Thread: Re: == PostgreSQL Weekly News - January 14 2018 ==

On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 02:44:53PM +0000, Clément, Sébastien (NRCan/RNCan) wrote:
> Hi David, thanks for the news.
> It seems the address webmaster@postgresql.org doesn't work, because
> I received a notice of undeliverable email when I sent a message
> there last week (see attached email). Is there another address I can
> use?
> 
> Sébastien Clément

Hi Sébastien,

> Subject: Featured Users
> 
> Hi, I would like to add our database to the list of "Featured Users"
> (https://www.postgresql.org/about/users/).  We have developed
> TreeSource, a National database for wood quality in Canada, using
> PostgreSQL. It has been online since 2008, and has had a dedicated
> PHP interface since 2012.  The address is:
> https://treesource.rncan.gc.ca
> 
> We could be included in the section "Government", under the name
> "Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service"

This is great, and the way to add it is to send it to the www list,
cc'd here.

Will someone be presenting on TreeSource at PGCon in Ottawa this year?
I believe there's still time to send a proposal if this hasn't already
been done.

Best,
David.
-- 
David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778

Remember to vote!
Consider donating to Postgres: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate

Hi Sébastien,

> On Jan 15, 2018, at 10:23 AM, David Fetter <david@fetter.org> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 02:44:53PM +0000, Clément, Sébastien (NRCan/RNCan) wrote:
>> Hi David, thanks for the news.
>> It seems the address webmaster@postgresql.org doesn't work, because
>> I received a notice of undeliverable email when I sent a message
>> there last week (see attached email). Is there another address I can
>> use?

I can confirm that webmaster@ works as we have received several
emails there per day; please try resending.

>>
>> Sébastien Clément
>
> Hi Sébastien,
>
>> Subject: Featured Users
>>
>> Hi, I would like to add our database to the list of "Featured Users"
>> (https://www.postgresql.org/about/users/).  We have developed
>> TreeSource, a National database for wood quality in Canada, using
>> PostgreSQL. It has been online since 2008, and has had a dedicated
>> PHP interface since 2012.  The address is:
>> https://treesource.rncan.gc.ca

That is great to hear!

>> We could be included in the section "Government", under the name
>> "Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service”

The “Featured User” list is woefully out-of-date and we keep on punting the
issue of what to do with it. To keep it up-to-date, it does require determining
if the companies featured on the list are still using Postgres, etc., so we need
to make a conscious decision if this is something we want to support.

It does look good for the community to have such a list as it does show there
are people using PostgreSQL in real applications throughout the world,
but we need to make sure that we can accurately portray this list to the community.

In summary: we’ll see what we can do.

Thanks,

Jonathan

On 2018-01-15 15:43, Jonathan S. Katz wrote:
<snip>
>>> We could be included in the section "Government", under the name
>>> "Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service”
> 
> The “Featured User” list is woefully out-of-date and we keep on punting 
> the
> issue of what to do with it. To keep it up-to-date, it does require 
> determining
> if the companies featured on the list are still using Postgres, etc., 
> so we need
> to make a conscious decision if this is something we want to support.
> 
> It does look good for the community to have such a list as it does show 
> there
> are people using PostgreSQL in real applications throughout the world,
> but we need to make sure that we can accurately portray this list to
> the community.
> 
> In summary: we’ll see what we can do.

As a thought, for re-invigorating the Featured User list, it'll ideally
be done by someone(s) comfortable doing "Outreach".  eg:

   * Creating a list of potential users to contact (fairly easy to start
     with using any search engine)

   * Reaching out to them (from a @postgresql.org address helped when
     I was doing this ~15 years ago)

   * Determining if they'd be a good fit *and* if they have problems or
     general questions about things (eg "we're wanting to do replication,
     any suggestions?") then direct them appropriately.

     Note 1 - When I was doing this, it was extremely common for people
     to ask questions, so knowing projects/mailing-lists/people (etc) to
     point them at will likely be(come) a noticeable part of doing any
     outreach.

     Note 2 - It was also super common as things progress to come across
     others also experiencing similar concerns/problems (etc), which can
     lead into some good synergies when putting people in contact with
     each other.

That's just the initial Outreach part.  Writing things up from there
eg into simple list, or going further into making Case Studies comes
out of the result.

For me, I mostly became bogged down in the Outreach part (it was both
rewarding an fun though), as even back then there was easily enough for
a single person to do (full time + extra as it was).

That's the "doing it all properly" approach though.  There might be some
quicker/easier way to get things doing without going in-depth. :)

Hmmm, this might be better on the -advocacy list too, as that's very 
much
its purpose. ;)

+ Justin

Hi Justin,

> On Jan 15, 2018, at 7:21 PM, Justin Clift <justin@postgresql.org> wrote:
>
> On 2018-01-15 15:43, Jonathan S. Katz wrote:
> <snip>
>>>> We could be included in the section "Government", under the name
>>>> "Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service”
>> The “Featured User” list is woefully out-of-date and we keep on punting the
>> issue of what to do with it. To keep it up-to-date, it does require determining
>> if the companies featured on the list are still using Postgres, etc., so we need
>> to make a conscious decision if this is something we want to support.
>> It does look good for the community to have such a list as it does show there
>> are people using PostgreSQL in real applications throughout the world,
>> but we need to make sure that we can accurately portray this list to
>> the community.
>> In summary: we’ll see what we can do.
>
> As a thought, for re-invigorating the Featured User list, it'll ideally
> be done by someone(s) comfortable doing "Outreach".  eg:
>
>  * Creating a list of potential users to contact (fairly easy to start
>    with using any search engine)
>
>  * Reaching out to them (from a @postgresql.org address helped when
>    I was doing this ~15 years ago)
>
>  * Determining if they'd be a good fit *and* if they have problems or
>    general questions about things (eg "we're wanting to do replication,
>    any suggestions?") then direct them appropriately.
>
>    Note 1 - When I was doing this, it was extremely common for people
>    to ask questions, so knowing projects/mailing-lists/people (etc) to
>    point them at will likely be(come) a noticeable part of doing any
>    outreach.
>
>    Note 2 - It was also super common as things progress to come across
>    others also experiencing similar concerns/problems (etc), which can
>    lead into some good synergies when putting people in contact with
>    each other.
>
> That's just the initial Outreach part.  Writing things up from there
> eg into simple list, or going further into making Case Studies comes
> out of the result.
>
> For me, I mostly became bogged down in the Outreach part (it was both
> rewarding an fun though), as even back then there was easily enough for
> a single person to do (full time + extra as it was).
>
> That's the "doing it all properly" approach though.  There might be some
> quicker/easier way to get things doing without going in-depth. :)

Are you volunteering? ;-)

I would be happy to help out as well, if you would like to work on this together.
I have a template I used for scanning the Professional Services list (another task
that needs to be redone!) that could help with outreach.

Best,

Jonathan

On 16 Jan 2018, at 16:16, Jonathan S. Katz <jkatz@postgresql.org> wrote:
<snip>
> Are you volunteering? ;-)

Heck No.  I nearly went broke doing this last time.  Not going to repeat that
mistake. ;)

+ Justin

--
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."
- Indira Gandhi