Nick said:
If you think content is of value to you, then how about contributing in that area?
I think one of the problems is a lack of coordination. I have spare time I can give over to this kind of stuff, but to be frank, I don't have the time to second guess, or figure out what it is I should be doing and whether it has value.
Documentation (or lack of it) gets a lot of air time but where's the plan? where's the prioritised list of items?
Everybody hates working to moving goalposts or on projects where there's a lack of direction.
I don't think relying on people to just provide things ad-hoc is likely to be effective.
What I'd like to see on the site is one place where there are a list of prioritised tasks waiting to be done. I can go in, pick one off and get it done in the full knowledge its worthwhile.
It needs to be pretty fine grain, there's no point putting up task like 'write the installation document'. Break it up into little bit-sized chunks and I guarantee people will start doing them.
I want the site to visiually represent items crossed off a list. I want tangible feedback about progress. I want to see regular annoucements of work completed.
This 'tangible feedback' is a critical component of any successful commcercial software project (for good reason) and I think applies equally to an OS group.
People get satisfaction when their contribution is effective and immediate and can be seen to move things forward.
