http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=106058

First off I think there may be some confusion regarding my employment status. I am no longer employed by the Everything Development Company but am now employed elsewhere. This makes maintaining and developing PerlMonks something of a hobby for me. This means that I approach doing work on the site when I have sufficient time and motivation. Luckily the editors and many others help keep this place running well even when I cannot.

Many have mentioned concerns as to whether the site's future is secure. Financially our only real means of revenue is user donations. I don't have the exact numbers but last I checked there was a considerable gap between our costs and the donations coming in. Luckily so far Blockstackers has been kind enough to make up the difference month after month. I think PerlMonks getting absorbed into YAS can only mean good things for the financial side of the site. For one, YAS now has a vested interest in making sure the site stays online. Once all of the paperwork is finalized people will be able to make a tax-deductible donation to YAS that is earmarked for Perl Monks. This might make it easier for some to contribute. Also being affiliated with YAS might make it easier for PerlMonks to receive donations from larger corporations. If your employer recognizes your growth as a programmer and you attribute a lot of it to what you've learned on PerlMonks ask them to consider making a monthly or quarterly donation to the site.

A lot of what I am attempting to do or at least think about regarding the site focuses on better distributing workload while minimizing any time in "management" that I might need to spend. One thing I would like to do some day is set up a developers group. This group would be able to see the code that runs the site. They would then be able to submit patches and new features to me for approval and entry into the production codebase. Initially I'd want to start with a very small group of developers. The last thing I need to complicate my life is to have 20 new features to look over each day in my inbox. Since this a site for developers naturally everyone is going to want to develop new items for the site. I need to find a smart way of managing the process for how features will be added.

That is where some things stand. If you have additional questions put them below and I'll try to answer them.

Update 1: I have graduated from college.
Update 2: This month's donation stats are now available at the Offering Plate


vroom | Tim Vroom | vroom@blockstackers.com

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: State of the Monastery...
by footpad (Abbot) on Aug 20, 2001 at 00:37 UTC

    If you like, feel free to /msg me regarding the suggestions that you like. I'll track them and throw up a most "commonly requested features" page on my area of the StatMeister's site. That way, we'll have something others can refer to before making suggestions.

    Once a developer's group is available, we can prioritize, track, and check off items as work progresses.

    (FWIW, I'm also working on a simple donation tracker as I have time. It'll be basic, but I think it'll help people understand how dear the need is or how well we're doing, whichever the case may be. More on that soon--I hope)

    --f

Re: State of the Monastery or an attempt to clear up at least some confusion
by E-Bitch (Pilgrim) on Aug 20, 2001 at 19:25 UTC
    vroom-

    an option that you might consider is to nominate a leader of this development team that would review the patches, conglomorate them in to one larger patch, and have that leader submit that one patch to you for review. You could also have the leader test the software (gasp) on a proxy server before throwing it live....

    Just my 2 cents, If you need help, I'll gladly help wherever asked...
    _________________________________________
    E-Bitch
    Tempora Mutantur Nos et Mutamur in Illis
    "The Times are Changed Even as We are Changed in Them"
      That's actually a good idea.. and may be the way to go if the stream of proposed changes gets large.

      vroom | Tim Vroom | vroom@blockstackers.com
Re: State of the Monastery or an attempt to clear up at least some confusion
by hsmyers (Canon) on Aug 20, 2001 at 18:00 UTC
    I'd like to help out with the financials, but I can't use PayPal. Are there alternatives?

    hsm

Comment on an attempt to clear up at least some confusion
by dave_aiello (Pilgrim) on Aug 21, 2001 at 19:01 UTC
    vroom:

    I am a minor participant in the fray here on PerlMonks, or at least I was until about 4 weeks before I got married. People told me I'd be busy leading up to July 7, but no one ever said that I wouldn't write a line of code for nearly 10 weeks. I didn't even look at Slashdot for a month. So, you can imagine how much I have had to assimilate since I got back....

    It took me a little while to determine that YAS referred to Yet Another Society, or that this oddly named group was primarily involved in supporting the Perl community. (Don't flame me by pointing out YAPCs that have occured for a while now. I know of them, but I didn't make the connection.) One question that comes to mind, and seems obvious to me, is what will the new group be called? Your node implies that PerlMonks will become a subsidiary of YAS. My concern is that the larger group, if it continues under the YAS name, will not be easy for people to find, in that its name does not contain the word "Perl".

    Dave Aiello
    Chatham Township Data Corporation