Consultation about a Reps Application

[jebnoun melek]

Hi All :)

Hope you're fine!!

So I was assigned as a mentor to a student coming from Belarus.
Yesterday we made the interview. He heard about the reps prog on Twitter
and he is a free software lover who like to share knowledges with other
persons.
He is working on making his compangy working with B2G. But he never
contributed on Mozilla Projects.

The matter is:
He don't know very much about Mozilla because he never knew if there is
a mozilla community in Belarus. And when we talked he is very
enthousiast about launching a small community in Belarus!!

So my questions :

Any one of you know more about Mozilla in Belarus? I made some researchs
yesterday but I didn't found much things?

Do you think not accepting him (he don't have experience, don't know
more about Mozilla) is going to discourage him on being involved in
Mozilla and launching the community? Or should I for this reason accept
him because it's a very special case?!

Thankssss :)

Melek

[Majken Connor]

If there's no one else in the area, I would think it's a good case for
making a special case. This is partly why we have the orientation period.
If there is someone nearby-ish that would be willing to mentor him you
could turn him down for now, but set him up with a rep that can help him
get started and he can reapply. That's what I do when I have people that
are enthusiastic but not ready, I assign them to one of my other reps to
work together. Then it doesn't feel like a no.

-Majken "Lucy" Connor

> ______________________________**_________________
> reps-mentors mailing list
> reps-m...@lists.mozilla.org
> https://lists.mozilla.org/**listinfo/reps-mentors<https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/reps-mentors>
>

[Amir E. Aharoni]

2012/5/3 jebnoun melek <me...@arabicmozilla.org>:

> So my questions :
>
> Any one of you know more about Mozilla in Belarus? I made some researchs
> yesterday but I didn't found much things?

No, but i'll contact my Wikimedian friends in Belarus - they may be
able to help.

> Do you think not accepting him (he don't have experience, don't know more
> about Mozilla) is going to discourage him on being involved in Mozilla and
> launching the community? Or should I for this reason accept him because it's
> a very special case?!

I was just appointed as a mentor, so maybe I'm missing something, but
I'd say that he should be accepted. Communities in neighboring
countries, especially Russia and maybe also Ukraine and Poland, should
be able to help him to get started.

--
Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
http://aharoni.wordpress.com
‪“We're living in pieces,
I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬

[Danishka Navin]

here what i found;

Mozilla Belarusian community [1] is exist and we have the Mozilla
Belarusian l10n team [2] as well.

[1] http://mozilla-be.sourceforge.net/
[2] https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Teams:be

On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:27 PM, jebnoun melek <me...@arabicmozilla.org>wrote:

> Hi All :)
>
> Hope you're fine!!
>
> So I was assigned as a mentor to a student coming from Belarus. Yesterday
> we made the interview. He heard about the reps prog on Twitter and he is a
> free software lover who like to share knowledges with other persons.
> He is working on making his compangy working with B2G. But he never
> contributed on Mozilla Projects.
>
> The matter is:
> He don't know very much about Mozilla because he never knew if there is a
> mozilla community in Belarus. And when we talked he is very enthousiast
> about launching a small community in Belarus!!
>

> So my questions :
>
> Any one of you know more about Mozilla in Belarus? I made some researchs
> yesterday but I didn't found much things?
>

> Do you think not accepting him (he don't have experience, don't know more
> about Mozilla) is going to discourage him on being involved in Mozilla and
> launching the community? Or should I for this reason accept him because
> it's a very special case?!
>

> Thankssss :)
>
> Melek
> ______________________________**_________________
> reps-mentors mailing list
> reps-m...@lists.mozilla.org
> https://lists.mozilla.org/**listinfo/reps-mentors<https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/reps-mentors>
>

--
Danishka Navin
http://danishkanavin.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/danishkanavin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danishkanavin/

[Danishka Navin]

* *this page has been updated since 2002
http://mozilla-be.sourceforge.net/news1.html

[Nikola Matosović]

>
> So I was assigned as a mentor to a student coming from Belarus. Yesterday
> we made the interview. He heard about the reps prog on Twitter and he is a
> free software lover who like to share knowledges with other persons.
> He is working on making his compangy working with B2G. But he never
> contributed on Mozilla Projects.
>
> The matter is:
> He don't know very much about Mozilla because he never knew if there is a
> mozilla community in Belarus.

I discovered that knowing if there is a community or not in some countries
is not such a big problem.
Some communities have problems with visibility. I don't take that as
serious issue and flaw.
Although, I would say that it should be natural that he checked it up, as
he applied to become a Rep.

Familiarity with Mozilla - how much does he know?
I think he should know some basic stuff but wouldn't expect too much.
I'm not happy with applicants who only know that "Mozilla is about open
software" and I'm generally against
accepting them. I believe that if one is applying to become official
Mozilla Representative, he should be ready
to really do that (represent, I mean :) ). And, that also includes "knowing
stuff".

Not sure that we have time and manpower to educate so many new Reps. It's
like you employ a person in your
company, and when he starts "working" for you, you send him on college. :)
Would you really do that? :)

True, if we start dismissing all those who aren't "perfect", we would
accept very few people. :)

On the other hand, I also think that if someone is not so much in "mozilla
mode" but is very enthusiastic,
willing to learn, promising, and with good potential to be really active,
we should accept him/her.

In that case, "educating" him/her is much more easier as person itself is
very eager to do it, and most probably
do it by himself (as much as he can).

>
> Do you think not accepting him (he don't have experience, don't know more
> about Mozilla) is going to discourage him on being involved in Mozilla and
> launching the community?

Yeah, I think it will.

> Or should I for this reason accept him because it's a very special case?!
>

I would accept him but pay more attention to him than I usually do.
After all, first month in program is more or less "getting on board" period
for all new reps.
(reading all those wiki pages, meeting people, clicking every link they
bump on and end up lost and
even more confused, etc. :) )
It will be the same for this one, with one addition: in that time, he
should catch up on everything he
missed to do by now. So, if he is really good potential, he'll succeed.


And, one more thing:
As there is no one in Bulgaria to form and/or lead community, that would be
bonus reason to me why
to accept him.
Maybe he won't be the best ReMo on Earth, but as long as he is capable of
forming community, it's
ok. And, then, later we can start being picky, once something exists there.

[Marcelo Luis Comin Araldi]

Totally right, Nikola.
I agree with your words =)

/marceloaraldi



2012/5/3 Nikola Matosović <nikola.m...@gmail.com>

> _______________________________________________
> reps-mentors mailing list
> reps-m...@lists.mozilla.org
> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/reps-mentors
>

[jebnoun melek]

Thanks all for your amazing answers. It was very helpful and I decided
to accept him!!
You can't imagine his reaction when I sent him the email ^^
We talked a little bit and I will try to email him frequently (short
emails :D) and to bring him on IRC so he can ask questions and see if
he is ready to be a reps !!

Thank you all :)

Melek

[Guillermo López]

Hi!

I have another request for a girl in Belarus, but your mentoree is not
in the reps page yet. Could you send me the email so I can put them in
contact?

Thanks!

2012/5/4 jebnoun melek <me...@arabicmozilla.org>:

> _______________________________________________
> reps-mentors mailing list
> reps-m...@lists.mozilla.org
> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/reps-mentors

--
Guillermo López [willyaranda]. Mozilla Reps Mentor.
http://mozilla-hispano.org
http://twitter.com/mozilla_hispano
http://facebook.com/mozillahispano
Certified Mozillian: https://mozillians.org/willyaranda

[Rubén Martín]

Sorry for being late here, but I think we shouldn't accept people that
don't know mozilla or never contributed to the project even if there is
nobody in their country contributing yet. We are looking for quality
here, not quantity.

The best thing to do in these cases is rejecting him and encourage to
start building a community in his region/language (help him to do it or
point to the correct people that can help him), also he should start
reading about who we are and why we do what we do, getting in touch with
mozilla values.

Take a look again to the Mentoring/Screening page about suggested
selection criteria:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/ReMo/SOPs/Mentoring/Screening

In you interview you should evaluate most of these points and get a idea
about about many pluses does you applicant have.

BTW, we should extend this conversation during the ReMo Camp in July to
be all in the same page.

Regards

--
Rubén Martín [Nukeador]
Mozilla Reps Council Member
http://www.mozilla-hispano.org
http://twitter.com/mozilla_hispano
http://facebook.com/mozillahispano

[Guillermo López]

2012/5/12 Rubén Martín <nuke...@mozilla-hispano.org>:

> Sorry for being late here, but I think we shouldn't accept people that
> don't know mozilla or never contributed to the project even if there is
> nobody in their country contributing yet. We are looking for quality
> here, not quantity.

Totally agree. I don't see the point of having a thousand Reps if just
a few know about Mozilla and the mission.

>
> The best thing to do in these cases is rejecting him and encourage to
> start building a community in his region/language (help him to do it or
> point to the correct people that can help him), also he should start
> reading about who we are and why we do what we do, getting in touch with
> mozilla values.

This is what I did last day with one applicant from Belarus, where she
read about the remo program in Twitter and thought that the best way
to interact with Mozilla was this program, but she didn't know mostly
anything about Mozilla, there is no community in Belarus and she
didn't know about others there. So I put in contact with the other
Belarussian applicant and with the actual localizer of Belarus of
Firefox so they can work together.

But I think that accept someone in the program just because there are
no people in the country is not good. There are a few discussions
inside Mozilla (check governance group) about employees and community
and I think this cases fits perfectly in what we are trying to do:
encourage people to work in community. Reps is a program for people
that know a lot of Mozilla and want to set their barrier higher, not
for newcomers that just want to be in the program for "swag" and
"sponsorship" for events.

Regards.

>
> Take a look again to the Mentoring/Screening page about suggested
> selection criteria:
>
> https://wiki.mozilla.org/ReMo/SOPs/Mentoring/Screening
>
> In you interview you should evaluate most of these points and get a idea
> about about many pluses does you applicant have.
>
> BTW, we should extend this conversation during the ReMo Camp in July to
> be all in the same page.
>
> Regards
>
> --
> Rubén Martín [Nukeador]
> Mozilla Reps Council Member
> http://www.mozilla-hispano.org
> http://twitter.com/mozilla_hispano
> http://facebook.com/mozillahispano
>
>

[Melek Jebnoun]

Hi All,
Hi Guillermo,
So so sorry, I didn't noticed you asked me about Ilya 's email so I wil DM
with his adress. SOrry about it :s

It's very strange but Ilya didn't give any sign after I sent him the email
of acceptation.He told me he will be busy for the next 2 weeks coming and
looks like he forgot about the application !!!

This is what I did last day with one applicant from Belarus, where she
> read about the remo program in Twitter and thought that the best way
> to interact with Mozilla was this program, but she didn't know mostly
> anything about Mozilla, there is no community in Belarus and she
> didn't know about others there.

Maybe we need some thing special for persons how don't know yet about
Mozilla but how are excited to do it!!
When I sent the email I was thinking it could be a special case!! To start
a community there, he will need swags and things like that so being a remo
could strongly help him!!
And also I was afraid that being refused for his first contact with Mozilla
could discourage him.
To be honest it was the two reasons that made me accept him even he don't
know much about Mozilla!!

So I put in contact with the other
> Belarussian applicant and with the actual localizer of Belarus of
> Firefox so they can work together.
>

Could I have some names or some contacts to let Ilya in touch with them?!

As said Ruben we should really discuss this point in the Remo Camp !!

Thanks :)

[Guillermo López]

2012/5/14 Melek Jebnoun <me...@arabicmozilla.org>:

> Hi All,
> Hi Guillermo,
> So so sorry, I didn't noticed you asked me about Ilya 's email so I wil DM
> with his adress. SOrry about it :s
>
> It's very strange but Ilya didn't give any sign after I sent him the email
> of acceptation.He told me he will be busy for the next 2 weeks coming and
> looks like he forgot about the application !!!

Hi!

I put them in contact (Ilya, my asigned mentoree and the actual
Belarussian translator), but I don't know if they have started
conversations in their own since they have not answer my email :( None
of them.

>
>
> This is what I did last day with one applicant from Belarus, where she
>> read about the remo program in Twitter and thought that the best way
>> to interact with Mozilla was this program, but she didn't know mostly
>> anything about Mozilla, there is no community in Belarus and she
>> didn't know about others there.
>
>
> Maybe we need some thing special for persons how don't know yet about
> Mozilla but how are excited to do it!!
> When I sent the email I was thinking it could be a special case!! To start
> a community there, he will need swags and things like that so being a remo
> could strongly help him!!
> And also I was afraid that being refused for his first contact with Mozilla
> could  discourage him.

I don't think this is a good idea. I started in Mozilla with no swag,
no budgets, no "physical" help from Mozilla. Sure we can have more
power this days to do that, but if the people coming to ReMo is for
the swag or budgets, let's not accept them. That's not the spirit. Or
at least it's totally against my view.

I think that in this cases it's better to not accept the applicant
*but* track his/her efforts and even help (outside the ReMo program)
doing some things in their regions (like creating the community, the
webpage, events… whatever works for them). I think this is the way we
can know: "ok, you are doing something cool, so you can have support
from Mozilla… now that you have done something and know more about the
structure and ideals of Mozilla".

I can be totally wrong, but I think, as someone here said, we are
looking for quality, not quantity. And I'd love to accept people
passionate for Mozilla and not people starting knowing about Mozilla
and applying to this program because of the benefits of being in them.

> To be honest it was the two reasons that made me accept him even he don't
> know much about Mozilla!!
>
> So I put in contact with the other
>> Belarussian applicant and with the actual localizer of Belarus of
>> Firefox so they can work together.
>>
>
> Could I have some names or some contacts to let Ilya in touch with them?!

As I said, I put them in contact, I'll ping them and add you to the mailing.

thanks!

>
> As said Ruben we should really discuss this point in the Remo Camp !!
>
> Thanks :)

[William Quiviger]

I agree with Guillermo. Mozilla Reps need are first and foremost representatives of Mozilla in their region. They can not realistically be representatives of the project if they do not have some deep knowledge of the Mozilla mission, of Mozilla products and of the community.

>
> I think that in this cases it's better to not accept the applicant
> *but* track his/her efforts and even help (outside the ReMo program)
> doing some things in their regions (like creating the community, the
> webpage, events… whatever works for them). I think this is the way we
> can know: "ok, you are doing something cool, so you can have support
> from Mozilla… now that you have done something and know more about the
> structure and ideals of Mozilla".

Yes, exactly. It's totally understandable for someone to be disappointed to learn that they're not accepted in the program, but that's why we need to make sure they feel empowered to get involved in the project, to reach out to their local community and to re-apply when they feel they have reached a sufficient level of experience and are ready to be Reps.

A good example to illustrate this is Ashish, from India: https://reps.mozilla.org/u/AshishNamdev/

Ashish applied 3 times to the program and got accepted on his 3rd try, 6 months after his first try. During those 6 months, he was regularly in touch with Vineel, with myself and many other Mozillians and was encouraged to get involved in lots of projects. He was sad to be rejected the first time but really excited to see that a lot of people were supporting him and encouraging him to get more involved.

This is what we must strive to do with applicants who apply and are not accepted into the program.

>
> I can be totally wrong, but I think, as someone here said, we are
> looking for quality, not quantity. And I'd love to accept people
> passionate for Mozilla and not people starting knowing about Mozilla
> and applying to this program because of the benefits of being in them.
>

Yes, the ReMo mantra needs to be: "Quality over Quantity" :)

William