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It seems that Ask Ubuntu was launched on or around 10th October 2010. This means that our 10th birthday is coming up in about three months :)

This post is here to invite your ideas on how we can celebrate 10 years of Ask Ubuntu.

I think it would be easier for people to express approval etc, if answers to this question had just one idea each (so if you have three ideas, I suggest you add three answers).

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  • 1
    I think it is a good idea to do something. The issue is, what can we do within the constrains of the site? Perhaps some kind of meta post detailing significant events in the life of Ask Ubuntu? I don't know, would people even be interested to read some thing like that?
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 16:31
  • 1
    @MarkKirby I was thinking less reading, more doing stuff like workshops or challenges - something a bit like Winter Bash
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 16:50
  • Yeah, I get that, it wasn't a great idea.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 16:57
  • 2
    Once this happened for the anniversary of SO: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/374617/… meta.stackexchange.com/questions/316515/who-cut-the-cheese and here is some more celebrations to take ideas from meta.stackexchange.com/questions/288772/…
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 17:03
  • @MarkKirby I just came back to say that I'm sorry for my previous comment. This is really about whatever people want to do that can be done, not what I personally would find cool or interesting. We can do lots of things, not just one. Thanks for the links! :)
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 17:15
  • Don't worry about it, even I am not convinced it is a good idea and the logistics of putting it together would be a nightmare. I was really just thinking out loud.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 17:18
  • When would we decide on the verdict?
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 10, 2020 at 13:06
  • @Dan Looks like we should definitely do the classrooms thing, so I was thinking of posting another question to start organising it early next week. We can maybe post stuff about the other upvoted ideas to see if/how we can implement them too. Would be grateful for any suggestions on how to move forward with it XD
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2020 at 13:10

9 Answers 9

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Ask Ubuntu classrooms

We could probably have some classroom sessions. I know it is a long forgotten idea but I think it would be nice to learn some new things from the experts around us.

People interested in teaching or learning any specific topics should put forth their suggestions and recommendations.

Some ideas to keep it going:

  1. Introduction to Command-line and navigating around the system using it
  2. Basic text editing using Vim
  3. Writing a simple bash or python script
  4. Creating a Debian package for your bash/python script and making a PPA
  5. Making a simple GUI app e.g. basic calculator
  6. Making a simple gnome-shell extension
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  • 1
    I love this idea. I know an Inkscape expert who might be up for teaching something like how to make an icon
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 18:08
  • 2
    Good idea. Gaining knowledge while celebrating.
    – VidathD
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 14:06
  • 3
    I have a gold badge for one tag. I would volunteer to participate in a classroom session for that. I would even answer questions about Debian, Mint, elementaryOS, Pop!_OS and Kali Linux if I'm allowed to.
    – karel
    Commented Jul 3, 2020 at 5:57
  • @karel thanks so much for the offer :D
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 3, 2020 at 6:15
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    if nobody who actually knows stuff wants to do a better job, I can do a very beginner level intro to the command line and basic file permissions
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 7:15
  • +1 for 6.Making a simple gnome-shell extension. Someone should definitely do that.
    – kashish
    Commented Jul 9, 2020 at 8:10
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Some kind of small banner or other decoration visible on the site for the month of October pointing out that Ask Ubuntu is 10 years old.

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    I would say we do this either way if we end having any type of event! And that banner would link to the event details. Are you, as mods, able to do this change? Or does it need an SE dev to add it?
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 11:03
  • 1
    @Dan maybe I should edit the question to say we don't have to pick one idea - we can just implement all the popular ones that are actually practicable :) I agree the banner should link to event details :D I have a lot of new buttons but I haven't found the one for add-awesome-banner yet if it exists. I suspect we have to ask the higher powers to do something... but I also suspect someone here could at least write code for it or something
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 11:42
  • @Dan jokerdino has shown me the button to add stuff to the Community Bulletin, which is the thing that has featured meta posts and stuff in it, if I understand correctly (slightly nervous to test), so if we can't get a shiny banner we can at least put it there :)
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 13:45
  • 1
    No worries, nothing will happen
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 14:07
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Let's get to know each other more closely

  • What is the story behind your username (if you aren't using your real name)?
  • What brought you to Ask Ubuntu?
  • What makes you stay here?
  • What do you takeaway from here at the end of the day?
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  • I love this idea. But if we do this as a meta post, how long will it get? 🤔😃
    – VidathD
    Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 14:03
  • 1
    It would be nice to inform participants in such an activity that personal information shared by them could later be used in ways they didn't expect.
    – DK Bose
    Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 6:12
  • @Kulfy Is this idea being implemented?
    – Random Person
    Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 9:50
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I am really curious to know about the current life of the earliest contributors whose questions and answers has most upvotes, which surely helped more people to solve their problems. Let's try to contact them if possible and,

  • know about how their Ubuntu/ Linux life has progressed over 10 years.

  • If they are still using Ubuntu,

  • or may be they are now in a different field and why?

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  • If they're not "still using Ubuntu" or "now in a different field", how would they see your survey?
    – waltinator
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 17:30
  • What did you mean? I mean contact.
    – Nuwan Thisara
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 14:55
  • Some of us still lurk and keep in touch, maybe we could do a livestream or something with some of the OG folks, I'm only now realizing the amount of work it took between Canonical/SE and the community to not just build this site but figuring out how to make it work.
    – Jorge Castro
    Commented Aug 8, 2020 at 14:52
  • Like I bet people forgot that we had to pitch this idea at an Ubuntu Developer Summit to convince the experts that contributing here was a good idea, etc.
    – Jorge Castro
    Commented Aug 8, 2020 at 14:53
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Video-gaming events

Some years ago, a few of the community members came together and played 0 A.D. We can organise such events for interested participants.

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Themed Questions Challenge

  • Identify (a) topic area(s) we need better resources about (please suggest some in comments here - or could be done in a later meta post)
  • Create a challenge for asking and answering questions about the topic(s)
  • Make a leaderboard to share the stats for the challenge
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Some sites previously had competitions where unique prizes were handed out to the winners.

Perhaps we could adapt the cheese idea to be relevant to this site "Show us your best Ubuntu memes and win a prize" or something to that effect could be fun.

I guess we would need to ask really nicely for some kind of unique swag like in the link.

@staff I know we are not exactly SO but do you love us enough to help us out with some good Ask Ubuntu / SE themed prizes?

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Live stream of Ubuntu from 10 years ago getting upgraded to the latest versions. Similar to the Windows 1.0 through to 10 on a VM upgrade

-1

I really like all the ideas that have been posted here but what if we added a few sections to ask ubuntu like running commands, networking, and boot (need I go on). Right now it's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo this way people that are good at say networking can look at the networking section, people that can do boot go to boot...

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  • 2
    use tags to find questions about a particular topic. For example, in the search bar, type [command-line] or [networking] or [boot]
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2020 at 11:57

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