[community] Support person

[Georg Koppen]

Hi,

I know I am late, but maybe not too late...

Shari Steele:
> Hey all.
> I don't think I'm going to be able to join this morning's meeting due to technical difficulties, so I'm adding a couple of comments below.
> 
>> On Jun 26, 2017, at 12:08 AM, Roger Dingledine <arma at mit.edu> wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 04:41:57PM -0400, Tommy Collison wrote:
>>> +Georg +Pastly +Catalyst +Steph
>>>
>>> Also -- this grant is now due the 7th, so we have a whole extra week!
>>
>> Thanks Tommy.
>>
>> Georg, Pastly, Taylor, it will be really useful to get your insights
>> and preferences here.
>>
>> Here are some thoughts to get us going:
>>
>> Step zero, where do we provide support now? In Valencia I made a list:
>>
>> "What are our current places for user interaction / users to get their
>> questions answered?"
>> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/meetings/2016WinterDevMeeting/Notes/TakeBackCommunityChannels
>>
>> Another interesting paragraph from those notes:
>>
>> "Suggestion: get one person funded who will prioritize and tend the
>> community channels. A person that wants to help. We as the community must
>> help this person. They don't have to answer all the questions themselves,
>> so long as they create an atmosphere where people get answers. We'd pay
>> them to get up to speed in Tor. We need to figure out what characteristics
>> this person must have (technical, non-technical etc)."
>>
>> A support person whose job is to "tend the community channels" is quite a
>> bit different than a support person whose job is to "assist in getting the
>> support portal up and running". Where on the spectrum do we want to be?
> 
> This position is NOT for tending the community channels.  At least not at first, and it shouldn't be in the job description.  I think this is a full-time job without that.
> 
> We thought of this position as an extension of the communications team.  The comm team gets lots of questions on social media and from the press that require an ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical people.  That's what this position is supposed to be.  This person will also help with the support portal.

Reading the text in "What are your goals and desired outcomes for the
person hired through the Technology Exchange? Be specific." it seems to
me the second paragraph is about the extension of the communications
team and the support portal you are talking about. This matches to
Stephanie being the immediate supervisor.

But I am wondering what role the first paragraph plays here. What
additional work is the applicant supposed to be doing that is not
covered by the second paragraph? I read "This person will be a bridge
between Tor’s non-technical users and Tor’s development team" and was
excited because I thought "Finally someone is helping with all our users
having questions/issues, be they mentioned on IRC, mailing lists, the
blog etc." But that seems pretty close to "tending the community
channels" which it should not be according to you. What is its purpose
then (assuming that first paragraph is not redundant)?

Georg

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