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Guiding Participants

"Participation" in an open source project is an interesting—and somewhat amorphous—concept to describe. The line separating "I’m just a user! Don’t talk to me about anything more" and "How can I help contribute to this project?" seem clear enough. Yet active participation in a project begins the moment someone cares enough about the software to do more than simply consume it. And because open source software is by nature inclusive and participatory, most users become participants rather quickly and easily—often by simply leaving a comment on the project’s blog, filing an issue in the project’s tracker, or engaging with the project on social media. By using open source software, they’ve already begun participating in the process of making the software better.

Here are some examples of various types of participation:

  • Talking to a friend about how much you like the software or the goals of the open source project.

  • Engaging in a hallway or booth-side discussion about the software at a conference or event.

  • Asking, upvoting, and answering questions about the software on various forums.

  • Putting a sticker on your laptop to advertize your support of the software.

  • Giving constructive feedback to a contributor about the software or project.

  • Recommending and offering to help others adopt and use the software.

This section contains chapters that:

  • Discuss the ideas and forces behind the motivation to participate.

  • Present details on how active participants benefit the project.

This section is useful for you if:

  • You are looking to understand the differences among communities made up of less engaged users, enthusiastic participants, and active contributors.

  • You want to understand what attracts people to participate in a pathway toward contribution.

  • You are looking to give your participation community a better experience.

  • You wish to build bridges to enable participants to become contributors.

  • You want to explore the benefit of user feedback in open source software.

  • You have reached the middle of this guidebook by starting at the beginning, and are working your way toward the end.