Allow me to preface my comments with the statement that I think the Join SiG is probably the most significant SiG in Fedora’s project right now.
I was spending some time looking at another projects onboarding page and documentation and ultimately, trail a potential contributor would need to follow to get to the point of “allowed to contribute”. The project is OpenSearch, which is a topic of interest around the magazine discussion area. It’s onboarding page can be found at .github/ONBOARDING.md at main · opensearch-project/.github · GitHub, forgive me I was looking at their projects source code, so this is the github link. What strikes me is the fact that every bit of info is presented in brief with associated links and approximate reading times noted. So, of course since I am “Fedora-centric” when I view other open source projects, I had to then follow Fedora’s potential contributor journey, that starts with a link to a page that presents two links with the option of being a “new contributor” OR a “easy fix” bug fixer. I believe the contributor link should go to the “new-contributor” page from where the potential contributor would choose their path of least resistance, including immediately jumping in to help with project issues they feel will be a beneficial use of the time they have to volunteer.
It seems to my POV that it is easier for me to know where I can contribute and how by reading through the documentation from OpenSearch than when I follow the path with Fedora. For the project to grow the contributors, it needs to offer an easy method of ingress. But I find it IS actually really easy to contribute to Fedora, in most any area. So this is more perception than actual fact I think and in that case it would be more about communication, and effective use of page space to convey the concepts succinctly and meaningfully.
So maybe the Join-SiG page can be landed on (after pressing or hovering over the contribute button on the main page) and offer at the top the two paths. But also it is worth noting that the first steps all contributors need to do is create a FAS Id, and agree to the contributors agreement so those should be stated as the first things to do on their contributor path. After that, they could lurk for some time indecisive if they need to.
I would be happy to help with the landing page if need be.
Join SIG is a well known path for new comers and discoverable through release party and landing page.
I reckon WCIDFY website can be a right candidate as an on boarding signpost. From then on, we need to give options; 1) self-starter journey (referring to team page of their interest), 2) pairing with mentors for support and following through
See the latest thread for revamping the WCIDFY website.
I suppose, it is connected per se. But what I was more getting at, was the description of how was very clear on the site for OpenSearch, while in Fedora land it seems to meander at first. The steps are not as clearly laid out, but the information is available with a bit of digging. My impression of the OpenSearch onboarding page is that it is well explained and the detail is sufficient for you to make a decision on whether to proceed or not, but most importantly also how.
As for the WCIDFY website, it is logical to use it and it should be the first thing potential contributors see after clicking the link. The SiG for join should be listed as a top level SiG to join if nothing else appeals yet. But other SiG’s should also be listed there with those supporting the editions first in line, spins and variants to follow then task oriented SiG’s. This is of course my opinions on the topic, and I am not trying to disparage anyone’s work in regards to the subject. Again, I would point out that for any contribution a FAS Id and signing the contributor agreement is a must, so it should just be the first two steps. And that can be plainly stated on the first landing page (whatever that page be).
[Edit]: I saw this
And immediately thought of a reactive app (based on Quarkus) I had started for onboarding packagers to track entry skill level for mentors (and prospective packagers) to get and idea of capabilities. I want to tie it to badges and to use the tutorials and guides we already have to link together a mini-training path where the participant gets a badge that notes the achievement and mentors get an entry level indication of capability. I would love to finish that.