Community burden & the "Big Guys"

Meta
1

I am hiding this in #meta as i do not know where to put it. Corresponding with the title perhaps #community? I do find it a somewhat sensitive subject though.

In order to make Maidsafe aware, is there a place where the community can discuss/give feedback directly to Maidsafe as to the way they handle this forum?

For example, i know this is forward so please no one take offense, specifically @dirvine or @nicklambert.

It is, as a poster, an extremely honorable feeling to have Maidsafe’s “big guys” be so active on the forum and responding to so many questions.

But, i do feel sometimes it may do more harm than good.

As regulars know, we have been waiting quite some time for some kind of launch. With “big guys” responding to so much one may wonder how they have so much time to read so much and answer sometimes “little” questions.

Should not their expertise be directed elsewhere to more “important” pressing matters such as launch, internal ops, marketing etc?

Questions could a lot of the time be answered by other “expert” community members such as neo, or happybeing etc. Although, I do see this as placing the burden on the community (a lot of free time put in by said members) which could also not be good for Maidsafe’s public face.

Should not Maidsafe have on the payroll a technical expert that is available to get involved in these sometimes “small” questions? OR designated current employees to handle such questions?

It seems to me this issue may hurt newcomers/regulars viewpoint of SAFE and its timeline.

Curious to hear what others think.

P.S. i wanted to tag neo and happybeing but as this is a new account my tagging is limited.

1 Like
2

I get the feeling and have seen over the years that community is very important to @dirvine. But, i guess part of my point @nicklambert is that sometimes “geniuses” need to be held back a little bit in order to retain their focus. :wink:

Please forgive me if i am over-stepping the boundries.
:pray:

3

I’m interested to here David or Nick’s responses, but personally I don’t think their time here being wasted.

Firstly there are often questions that only they can answer. Though if they didn’t want to keep abreast of the community, another person could do the reading and flag things for their attention.

For myself I think their presence is valuable for the community and the project. We get to know them and vice versa, and it is very much evidence of them walking the Maidsafe talk of decentralising everything - inclusive, encouraging involvement and education, listening and asking for input and so on.

It shows they really do value the community, and there is evidence of the value coming back to the project. Just look at the recent discussions with @mav, but there have been many others over time.

I have sometimes wondered how David finds the time to be so active here, but there have been times when I think he was just too busy and we didn’t see him much for quite a while. So now he’s back I both appreciate it and take it as a good sign.

6 Likes
4

I see the forum and all the people on it as the most important marketing resource we have. It provides an ongoing insight into the minds (yes that is sometimes scary :)) and behaviours of SAFE Network early adopters, who continually test and feedback not only the software put out by the teams, but also on our marketing campaigns and strategies. For me, it is time very well spent.

I know that David gets a huge amount out of the forum as do the rest of the team, and threads often come up in conversations within the company. As @happybeing points out there have been a number of technical insights provided by forum members and Mark himself has been an incredible help with SOLID and FUSE integrations.

8 Likes
5

Thanks for the responses.

Is Meta then the correct place to direct these type of questions/concerns or would Community or Marketing be better?

Perhaps I wasnt clear. I don’t think either that

My viewpoint, which I am of the opinion others may see also, was from an outsiders / newcomers view of Maidsafe the company. I also think it could also been seen through perhaps the frustration of a regular member who just wants the launch.

In regards to the forum being

And that

is a perspective I hadn’t thought of. Thanks for that. It is hard sometimes to put myself in others shoes.

But, to point out, I do believe that sometimes some restraint is in order, for example when dealing with an argument as to if a node is a server or not :grin:.

Much respect and I appreciate the responses. It helps me to understand Maidsafe’s approach.

3 Likes
6

To clarify this I can see how one could think “who is this guy telling a company what to do or how to act?”. My thought was that the company has involved the community and I just wanted to give some feedback and an impression of a frustration that I have sometimes felt. I respect Maidsafe highly but sometimes it can be hard to understand the approach. Ultimately my op was just food for thought and to give myself (and hopefully others who perhaps feel the same thing sometimes), through the replies, more of an understanding. Cheers.

1 Like