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How To Spread Word About My FOSS Project?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm in a bit of a bind with an open source web software project of mine. It's a very small project that I've been developing for over three years. By now it's got a promising feature set, but very few users and virtually no community around it. The problem is that people I have asked to try it refuse to do so because it doesn't have a thriving community. It's an infinite loop: without users, we won't have a community, and without a community, users aren't coming. So, Slashdot, my question is: how can I build a community and help get the word out about a project led by 2 people and with only 5-6 regulars on our forum and IRC?"
1. Developers are king. If you could attract one more developer, your project would stand a much higher chance of success.
2. Just because you open-sourced your project doesn't mean it's useful to anyone. No matter how much we geeks don't like marketing, you have to think hard about your users: where are they, what do they care about and what do they really need?
It's normal for all new projects to languish for a while. If you think twitter was an instant success, remember that it had 2 years of null traffic before taking off. Go out and ask users what they want. Think. Then implement. Your #1 potential mistake today: feature creep. Don't think that if only you added this one more feature, the crowds would come. If anything, try to simplify things :-) and start communicating (posting on slashdot is not ideal, you should post wherever your users are, not talk to developers).
Try posting to freshmeat?
http://freshmeat.net/about
Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
I disagree. I think he's doing it perfectly.
He's asked a generic question, without shilling in the article section. That means it's less likely he's just out spamming, because he hasn't identified who he is or what the project is. So he's largely avoided the shitstorm of angry slashdotters accusing him of spamming.
But in doing so, he's piqued the curiosity of a few of us, and we've ASKED him to post details of his project now. If he does so, that means he's actually spent a few minutes here reading the responses. This marks him as someone who at least isn't doing a drive-by spamming.
Either very good and sophisticated marketing, or an honest question from a manager of a small project. I can't decide which. But either way, it works, and I'm curious about the project.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
1) Post a message to slashdot
2) ????
3) Profit
Except in this rare case the mystery step 2 is easy to identify:
1) Post a message to slashdot
2) Include a link to your project
3) Profit!
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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You have a crew of nerds here who are all about open source and you refer to your project as "an open source web software project of mine" and are asking for more users?!
You must be new here.
It's kinda sad that you didn't put it in the summary, as others pointed out before me, you really did miss out. Good luck getting it in in the comments, everybody who skims the summaries won't even see it...
If he -had- posted it in the article, 70% of the comments would berate him for slashvertisement. So it's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
I like how when there is a slashvertisement, everyone bitches.
This guy sidesteps, and everyone is complaining because there isn't a slashvertisement. Oh the irony.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
As everyone knows, Open Source software is the wave of the future. With the market share of GNU/Linux and *BSD increasing every day, interest in Open Source Software is at an all time high.
Developing software within the Open Source model benefits everyone. People can take your code, improve it and then release it back to the community. This cycle continues and leads to the creation of far more stable software than the 'Closed Source' shops can ever hope to create.
So you're itching to create that Doom 3 killer but don't know where to start? Read on!
The most important thing that any Open Source project needs is a Sourceforge page. There are tens of thousands of successful Open Source projects on Sourceforge.Net; the support you receive here will be invaluable.
OK, so you've registered your Sourceforge.Net project and set the status to '0: Pre-Thinking About It', what's next?
Now you need to set up your SourceForge.net homepage. Keep it plain and simple - don't use too many HTML tags, just knock something up in VI. Website editors like Expression Web and DreamWeaver just create bloated eye-candy - you need to get your message to the masses!
Since you probably can't program at all you'll need to try and find some people who think they can. If your project is a game you'll probably need an artist too. Ask for help on your new Sourceforge pages. Here is an example to get you started:
Thousands of talented programmers and artists hang out at Sourceforge.net ready to devote their time to projects so you should get a team together in no time!
So now you have your team together you are ready to change your projects status to '1: Pre-Bickering'. You will need to discuss your ideas with your team mates and see what value they can add to the project. You could use an Instant Messaging program like MSN for this, but since you run Linux you'll have to stick to e-mail.
Don't forget that YOU are in charge! If your team doesn't like the idea of giant robotic spiders just delete them from the project and move on. Someone else can fill their place and this is the beauty of Open Source development. The code might end up a bit messy and the graphics inconsistant - but it's still 'Free as in Speech'!
Now that you've found a team of right thinking people you're ready to start development. Be prepared for some delays though. Programming is a craft and can take years to learn. Your programmer may be a bit rusty but will probably be writing "hello world" programs after school in no time.
Closed Source games like Doom 3 use the graphics card to do all the hard stuff anyhow, so your programmer will just have to get the NVidia 'API' and it will be plain sailing! Giant robot spiders, here we come!
So it's been a few years, you still have no files released or in CVS. Your programmer can't get enough time on the PC because his mother won't let him use it after 8pm. Your artist has run off with a Thai She-Male. Your project is still at '1: Pre-Bickering'...
Congratulations! You now have a successful Open Source project on Sourceforge.net! Pat yourself on the back, think up another idea and do it all again! See how simple it is?
By googling his name, the project appears to be. Enano CMS
:x
I was betting on my ability to remember to hit "post anonymously" every time I commented on this thread.
Note to self: in the future, hit "log out." x_x
Or imprisoned for murdering your wife.