unlimited edit and publication rights, and maintain a
joint copyright.  That will allow us a lot of flexibility to retool
the articles and evolve them.  One thing that truly pisses me off
about the perl.com articles is that they have horribly outdated
articles (like Catalyst) and no indication that shits done changed.

> I also think we should consider what can be done to engage with businesses.
> Making us an organisation that companies want to say they've donated to would
> be really nice, and if we have to spend some cash to do it I see no problem
> with that. If nothing else, the "these companies love perl so much they put
> their money where their mouth is" side is well worth while.
>

"Enlightened Perl presents the Perl Luminaries Awards, brought to you
by (Six Apart|Yahoo!|Shadowcat)" has a nice ring to it. I think that
to get corporate sponsors we'd have to have specific return points
-and- a dedication to it.  That means we'll probably have to do it
solo for at least one or two conferences, as well as get the
publication network up, to just get a respectable presence and
reputation we can use.

I'm planning on being at YAPC::Asia next year, and hopefully ::NA (not
::EU) so we can start getting the word out.

> So, everybody. Thoughts? (I expect a reply from everybody on this list, and
> -will- be badgering you on IRC if I don't get one :)

Mushroom.

On a side note, and as I've briefly mentioned on IRC, I really want to
build a new application.  I'd like this application to fall under the
enperl umbrella, but I unfortunately don't have time to do this now
but I think that some people may (*cough*mst*cough*).

Something at say, cookbook.perl.org (or recipes.perl.org, whichever),
that has an ordered list of packages used (in order of priority), then
a caption for the recipe and a recipe.  Captured output either in
terms of screencasts, screenshots, text output, etc.  Tagging and
comments on each recipe.

Pretty simple app in scope (login should just be PAUSE login or
something) and I think it would do -huge- things for the community at
large.

The major thing that people want is a copy'n'paste solution.  If we
control the medium for this, we can control the perspective of copy
and paste.  People use phpBB3 and the plugin system there is shit, but
they use it because the expectations are already set and they believe
it is simple.

With recipes, we can say, "here are the relevant modules we use",
"here are the prerequisites" (working Catalyst app with DBIC, for
example), and the use case definitions that can be easily indexed by
Google.

If it isn't done by November, I'll be venturing that direction, so if
nobody feels inspired then they can simply nag me to do it.

-J