Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 21:06:25 +0100 From: Nik Clayton <nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk> To: anthony@sohopros.com, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD sticker? Message-ID: <19980329210625.01795@nothing-going-on.org> In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19980324215958.00856c30@pop.flash.net>; from anthony@sohopros.com on Tue, Mar 24, 1998 at 10:00:00PM -0600 References: <3.0.32.19980324215958.00856c30@pop.flash.net>
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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?
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