The next generation of contributors is not on IRC. Discussing communication channels for inclusive open source communities Matt Broberg @mbbroberg 

Hi, I’m Matt Technical Editor for Opensource.com & Student in “The Business of Open Source” at Brandeis University @mbbroberg 

My impression You 1) Seasoned open source participant 2) Can recite the FSF four freedoms 3) Contributed before git was cool 4) Are active on IRC 5) Care about your community GitHub Generation of open source Recently learned FSF & OSI are different See git as the lingua franca of tech Active everywhere but IRC Care about your community Me @mbbroberg 

I don’t get IRC What’s with the wizard-like syntax? How do I find channel history? What are the fewest commands needed? What’s with the offensive spam? Why does NAMESERV hate me? What clients consistently work? @mbbroberg 

I don’t get IRC Well RTFM F is for “friendly” @mbbroberg 

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@mbbroberg 

My path to open source ● Proprietary hardware community ● Proprietary virtualization community ● Joining a proprietary code sharing site ● Open source on a proprietary OS ● Open core startups ● Growing communities on GitHub ● Open source communities ● Opensource.com ● A maturing obsession with licenses My path was not one of open source @mbbroberg 

I don’t get IRC What’s with the wizard-like syntax? How do I find channel history? What are the fewest commands needed? What’s with the offensive spam? Why does NAMESERV hate me? What clients consistently work? @mbbroberg 

imposter syndrome or otherwise @mbbroberg 

“This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.” Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is by John Scalzi @mbbroberg 

@mbbroberg 

“Where do I go to join an open source community?” @mbbroberg 

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IRC < empty space > < empty space > < empty space > < empty space > @mbbroberg 

IRC (400k) Slack (12 million) Microsoft Teams (13 million) Google Chat (4 million) Riot.im (Matrix) (11 million) @mbbroberg 

* Twitter (126 million) Reddit (330 million) Slack (12m) Telegram (200 million) Goo g Discord (250 million) GitHub (40 m) @mbbroberg MSFT (13m) Riot (13m) 

The bar is higher than ever Modern sign up experience Mobile access by default In-app onboarding and guide Accessibility options Shared discussion history Emoji support IRC | Slack | Riot.im @mbbroberg 

More importantly Synchronous chat is rarely the right place for your community @mbbroberg 

More importantly 1. Requires always-on participation 2. Difficult to follow multiple discussions 3. Sets expectation of immediacy in response 4. Divides participation by time zone 5. No continuation of knowledge @mbbroberg 

Choosing community channels @mbbroberg 

The 3rd place The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg 1st place 2nd place 3rd place @mbbroberg 

The 3rd place ● Neutral ground ● A leveling place ● Conversational ● Accessible ● The regulars ● A low profile ● Playful mood ● Home away from home Thanks Jory Burson "your third place is where you relax in public, where you encounter familiar faces and make new acquaintances." 

Sync For casual, high throughput discussion Async For a definitive, recorded answer News To stay informed and empowered F2F To build a formidable bond @mbbroberg 

Async Sync F2F News User groups & Conferences @mbbroberg 

Async Sync F2F News MozFest @mbbroberg Mozilla The Mozilla Blog 

Async Sync F2F News GopherCon & Go Meetups @mbbroberg Go The Go Blog 

Async Sync F2F News KubeCon & Cloud Native Meetups @mbbroberg Kubernetes The Kubernetes Blog ++ 

Async Sync F2F News & Fringe events @mbbroberg Defaults & 

Contribution is essential @mbbroberg 

Actual footage of maintainers recruiting contributors @mbbroberg 

firstcontributions.github.io 

Contributors @mbbroberg 

*Contributors Potential contributors @mbbroberg 

*Contributors Potential contributors Maintainers @mbbroberg 

Communication channels matter They imply who is welcome and who needs to “try harder” to be welcome. @mbbroberg 

* Twitter (126 million) Reddit (330 million) Slack (12m) Telegram (200 million) Goo g Discord (250 million) GitHub (40 m) @mbbroberg MSFT (13m) Riot (13m) multi-channel 

Async Sync F2F News & Fringe events @mbbroberg Defaults & 

All communities that contribute to open source are open source communities @mbbroberg 

Thank you And thanks: ◂ To Fosdem and the Community Devroom leads! This is such an honor. ◂ To the Mozilla team for inspiring research on this topic. ◂ To Jory Burson for inspiration on the third place. ◂ To the Opensource.com team for their support. If you’re interested in sharing your open source story there, DM me! ◂ Presentation template by Slidesgo, icons by Flaticon. @mbbroberg 

1. Daily publication with over 2.1 million articles read a month 2. Publishing articles on anything with a strong open source story 3. Staff available to coach authors on telling great stories 4. Top articles in Linux, Python, Rust, Kubernetes, and open source news 5. An ever-evolving community of active participants Interested in writing with us? Go to Opensource.com/writers (or at me! @mbbroberg)