I used to volunteer for Linux conferences all over the world.
I would help out with the videoing the presentations or even doing some presenting.
This normally resulted in some corporate sponsor of the Linux event paying for my flights and accommodation.
Now if my flights and accommodation are already being paid for and I was already volunteering just helping out the smooth running of the conference, add being a Framework ambassador to that would be fine.
Anyone at the conference wishing ask questions or to see a FW laptop could look at mine.
I would probably ask FW for some free enhanced support, if for example a customer accidentally dropped and broke my laptop or stole it, I would hope that FW would quickly replace it so I could continue on ambassador duties.
The above is just an example of a case where FW ambassador would be OK. I donāt go to all these conferences any more so cannot help by being a FW ambassador today.
Another case is some companies pay for their employees to go to Linux conferences, e.g. DebConf etc. so their could be lots of people out there already being paid to go to conferences, and adding FW ambassador would not be a problem.
For the people being negative about this topic on previous posts, they donāt have to take part and volunteer.
Thatās a good point on the legal matter as well.
There seems to be various laws surrounding volunteering vs free labour in different US statesā¦with legal cases and articles.
For example: Using Volunteers and Interns: Is It Legal?
See Legal definition 2:
I think thereās a lot of misunderstanding here. This isnāt a program to get people to go to conferences and rep Framework, itās a program to give people who are already going to conferences and showing off their Framework some swag and opportunities to talk with the team. Itās not assigning work, itās just saying thank you to people who are excited about Framework and active in the Linux community.
This is generally not true. Some really big companies hire contractors or freelancers to moderate their community surfaces, but most are run by a team of volunteers with a community manager or two from the company overseeing it.
Exactly correct. Appreciate you pointing this out as this seems to be misunderstood by some folks.
Iām have been (in the past) an unpaid mod on multiple subreddits, some of them have products for sale.
Think the confusion comes from the language in the 2nd and 4th paragraphs in the OP (ignoring the first line), on the interpretation end. It reads like a JD / demand rather than āwe hope to findā¦ā
Thank you for the feedback, when I read it again I see what you mean. This is a very casual ambassador program, giving a title to our unofficial ambassadors and friends within the community and bringing people together for some very casual chats at the events, thatās it.
I definitely understand the concern here and would like to thank everyone who shared their feedback and concerns, thank you for caring about the Framework and Linux communities!
[Ranting because of the perceived ambient negativity.]
@Mapleleaf This is a classic technique when one, canāt defend others argument, go for their reputation and character. Thanks for your valuable insights.
This isnāt a ātechniqueā thoose are my genuine feelings.
I like the idea presented in the thread. Some donāt like it. But the discussion shouldnāt look like that. You (and @arcayr, who we should welcome in the community (!!)) could have asked politely āis there any plan to consider a small remuneration for this role, at some point in the future?ā or something similar, and I wouldnāt have felt bullied by your paragraphs.
PS: Iām probably too sensitive and maybe itās just the way people speak on forums nowadays (probably the influence of X/Twitter). Time for a break for me in this case.
PPS: moreover itās not a āroleā as the mods already clarified. Rather, itās a recognition of a positive behavior that some members of the community already have. And itās recognized with a ātitleā (thatās minor) and with an easier communication channel with Framework staff (thatās the true meat of the perk).
Itās not gamification because itās not a āgameā: the evaluation of criteria is not ongoing indefinitely, and the selection of all the āambassadorsā only happens at one point in time and after they submitted themselves a request.
Itās not like there would be an ongoing competition where regularly the most active members would be automatically āupgradedā.
Moreover, in the event where there would be very few candidates (all qualified), that wouldnāt even be a āselection/competitionā, as they would all get the ātitleā.
Thus it doesnāt āput pressureā on community members to āperformā in regard to FWās benefit (as the evaluation of criteria only happens once and only on past behaviour). And thus this cannot raise concerns of hidden labour.
Thank you all for sharing feedback and suggestions in this thread, to prevent further discussion and violation of our community guidelines and rules, we will be locking this thread. If you have any issues filling out the Google Form, please send a DM to the moderator group.
Iāll be sharing more updates in this thread and/or other threads about the program.
Thank you all for applying to the program, the applications are now closed, we will be reviewing the candidates and announce our first ambassadors soon!