Not sure how much reach I have, and Iām not much of a salesman, but Iāll give it a try. Thanks :)
I arrived in the #OpenZFS world just under three years ago with basically no reputation or profile. I was unbelievably fortunate to meet a couple of people early who were extremely generous with their time and willing to lean on their own networks to open doors for me. Thereās no question in my mind that without that early support, I would not have had the success and the opportunities that I have had and continue to have.
One of those people, @dexter is now in need of our help. If you havenāt met him before, heās the host & moderator of the Production User Calls[1], covering #OpenZFS, #bhyve and jails/zones. The amazing thing about these calls is that they attract users and developers from different operating system communities and ecosystem, bringing different perspectives and experiences to the table. Conversations in those calls have led to the extension the OpenZFS Dev Summit to a four-day Users+Developers Summit and improvements to the #Sylve virtualization platform[2].
He would not take credit for these things, but I firmly believe that his effort to create space for the right people to get together every week is critical to keeping these relatively small projects thriving. Heās a hype man and force multiplier. Effective community-owned open source requires people like this.
But of course, time is money, and due to Ongoing Events life is about to get a lot more expensive for a lot of people in the USA, and thatās naturally going to mean less time available for community work.
https://bsd.network/@dexter/115742750066027826
So if youāve got some cash to spare, consider supporting @dexter. If youāre a company that uses #OpenZFS, #bhyve, #FreeBSD or even #Linux and youāre keen to see these things continue to improve and work well with each other, you may find that supporting someone who can help pull those communities together stretches your contribution further than you might have expected!
Links to various ways you can sponsor: https://bsdfund.org/
To my own handful of sponsors: my intent is to pass on some of what youāve given me this year, but if this tickles you the right way I would be delighted if you moved your sponsorship over too.
1. https://callfortesting.org/
2. https://github.com/AlchemillaHQ/Sylve
Marcin Wichary
Ćlvaro R.
Rob š
hyperreal