# Growing our Community This is a list of practical tips and suggestions on how you can take part in, help to strengthen and grow our community. If you haven’t done so yet, please read our [Mission and Core Values](../getting-started/mission-and-core-values.md) and ensure you follow our [Code of Conduct](../getting-started/code-of-conduct.md), as these are closely aligned. ## How to Get Involved - At the moment much of the community communication takes place on slack. A first step to getting involved can be as simple as joining [our Slack](status-im.slack.com) and saying “hi” (we're friendly people!). - Take a look around the Slack channels, where you will find #dev-status, #dapp-chat, #lll etc. - When you get to know people in the community who have interests or skills then let them know about or invite them to join the channels that play to their strengths. - If you think there is a need for a channel (but you're unsure) then please drop in to #channel-manager and make a proposal: **Make sure that the channel name is easy to understand**. The description should help others make a quick decision which channels they should join. ## Highlighting & Managing Needs - Share your ideas on how we can make the list of tasks and needed contributions more easily visible. The more accessible and manageable tasks become to the community the better. - Simple requests can be addressed by individual people, long complex tasks may require a handful of people to complete, so encourage and help create bands of people to accomplish those. - If you know someone who would be great for a task, let them know! Don't pressure them if they are too busy. - Do your best to keep tasks as specific as possible, work to create clear goals. Offer people specific and challenging goals that suit them, and keep them accountable in a friendly, non-pushy manner. - Give clear feedback, and challenges that exercise people’s skills to their limits. - How can we improve our tools for finding and tracking work that needs to be done? The easier it is for everyone to see what needs to be done, the easier it is to contribute – If you have a suggestion then let everyone know your ideas! - If you are prominent in the community it is your duty to more frequently ask people if they are available for tasks. ## Culture - Status is focused on the *Ethereum Public Blockchain*. We want to retain and enhance the collaborative culture which has driven the creation of Ethereum itself, but we aim to approach our ideals of open participation with a level of pragmatism and we recognise that there is also a place in the world for private Blockchains. - People are more willing to contribute to their community when they see that others are contributing too, and that their own contributions are useful and valued. - Always communicate the benefits of contribution, it will positively impact everyone in the community and increase the numner of people who will care, and perhaps contribute. - Development will take as long as it has to. While we all recognise this, we encourage clear goals, aligned with "soft deadlines" which will help encourage and focus contribution. - Our community is a place where friendships develop, and perhaps occasional disagreements crop up too. Just remember that we're all human, and it will be easier and more fun if we treat each other with respect. - Remember, we're all good at different things and in different ways; even the best of us make mistakes. - Never be silent about positive feedback! If things are going well, let people know! Good feelings will enhance peoples motivation. - Make an effort to become familiar with anyone who is contributing to the project, and get to know them over time. ## Gratitude & Reciprocity - Think of ways you can encourage people to commit to contributing to the community on a long term basis. Whether that's taking an interest in someone, highlighting a task they might find interesting or even reminding them how we appreciate their accomplishments. In doing so we can raise everyone’s willingness to keep this project alive. - Start by acknowledging each other, whether that's welcoming people to the community or thanking them for their contributions. - Free Software communities like ours thrive on reciprocity. When you contribute to the community you encourage other people to contribute too! The way you contribute will help to shape the culture of the entire community, as the contributions you make influence the contributions of others. - Offer more frequent feedback on tasks & contributions that have a definate goal. - Give constructive feedback on people’s performance, and if they like competition - encourage friendly competition with others. - Negative feedback can be helpful too. We encourage *constructive* criticism and friendly debate, as long as it remains *friendly*. - Find other ways to reward contributors, either through your own words, actions or material. - Actively highlight and communicate your mistakes *and* accomplishments, be accepting of those who do. The faster mistakes are discovered the faster we can solve them, and the faster we can praise your accomplishments. - Any rewards should not be based on tasks but rather on consistent performance. Rewards should be impromptu. - Adding task-contingent rewards (for doing or finishing a task) to an interesting task causes people to be less interested and successful in the task. (This effect is larger for monetary rewards than for prizes, status rewards and charitable donations.) ## Conversation - If you have something you share that you think aligns with the general interests of the community, share it in the #status [Slack](http://slack.status.im) channel. - Going off-topic is okay! But try and keep your conversations in their most appropriate #channel. - Having a custom profile picture allows other people to recognise you. If you like, show your face! It comes in handy when developing friendships or finding each other A.F.K. - If you see any work that involves Status, whether it's a blog post, a contribution, someone talking about Status in another chat - let everyone know! - How can we generate and show our metrics to different audiences? Information like on how we're growing, both in absolute numbers and as percentages! - Look at ways other successful communities are working, see if we can find similarities or ways we can be better and talk about it. - If you see any publicity and endorsements on Status, let people know!