elementary-dev-community team mailing list archive

[Nopey Nope <cptspacetoaster@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi!  I'm a little new here.

I'm primarily a C and Java dev, with a comfortable level of Linux
experience.  I'm by NO MEANS an expert, but I truly enjoy helping other
people solve issues if I'm able to help.

I maintain an IRC presence for a couple projects, and I fell in love with
Elementary the moment I saw it.  I don't mind answering some of the easier
questions, or topics in our channel (#Elementary at irc.freenode.net), but
the dev's perspective has... put me off a little bit.

>From an IRC-perspective, the Dev's have basically created a walled garden
with how they treat the slack servers.  I personally understand WHY they
have done so.  And... *that's completely fine.* Creating a space where
developers can go and talk to other developers on an invite-only basis is
incredibly healthy, and encourages a lot of growth for that community.  I
don't want that to stop.

The issues arise when we're stuck in the IRC channel alone.  I'm
comfortable with bash scripts, some basic package-managing, and I've helped
with a couple of other odd issues, so I feel comfortable/qualified to at
least try and help, but what happens when I run into another issue that
needs a more experienced perspective?

There are a couple of other individuals in the channel who can also help,
but that isn't always enough.  We run into questions that require some more
insight, and because the knowledgeable talent is behind slack, it's largely
inaccessible.

I've had to redirect a number of individuals to the sub-reddit, but that's
not a great solution if Eos' IRC just points people Reddit all the time...
 (Also, I'm disregarding SO atm)

Has the dev-community considered adding an IRC-bridge channel?  If not,
would it be possible to allow members interested in support to join the
Slack server?  I feel like there needs to be SOME level of access, but I
understand why the devs would want to limit it, or have it go though some
level of filtering before the devs are constantly barraged with a stream of
"it doesn't work"

Thoughts?
-CptSpaceToaster-