As any community grows, it will encounter challenges. Depending on how the members respond, the community will grow, shrink, or even be wiped out completely. Last week the Ruby on Rails community was presented with a challenge during a regional conference. Without getting into the details, the community mishandled the challenge and hurt many members of the community. Instead of complaining about the incident, I decided to team up with some other people in order to try and improve the community.

RailsBridge.org is born

After talking with Mike Gunderloy and a few other Rails community members, we started up RailsBridge. The website explains the purpose of the project perfectly:

The RailsBridge Mission: To create an inclusive and friendly Ruby on Rails community.

The RailsBridge Guidelines:

• First, do no harm. Then, help where you can.
• Bridge the gap from aspiring developer to contributing community member, through mentoring, teaching, and writing.
• Reach out to individuals and groups who are underrepresented in the community.
• Collaborate with other groups with similar goals.

The website has some more information about the project’s goals, but my goal is to make the community more welcoming to new members. To do this, I’m going to be helping out with project Dana Jones is starting, Creating Courseware for Newcomers to Rails. If you would like to help make some positive change in the Ruby on Rails community, sign up for the group and let your voice be heard.

Eric