5mo ago

Framework looking for unpaid workers to be 'Linux Community Ambassadors'

community.frame.work Framework is looking for Linux Community Ambassadors!

Framework is looking for Linux Community Ambassadors! We are looking for active members of the Linux community who frequently visit Linux and open-source events throughout the year to help us connect with the larger Linux community. Our volunteer ambassadors will attend local Linux and open-source...

Linux @programming.dev

community.frame.work /t/framework-is-looking-for-linux-community-ambassadors/55344

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Linux @lemmy.ml

Framework looking for unpaid workers to be 'Linux Community Ambassadors'

community.frame.work /t/framework-is-looking-for-linux-community-ambassadors/55344

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53 comments

That's a bit of a disingenuous way to put it, it's reads to me more that they want to reach out/make official what some people were already doing.
- Yeah, allowing enthusiasts to represent the community and get perks isn't crazy.
  
  Yeah, allowing enthusiasts to represent the community and get perks isn’t crazy.
  It's not a community (like Debian), it's a for-profit company.
- it’s reads to me more that they want to reach out/make official what some people were already doing.
  So pay them?
  
  I wouldn't be surprised at all if paying them meaningfully lowered their pool of applicants. I would be very surprised if it didn't lower the quality of the feedback.
  Being an "employee", regardless of amount paid or frequency of interaction, is something that would cause issues with some people's real jobs, especially in tech fields, and especially if they're people who want to encourage their employers to buy Framework in the future.
  It also changes the nature of the relationship with Framework, how they interact with the community, and the feedback they're willing to pass on.
  
  Well not "that" official.

I feel like they should at least provide them with a laptop If they're going to do unpaid promotion.
- showcase Framework laptops and parts
  I'm pretty sure they don't expect you to bring your own..

Could at least give them a framework laptop.

Our volunteer ambassadors will attend local Linux and open-source events, meet with other Framework laptop users and potential community members, answer questions, gather feedback, and showcase Framework laptops and parts to those interested. Ambassadors will be in close touch to Framework employees and they will represent the Linux community, feedback and requests directly to our engineers and to our internal Linux team.
That sounds way too close to unpaid labour. I'm all for recognizing community members with perks, merch, and other freebies; but this looks more like soliciting volunteers for unpaid PR.
- Everybody was doing this in 2007 for Google, Facebook, Apple. They seem to think times haven't changed.
  I don't like something about Framework. I'm not sure what.

I'm a big fan of what they are achieving, but if they want free labour they can just eat shit

OP, just call them "unpaid volunteers", jeez.
- "Volunteers" are unpaid by the definition.
  
  It seems like OP wants to stress this.
  
  Not always, in military contexts it's used to differentiate between conscripted and those who voluntarily applied.
- OP, just call them “unpaid volunteers”, jeez.
  If that was for a non-profit community-driven organization, what would be the correct term. Framework, however, is a regular for-profit company that is looking for people to promote their commercial products.
  
  I just really hate clickbait titles when you could easily put your clickbait in the description.
  This isn’t a program to get people to go to conferences and rep Framework, it’s a program to give people who are already going to conferences and showing off their Framework some swag and opportunities to talk with the team. It’s not assigning work, it’s just saying thank you to people who are excited about Framework and active in the Linux community.
  They already have volunteers for this cause of repairable products they believe in, hence looking for volunteers.

I think this part:
Our volunteer ambassadors will [list of tasks performed]
And
Ambassadors need to [list of properties]
Along with
Bonus points if [list of properties]
Are what makes this read like a job ad for a job they’re not paying for. If they’d have posted a much shorter version with less demands, selection criteria, etc, not worded as a job ad, I’d have been a lot more charitable in my interpretation. In this case, I find it difficult to read it as anything else than “work for us, a profit-driven company, for free”.
I don’t think it’s a massive problem, but it for sure is bad communication. Ironically.
I generally don’t like this. Company fandom is bad, companies encouraging fandom is worse. Someone mentioned “but OnePlus does this!” as a counter argument and I think that’s telling something because I think they’re slimy as hell. And I had a OnePlus One and liked it.

So they're just trying to form an official connection with the people that are already passionate about Framework. Nothing wrong with that.

53 comments