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linux.conf.au What is linux.com trying to achieve?
linux.conf.au What is linux.com trying to achieve? | What is linux.com trying to achieve? |
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| by Sam Varghese | |
| Wednesday, 03 June 2009 | |
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The Foundation, formed by a merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group at the beginning of 2007, has gained a remarkable amount of press attention in its short existence, at times for its undemocratic approach to the dissemination of information. In the past, both executive director Jim Zemlin and one of its employees, Amanda McPherson, have tried to create their own publicity, Zemlin by interviewing Novell chief Ron Hovsepian. But such methods have been shown to bomb badly - ultimately it comes down to the fundamental question: which organisation would reveal its warts to the public? Every bit of media put out by a company, foundation or any other body puts a positive spin on what it disseminates. The glass is always half-full. Linux.com was owned by Sourceforge; the Foundation bought the domain in March. Under Sourceforge, the site provided income for numerous writers and some of them were understandably sour about the sale. The new linux.com was planned "to transform the domain from just a news source into a community-driven information and collaboration portal, bringing together and connecting Linux developers and users. Linux.com will also feature a section specifically created for business users." Zemlin is a true professional in that he never refuses to talk to a journalist, even if he has suffered at the individual's hands. And he has taken quite a few brickbats from me. I asked him about the apparent contradiction in what linux.com is trying to do; on the one hand, it says "Linux.com strives to be the central source for informed, reasonable, and intelligent Linux information, software, documentation and answers across the server, desktop/netbook, mobile, and embedded areas." And it also says: "We recognize (sic) there may be inaccurate information reflected in this site and that users should understand that something that appears on Linux.com does not mean the Linux Foundation has vetted or endorsed that content." Zemlin couldn't resist a little dig. "As Emerson said, 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds'," he wrote back. "Seriously though, I believe the latter is a disclaimer referring to user-generated content created on the site. The former refers to the site in general. User-generated content on most sites tends to be self-policing as other users will often point out the inaccuracies contained in fellow users' posts so the general statement applies. "However, it is unlikely that the Foundation, which has a very small staff, would be able to police every bit of content on a site like linux.com hence the disclaimer. Our belief is user-generated content is the best way to create a central source of information, yet people should understand that it is coming from users of the site." CONTINUED |
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