Naoki wrote:
But the vastly overwhelming response is people do want a mascot, which is fine, but does it actually help the project, or the marketing of that project. No. It does not. It doesn't help the project, and the marketing should be about evangelising the technical merits, or the benefits of open source.
My personal point of view based on my experience in the Art Team: a mascot could allow us to create a lot of unofficial graphics which a lot of users may love and use. Yes, any of us can do cute graphics using his own imagery and publish them in his own channels (and some already do that), but having a mascot agreed by everyone could allow a concerted effort and higher visibility.
There is one place a mascot helps though, and that is mind-share, itgives people something a little tangible to associate with.It will also give FC loving sites a plush toy to sell for revenue.
also T-shirts, mouse pads, stickers, calendars -- nicu Cool Fedora wallpapers: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro/wallpapers/ Open Clip Art Library: http://www.openclipart.org my Fedora stuff: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro