Posted by horrido on Jan 22, 2015; 4:14am
URL: https://forum.world.st/Mea-Culpa-tp4800840p4800872.html

hernanmd wrote

> It is unfortunate that I must use the Pharo forum for this purpose. The
> Smalltalk community is so terribly fragmented that there is no universal
> Smalltalk forum to address, at least, none that is actually *inhabited*.
> Without the ability to address the largest number of Smalltalkers, the SRP
> cannot make any progress. I'm sorry, but I have to be blunt.
>
>
Then maybe you should start your own Smalltalk mailing-list?

A new mailing list that is uninhabited has no value for our campaign. If you create one, it may take months or years before a large number of Smalltalkers migrate to it.

> If anyone can offer a practical alternative, I'd like to hear it.
> Otherwise,
> the SRP has only two choices:
>
> 1) Continue what it is doing on the Pharo forum, and be mindful of which
> group(s) I am addressing.
>
> 2) Fold up the campaign and leave the destiny of Smalltalk to the Fates.
> Without the ability to reach out to Smalltalkers everywhere, I am
> hopelessly
> disadvantaged.
>
>
I am not that convinced Smalltalk should be popular. Surely any smalltalker
could find easily (more) job offers, that would be the only determinant
factor because we need desperately more Smalltalk positions. But popularity
has many drawbacks.... some smalltalkers are afraid to competition, and we
all read the StackOverflow 'popular' questions...

There are people who don't care for Smalltalk's popularity, and there are people who really hope that Smalltalk becomes mainstream. I strongly suspect that the latter group is much larger.

Smalltalk positions are relatively few and far between (at least, this is true in Canada). Becoming mainstream is the only way to improve this. Very few developers are willing to relocate.

So, my alternative is: Instead of broadcasting Smalltalk by traditional
internet advertising, go and get them. I suspect you won't get much from
us, we are some kind of Loyal Customers. But there are tons of
unexperienced developers lacking of fear to change, which are reading
Quora, StackExchange, Wikipedia, etc. And unexperienced developers are the
next business decision makers.

In order to improve Smalltalk's popularity, it is necessary to harness the support and energy of the Smalltalk community. This is not a question of preaching to the converted; it's about getting help to convert others.