Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 11:34:04 -0600 (CST) From: Licia <licia@o-o.org> To: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net> Cc: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Is there a "how did you hear about us?" form on www.freebsd.org? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903251056330.18524-100000@o-o.org> In-Reply-To: <36FA6934.8F97D4A1@thuntek.net>
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On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Donald Wilde wrote:
> Licia wrote:
> >
> > Preparing my own little advocacy efforts again, I stopped to wonder, is
> > there any section on the www.freebsd.org web site, install process, etc, etc
> > that asks someone how they heard about FreeBSD?
> >
> There will definitely be such on the web site. I have a problem with the
> install process registration as it stands (IMHO), because most of the
> time I'm installing, the systems are not direct-wired to the net.
> Perhaps we can improve that (and include your suggestion) to include a
> little cron job that checks to see if we're online and then sends the
> registration stats. That's better than a direct mailer, because we don't
> want newbies getting nasty mesages for 5 days from sendmail. :-)
>
The install process registration has made me wonder too. Would it be possible
perhaps to offer a "print this out and mail it in" registration for people
without usable internet connections? I would also like to see options as far
as people registering how many cpu's they have it installed on, what versions,
etc... I don't think this code would be too hard to add if people were
amenable. The hard part would be deciding what information to request :)
> > I'd personally be interested to know how much effect things I do have.
> > For example, I believe the pens and business cards to be effective, but once
> > I distribute them I have no idea if people are following the urls to the web
> > site. When I place the news paper ads, it would be nice if there were some
> > way to track response from them if for no other reason, than to simply be able
> > to figure out where my money is the most effective. (Should I buy more pens,
> > or place more newspaper ads type decisions would be vastly helped.)
> >
> I want to put a pretty Webalyzer graphic page on the site, or something
> similar.
>
> > If there aren't any sections but others are interested, I'm sure I can
> > manage to write any needed CGI to handle the counting, if people don't mind
> > CGI written in plain old C. :)
> >
> Offer accepted. My personal preference is C++, but the Powers That Be
> have made a very sensible suggestion that most of our volunteers will
> want to code in Perl, and it's obvious they are right by the increase in
> support since I announced that fact. :-) I don't see the problem with a
> mixture, especially for sub-projects that are distinct in themselves.
>
(chuckles) Well, I don't really care for perl or C++ personally, but I am
fairly familiar with C, and more than happy to do what I can in that area,
if there are specific tasks that need done :)
> Since I just started last weekend, it will take a while to get a handle
> on how to structure the website development effort. I'm pushing for a
> separate ../advocacy machine, so we can work without stomping either
> Christopher Mann's or Wolfram Schneider's toes. Your inputs are highly
> valued, inasmuch as a) they're pertinent and sensible and b) you have a
> history of following through. ;-D
>
I think a separate machine is a good idea, really although I would suggest
working with them to keep all the sites as uniform and clean as possible.
Just my own bizzare preferences I suppose, but I always think a uniform layout
to a group of web sites seems more... professional...
(chuckles) I know a lot of people who would argue with point A, and as for
point B, well I can say without a doubt, it's just more -fun- to do something
than to just talk about it :)
> > Also I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but are statistics
> > available as to the traffic to www.freebsd.org? Is the traffic of a level
>
> Ask Wolfram Schneider, wm of FreeBSD.org. (wosch@freebsd.org) As I said
> before, I'd like to see it visible and colorful.
>
(nods) good idea, he probably knows ;) I'd like to see it be used as a tool
some how... if not in the form of small banners, then perhaps as a way of
getting some firmer idea of actual 'active user' numbers?
> > where it could be used to induce vendors to recognize FreeBSD? (i.e. 'label
> > your product as FreeBSD Compatible/whatever and we can give you a small
> > banner, for x number of views?' Please no flames, I know people hate banners,
> > but I do think it's a significant enough source of influence, especially as
> > targeted as it is, to be of use in promoting FreeBSD.)
> >
> We're going to do a LOT more on the branding issue, including more
> visibility for our commercial supporters. We're not ashamed that FreeBSD
> can be used to make money and we'll all benefit, although homepage
> banners probably won't fly. More likely clickthrough logos on the
> revamped gallery section.
>
The lameness of my graphical ideas aside, I do think this is a good idea.
When I begin getting software released publically that's worth of it, I will
make sure to brand the heck out of it. :)
I think it's a GREAT thing that FreeBSD can be used to make money, to bring
life to old equipment, to teach people skills that can get them good paying
jobs... (getting ideas for a couple of articles) Any idea where to do
research on third world countries? I'd love to investigate ways FreeBSD could
use their older equipment to bring them a bit more into the online world and
economy :)
[ licia@o-o.org ] [ http://www.o-o.org/~licia/ ] [ Alias : Ladywolf]
[ Telnet to o-o.org and log in as bbs ] [ ssh -l bbs -C o-o.org ]
[ A happy user of FreeBSD : http://www.freebsd.org/ ]
main(){int num[4]={1768122732,762265697,1919889007,103};printf("%s\n",num);}
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