Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 17:13:07 +0100 From: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Ideas and Stuff (Promoting) Message-ID: <353A2293.93444641@uk.radan.com> References: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980418200226.495F-100000@mustang> <353983F2.961D9173@ibm.net> <19980419150016.40549@welearn.com.au>
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Sue Blake wrote: > > A while ago we had a post to -newbies which detailed all the steps that > would be required if we wanted to make stickers, who to contact, what to do > first, etc. Has anyone saved a copy? > > -- > > Regards, > -*Sue*- > > find / -name "*.conf" |more Yes, see below: > Hi, my name's Nik and I. . . <sob>. . . use FreeBSD. > > I suppose by some people's reckoning I'm a bit of an old hand, since I've > been using it since the beginning of 1995. That still makes me pretty > new to it when compared with some folk though, and doesn't mean I don't > ask the occasional stupid question either <blush>. > > I'm interested in trying to make FreeBSD more accessible to the new user > and improving the documentation set, which is the main reason I'm reading > this mailing list. > > I also try and answer questions (where I can) on -questions and -hackers, > and I reckon this list will give me a handy insight in what people new to > FreeBSD are running in to. > > With a bit of luck I'll be able to offer some advice (if it's wanted) on > the best way to find out answers to questions without needing to resort to > the mailing lists, and pick up some advice from everyone else on the list > on how to help make the documentation more useful. > > Anyway, with that out of the way; > > On Tue, Mar 24, 1998 at 10:00:00PM -0600, anthony@sohopros.com wrote: > > Dose anyone know if there is such thing as a FreeBSD > > sticker? If so where can I get one? I would like to > > have one to stick on my car. I'm not kidding I would > > like to have one. > > This comes up every now and then on the mailing lists, and normally, not > a lot gets done about it. A notable exception was (I think) Jo"erg Wunsch, > who liased with a factory in Germany to get some soft toys made (I don't > know if they're still in production, searching the mailing list archives > (on the FreeBSD web site) for the words "daemon" and "plushie" should > turn up something). > > Anyway, if anyone's interested in doing this, here's one way to do it > (based on experience with other people doing similar things). > > - First: be prepared to do this because you want to do it, not because > you think you might make a bit of money from it. It's a long, often > thankless task, and at the end of it you'll be wishing you never see > another sticker (or stamp) in your life. > > Expect the whole thing (from start to finish) to take maybe three > or four months. > > - Get someone who can do the artwork. Either a volunteer from the > mailing list(s) and/or newsgroups, or a friend, or whatever. > > - Hold an informal discussion about the artwork. Solicit suggestions > for what people want on it. > > - Get the artwork done. If you're really flash you'll get a couple of > alternatives done that people can vote for. > > - Get the artwork to Marshall Kirk McKusick <mckusick@mckusick.com> > who owns the copyright on the daemon picture. Ask for his approval. > > It might be worth looking at <URL:http://www.freebsd.org/daemon.html>; > > - Put together an announcement saying "We've got the artwork, we want > to know how many people would be interested in this, and how much > they want to pay". Mail it to -core and ask someone to send it to > the -announce mailing list and newsgroup. > > At the same time, ask Jordan (jkh@freebsd.org) whether Walnut Creek > would be interested in handling the processing of payments for this > thing. > > You do the announcement at this step rather than at the beginning so > that people (a) have some artwork to see, so they know what they're > getting, (b) also see that some of the work's been done, so this may > actually happen, unlike the other attempts. > > Be prepared to get lots of questions from people about this. Be > prepared to put together a small FAQ about the process, and ask > that this be included somewhere on the FreeBSD site so you can point > people to it. > > - You've now got an idea of how many people will go for this. You may > now decide to not go any further, if the response is too low. > > Alternatively, there are lots of responses. This is good. > > - Put together another announcement, saying that due to the overwhelming > response, the stickers will be produced. You would appreciate people > coming forward if (a) they happen to have contacts for sticker > printing businesses in their country, (b) they're willing to handle > the remailing for all the people that want stickers in their country > (because it's easier to send one parcel containing lots of stickers > to remail in one country than it is to send lots of small parcels to > the same country. It's cheaper too. > > - Find one or more sticker printing companies. Get quotes. Find out > about deals when ordering in bulk, that sort of thing. Get the > lead time from the printing company, so you know how long to warn > people to wait for. > > - Work out how much to sell the stickers for. People tend to get > antsy if these things aren't done at cost. I'd suggest the > volunteer be prepared to open a separate bank account, and make > available some accounts (nothing fancy, but something that shows > "I had this much cash sent to me, I spent this much, the balance > is 0". Work out how you want people to get the money to you. > > - Post yet another message, outlining the costs, and ways to pay. > Explain that it's not being done for profit. State that any money > left over (perhaps the printing company suddenly offers an extra > discount or something) will be sent to the FreeBSD project. > > I suggest that the announcement includes a cut-off date and a > minimum order. Explain that the first batch of stickers will not > be produced until one week after the cut-off date (to allow > time for the money to come in) and that if the total number of > stickers ordered is below 'x' then it's uneconomic to do it > and people's money will be returned to them. > > - Wait for the money to roll in. Make damn sure you keep track of > everyone's name and address, the amount they paid and so on. > > - Order the stickers. Keep people informed of how they're doing. > Promptly explain any delays that happen in the printing process > (or whatever). > > - Make sure they're mailed out ASAP. > > - Bask in the adulation you receive when folks get their stickers. > > That about covers it. Simple huh :-) ? > > It might be worth doing a web search for "Joel Furr". He used to do > this kind of thing four or five years ago with coffee mugs and t-shirts > (things like "The Internet is full, go away" slogans and the like). He > used to have a web page that outlined his experiences with the whole > thing, but I don't know if it's still around. > > Hope that's useful. > > N > -- > Work: nik@iii.co.uk | FreeBSD + Perl + Apache > Rest: nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk | Remind me again why we need > Play: nik@freebsd.org | Microsoft? > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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