Ubuntu Wiki

About Me

My screen name is partially derived from the colour of my hair, Silver. I also like foxes, hence Silver Fox. Nothing else to say really about it, sorry that their is no big mystery

Ubuntu was first introduced to me by a colleague and since then it has become my operating system of choice. From tentative steps I feel that I am now quite confident with it. At home I run two machines running various versions of Ubuntu. At the moment I am running Ubuntu 9.04 on a desktop computer and testing Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 on my Acer Aspire One.

I have also managed to successfully introduce a few friends to the operating system and now serve as their immediate access to help.

Socially

Socially I try to stay fit and active. My fitness regime includes Running, Cycling, Swimming and Badminton. I am also a keen snooker and pool player. Playing Snooker and Pool for the local pub team is my way of relaxing whilst at the same time socializing with friends. I am not really a film buff, but can appreciate good cinema. I do however like music, especially from the 60's era.

Professionally

I'm an IT professional working in the United Kingdom. I have been working as web developer and database administrator in a very small development team. We typically follow a DSDM methodology in our development projects as we have multiple skills at our disposal.

At work we also make use of Ubuntu for our projects. We have two machines with WUBI 9.04 installs on them and also a machine dual booting Ubuntu 8.04 with Windows XP. I think I am very fortunate to be exposed to these different versions of Ubuntu in that my knowledge and experience can only be enhanced. This knowledge I use when trying to help others.

Ubuntu Participation

Beginners Team

I am a member of the Beginners Team and I feel a sense of pride to be associated with it. Being a member of this team has allowed me to enhance my Ubuntu education, whilst at the same time help others with their problems. It has also been a perfect opportunity to socialize with the community and get to know individuals better.

My Padawan

I have taken up the role as Master to prospective Beginners Team members. In this role I seek to guide them in their membership application and also to introduce them to the team. Forming bonds early on with the padawan can only help our interactions with one another in the future.

It has been my pleasure to take the following on as padawan:

Diego Turcios | Arthur L

Young New Users Focus Group

I have been made joint lead of the Young New Users Focus Group. Its purpose is to help young new users integrate with the beginners team and by extension the Ubuntu community. The focus group is designed to be approachable for any help needed by younger users and also to encourage then to respect the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. This group is also a chance for the younger users to post anything they are not sure is suitable to be posted else where. The post is then analysed and if necessary reworded, or if needed we advise to the user not to post it at all.

IRC Focus Group

I am joint lead of the IRC Focus Group. My reason for joining this group is twofold. Primarily I joined this group in order to help users in a real time environment compared to the delay in responses associated with forum assistance. My secondary reason for joining this group was to revive its original purpose of being a support channel, as it had become inactive. I also feel that helping others over IRC is also a good way to build relationships with community members.

Wiki Focus Group

I have joined this focus group in order to do more for the community. I was fortunate enough to join at the very beginning of The Summer of Documentation 2009 period. It was a highly enjoyable experience and one that I look forward to getting involved with again.

Pages Worked On Summer of Documentation 2009

A list of pages that I have worked on:

• o Glossary of Terms	o How To Get Help
  o USB	o The GIMP
  o Software Management	o VNC

Whube

Whube is a web information system that helps with organizing The Beginners Team. It seeks to manage the Beginners Team Focus Groups activities and Members in a more efficient way than mailing lists and wiki pages. Whube also includes a bug tracking feature, which we feel as a unit will be extremely useful for the Development Focus Group. The system is being developed in house by the more code minded people in the Beginners Team, most notably Paultag, Joeb454 and myself. Features will be added as needed and will be maintained by the 3 developers.

Ubuntu Forums

I am a member of the Ubuntu Forums. Here is the link to My Profile. I consider myself active in the support sections of the forum and always like to help where I can. At present I have over 800 support area posts. I tend to post in the Programming Talk forum but I do also try to help out where I can in the Absolute Beginner Talk and also General Help forums. If I see a thread where I can contribute something useful I will definitely post in it. I have also signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct and can be considered an Ubuntero.

Unanswered Posts Team

I am not a member of this team at present. I believe that I could contribute to this team as I have a diverse skill/knowledge base that may be of benefit to others.

Update

I have applied to join this group over two months ago, but my request has still not been processed as of yet. I remain hopeful that others will not go through this experience and also that my application is eventually seen to.

Update 2

It appears that the team is undergoing leadership reorganisation. In the last Beginners Team meeting a merger with the Beginners Team to form a new Focus Group was being discussed. If this merger does take place then I shall join the new focus group and also help with integration of the new comers in any way I can.

Update 3

This team is now under new leadership and does not appear that it will join with the Beginners Team as a Focus Group. Given this new direction it has taken I am going to reapply for membership as all membership requests (86, I believe) were rejected as the team was seen to be inactive at application date. I would hope to have this resolved within the next week and actively looking to make contact with the new leaders of this team.

Update 4

I have made contact with the teams new join lead Hellow and formally announced my interest in it. When my real life work schedule becomes less busy I will start to contribute to this teams goal and seek to secure membership.

UK Local Community Team

I am a member of UK Loco Team. It is nice to be able to meet and help fellow Ubuntu users in my own country. I look forward to getting more involved on the Ubuntu scene via this team.

Internet Relay Chat

My registered IRC nickname is Silver_Fox_. I am looking forward to getting to know the Ubuntu community members better through this medium. I am usually present in the following channels:

1. #ubuntuforums
2. #ubuntu-beginners
3. #ubuntu-beginners-YNU
4. #ubuntu-beginners-help
5. #ubuntu-uk

Please feel free to say hello ( unless I beat you to it )

Linux User Group (LUG)

I am trying to become more active on the Linux scene and this seems to be a sensible move for me to make. There are 2 different LUG's near to me and I plan to attend both sets of meetings next month. Once I have done that I will pick which one I liked the most and continue to attend. At the moment I am on a fact finding mission and trying to learn as much as possible about the two LUGs I am close to.

Goals For The Future

1. Continue to contribute to the Community Docs.

2. Continue to get Friends and Family trying Ubuntu
3. Become an Ubuntu Member
4. Decide which LUG to join
5. Join Ubuntu Forums Unanswered Posts Team

Testimonials

Paultag ( Paul Tagliamonte ) - Since Silver_Fox's induction to the team, I have had the utmost pleasure in collaborating in several areas of the Ubuntu Beginners Team. He has taken up administrative roles next to me in the realm of IRC administration, and kick-started many initiatives regarding policy, moderation and activity. She is also helping me with the development of a team-wide web application that will be used to integrate the Ubuntu Beginners Team even further. These efforts mark an extraordinary dedication past the average member. His work with the UBT alone is not only noteworthy, but exemplary. Please consider Silver_Fox's application favourably, he is an invaluable member to not only my teams, but to the community as a whole.

starcraft.man - Silver Fox is awesome. Paultag really laid it all out why. Silver Fox hangs around IRC and helps answer questions to members and non-members alike. Silver Fox is both caring and patient with answering people, even when frustrated. Silver Fox has proven Silver Fox's commitment to team by taking on leadership of focus groups and participating in meetings to better the team, among other things. Silver Fox has most of all provided hours of entertainment to yours truly, in between classes, an invaluable service greatly appreciated. You may wonder why starcraft.man is referring to Silver Fox only by full name? The answer is simple, Silver Fox is so awesome, third person pronouns are afraid of Silver Fox. If Silver Fox wanted, Silver Fox could probably become Super Silver Fox, donning a super hero outfit and saving people from boredom and linux problems singlehandedly while coding some application with free hand. So, in case it isn't clear enough, Silver Fox must become a member! That's a fact because starcraft.man said so.

swoody - It has been my pleasure to be a member of the Ubuntu Beginners Team alongside Silver Fox. With his full knowledge of Ubuntu, and the way he answers others' questions with patience, it is obvious that he knows his way around the block, but he's not full of himself for it. He does not mind setting aside something he is working on, if he can offer assistance when it's needed. Silver Fox has also become a great leader within the Beginners Team, and a person many others look up to. I have no reservations giving Silver Fox my unabashed support in his application for Ubuntu Membership. I feel he has all the qualities one could wish for of an Ubuntu Member, and I hope that more people can learn and be influenced by this gentleman as he continues being a great leader and role-model for the Ubuntu community.

forestpixie -Silver_Fox has blasted into the UBT and seemingly set about shining a torch into all the little nooks and crannies and bringing them out into the open again - at least that is how it seems It is a somewhat gratifying feeling to see someone who I mentored become a member of the UBT and for them to then go on to apply for Ubuntu membership makes it doubly so, once again I come late to the party and have to tack a testimonial on to the end of a list. Silver_Fox embodies in my mind all the traits that Ubuntu members should have. A sustained contribution on the forums has been joined with a great contribution to the little corner of IRC in which we hang about trying to help people away from the hustle of #ubuntu. In my opinion we need more people in our community like Silver_Fox and I, without reservation, strongly support their application for Ubuntu membership.

DiegoTc -Silver_Fox has been a great guy contributing a lot on the UBT. He is always available in helping others. He has been a great master(even he doesn`t like they tell him like that)If you need help just ping Silver_Fox and he will help you and if can't he will help you find the correct answer. He is a great person that has many influenced in guys like me who wants to contribute on the Ubuntu Comunity. I strongly support his application for Ubuntu Member.

andrew.46 Silver_Fox is not only an extraordinarily helpful and valuable member of the Ubuntu Beginners Team but he is also a fine representative of the Ubuntu ethos and a man who has made substantial contribution to the Ubuntu community in general. I strongly support his application for Ubuntu Membership.