Contribute/Canned responses
To help answer questions about how to contribute that come in through the contact form on the Get Involved page or through other channels, we have a number of canned responses for different contribution areas.
Auto-responses process
Note that the Get Involved form does send out auto-responses to some of the inquiries depending on the preferences of the Stewards for the various functional and regional areas. The auto-response process is:
- A potential volunteer fills out the form on the Get Involved page.
- If they choose an area of interest that has an auto-response, that message is sent out immediately.
- The original inquiry from the form is still delivered so a point person can review and reply manually if there is a need to address a specific question.
- The auto-response has a reply-to address set for the point person for that area of interest, so you will get an email if someone replies to the auto-response.
More information about this workflow is available at Contribute/Inquiry_Workflow
Contents
- 1 Accessibility
- 2 Accessibility (long version)
- 3 Add-ons
- 4 Blogging
- 5 Careers
- 6 Coding
- 7 Coding (Java)
- 8 Design
- 9 Documentation and writing
- 10 Education
- 11 Firefox OS
- 12 Firefox Question
- 13 Firefox Student Ambassadors
- 14 Firefox Suggestions
- 15 General
- 16 Legal
- 17 Localization
- 18 Marketing
- 19 Non-Contribute Request
- 20 QA
- 21 Security
- 22 Systems Administration
- 23 Support
- 24 Thunderbird
- 25 UX
- 26 Web Development
- 27 Website Feedback
Accessibility
Thank you for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla. To learn more about our accessibility efforts, please take a look at the Mozilla Accessibility Wiki at:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Accessibility
If you have any questions about this or if this is not your interest, let me know.
Accessibility (long version)
Thank you for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla. To learn more about our accessibility efforts, please take a look at the Mozilla Accessibility Wiki at:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Accessibility
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.
Since accessibility issues can be very broad in scope, I suggest you be very specific regarding the area(s) of accessibility you are interested in pursuing.
If you have any questions about this or if this is not your interest, let me know.
or
I am sorry to hear you're having problems accessing the internet in some fashion. Please tell us about your problem in detail by posting to our support site http://support.mozilla.com/kb/ask, we'll see what we can do to help.
Add-ons
The Add-ons auto-response text can be found at:
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/addons.txt
Blogging
Hi!
Thanks for your interest in helping Mozilla by blogging.
A great way to get started is to write a post on your blog about what Mozilla or Firefox means to you. Please email me a link when you have posted it. I'm also interested in what your experience is with blogging, what topics you'd like to write about, and anything else you think is relevant. Please include that in your email.
If you use Twitter, you can tweet a link to your post with the hashtag #mozilla, to get more people to see it.
Here are some resources about Mozilla to help you with blogging about Mozilla:
- Mozilla's mission: http://www.mozilla.org/mission/
- Our style guide, including brand and logo guidelines: http://www.mozilla.org/styleguide
- Press announcements: https://blog.mozilla.org/press/
- News and tips for Firefox users: https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/
If you really want to "drink from the firehose", Planet Mozilla is an aggregation of blogs by many different Mozilla contributors, working in many different areas of the Mozilla project. You can read it on the Web at http://planet.mozilla.org/ You can also subscribe in a feed reader (see the buttons on the web page), which makes it easier to pick and choose what articles to read. If you see a post that catches your interest, you could write a blog post that puts your own perspective on that topic.
Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Careers
For information about available careers, please check out our career site at https://careers.mozilla.org
Coding
I'm Josh, one of many Firefox developers. Glad to hear from you! Feel free to have a look at http://whatcanidoformozilla.org if you're interested in joining a particular project or team. Meanwhile, I'll tell you about some general opportunities for writing code for Firefox.
To get started with the codebase, have a look at http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Introduction.
If you need any help, you can obtain it on IRC. I recommend visiting
- introduction, which is specifically for newcomers. See
http://irc.mozilla.org for how to access it.
Feel free to contact me anytime if you're having any problems!
Happy hacking, Josh
Coding (Java)
Thanks for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla. If you're interested in Java programming, take a look at the Rhino project. Rhino is an open-source implementation of JavaScript written entirely in Java.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Rhino
I'd recommend reading the recent discussions on the Rhino group and then posting there to get started working with the Rhino developers.
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.tech.js-engine.rhino/topics
Another thing to check out is our Developer Guide. This will give you a general overview of the code, processes and tools used in the community.
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developer_Guide
If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to write me back.
Design
The Design auto-response text can be found at:
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/design.txt
Documentation and writing
The Documentation auto-response text can be found at:
Spanish
For people who respond to the /en-US form with a message in Spanish, use this response to direct them into the Mozilla Hispano process:
Si estás interesado en ayudar con la redacción de la documentación de Mozilla, por favor rellena la versión en español del formulario de participación: http://www.mozilla.org/es-ES/contribute/
Education
The Education auto-response text can be found at:
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/education.txt
Firefox OS
Thanks for your interest in getting involved with Firefox OS.
If you're a developer, you can find out more about hacking on Firefox OS at
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS
You don't have to be a developer though to help out. For instance, you can help users of Firefox OS by contributing to our Support site. Learn more about that at
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-contribute-firefox-os-even-if-youre-not-techni
You can also help us spread the word about Firefox OS by joining our affiliates program and putting a Firefox OS banner on your web site, Facebook account or email. Learn more at
https://affiliates.mozilla.org/
If you have any questions about any of this, let me know.
Firefox Question
I'm sorry to hear about some of the issues you are running into with Firefox. Perhaps we can help solve your problem with a simple fix.
I suggest asking about this on our Firefox support site at
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/ask
Please be specific and also post any error messages if available and/or a crash ID so that we can have a more complete understanding of the issue.
Thanks, we're here to help.
or
Sorry to hear you're having problems with Thunderbird.
I suggest asking about this on our Thunderbird support site at
http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/home
or
If you're having problems using Facebook with Firefox see the following:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Problems%20using%20Facebook%20in%20Firefox
or
Many crashes are due to out of date plug-ins and add-ons, so I'd suggest using our plugin checker to check for old plug-ins. You can also try uninstalling any add-ons you have installed to see if that helps.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Uninstalling+add-ons
If neither of those things work, I'd suggest using our Live Chat service to talk to someone in our support community about this.
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/chat
GOOGLE TOOLBAR
There will be no update of the Google Toolbar to work with Firefox 5 or any later version of Firefox because Firefox users have most of the features built-in and have alternatives.
Google Toolbar Help: An update on Google Toolbar for Firefox http://googletoolbarhelp.blogspot.com/2011/07/update-on-google-toolbar-for-firefox.html
Toolbar not available for Firefox 5 or newer versions : - Toolbar Help http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?answer=1342452&topic=15356%29
For translation and spell checking you do not need an extension at all https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/852325
To Be Used As Needed And Added To The Reply:
Please refrain from the use of foul language and/or cursing when asking our volunteer support team for help, we're here to assist in solving your issue, thanks.
Firefox Student Ambassadors
So glad to hear you're interested in Mozilla! As a student, we have the option for you to join our Firefox Student Ambassador Program. You can sign up here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contribute/studentambassadors/ and read all about it here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/StudentAmbassadors. Excited to have you on board!
Firefox Suggestions
The Firefox Suggestion auto-response text can be found at:
General
Text for a response to someone that doesn't indicate any particular area of interest can be found at:
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/other.txt
Legal
Thank you for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla.
I would encourage you to introduce yourself and join the discussion on Mozilla's legal forum at
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.legal/topics
I'll also forward your information directly to our legal team.
If you have any questions about this or would like to talk about how to get involved in other areas of the project, feel free to write me back.
Localization
The Localization auto-response text can be found at:
Follow up to l10n inquiry
We're very excited to have you join the Mozilla localization (l10n) effort! Your skills and dedication will be very valuable to your l10n team.
Next step, follow the steps outline on http://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Contribute. When you contact your l10n team, please CC me on that email so that I can help to make sure you receive a prompt response.
If you have any questions or difficulties, please let me know.
Welcome!
Marketing
The Marketing auto-response text can be found at
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/marketing.txt
Non-Contribute Request
I'm sorry, but your entry is beyond the scope of the purpose of this form, which is to direct your interest in contributing to Mozilla and its products and communities. We are not able to see a connection between your response and Mozilla. You can learn more about Mozilla here: www.mozilla.org/about/
If you would like to refine your response so that it relates more directly to Mozilla's activities, we would be most happy to help you find a way to participate. Mozilla depends on a broad and diverse set of contributors, and we appreciate your interest.
QA
The QA auto-response text can be found at
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/qa.txt
Security
Thank you for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla. To learn more about our security process, I'd recommend taking a look at our Security Center and then checking out and posting to our security group.
http://wiki.mozilla.org/security/
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.security/topics
If you have any questions about this, let me know.
Systems Administration
TBD
Support
The Support auto-response text can be found at
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/support.txt
Thunderbird
(If the inquiry is regarding a support issue or bug report, use the text on https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Response_text#tb-kb_via_Mozilla_Contribute_page)
Hello! Thanks for your interest in helping out with Mozilla's Thunderbird email client. We are a non-profit that relies heavily on volunteer contributors.
There are a number of ways you can contribute to Thunderbird:
- Help with Testing and QA http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing
- Help Thunderbird Users http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/superheroes-wanted
- Improve the Knowledge Base http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/improve-knowledge-base
- Translate Thunderbird Help http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/localize-thunderbird-help
- Write an Add-on http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Extensions/Thunderbird
- Fix a Bug http://www.mozilla.org/hacking/
- Spread the word by blogging or tweeting about Thunderbird
Members of the Thunderbird team can usually be found on the #maildev IRC channel on irc.mozilla.org. Feel free to drop in and say "hi". If you have any questions, write me back and I'll be happy to help.
Welcome to the Thunderbird community!
UX
Thanks for your interest in getting involved with Mozilla.
Check out the Mozilla UX blog to learn more about what projects are going on and what you may be interested in helping with.
You can talk directly to members of the UX team on our chat server at
For help using our chat server, there's more information at
Web Development
The Web Development auto-response text can be found at:
https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/tree/master/bedrock/mozorg/templates/mozorg/emails/webdev.txt
Website Feedback
By the way, if you're interested in helping us improve our web sites even more, you're certainly welcome to get involved.
Our web sites are run as open projects and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with web QA, web development and more.
Here are some links if you're interested in learning more.
http://quality.mozilla.org/teams/web-qa/
http://blog.mozilla.com/webdev/get-involved/
If you have any questions about any of this or would like to talk more, feel free to write me back.