Welcome David Crossley

[David Crossley <cr...@apache.org>]

I have been here since the lead-up discussion to
create this list. Now that it is happening, i would
like to share my reasons for being here.

My name is David Crossley, chair of the Apache Forrest
project and i am also involved with Apache Cocoon
and Apache XML Commons.

I very much value the focus on "community" above code
that is practised at ASF. I try to encourage a respectful
approach to our mailing list discussions. I suppose that
i am one of those community-builder types.

As the -info statement for this list shows, we need to
do more work on creating a welcoming environment for
everyone. There must be reasons why there are not
yet many women at ASF projects. I am here to explore
that issue as part of the overall community.

A large proportion of my opensource work is to enhance
documentation, because i know how powerfully enabling
that is. Many of us struggle to understand arcane
procedures at the ASF. I try to summarise answers from
email lists into docs. If other people don't stumble
so much, then they can be more productive, and we all
benefit.

I want to help to make ASF an even better place to be,
for all types of people. I intend to focus on community
building techniques and hope that this list does not
turn into an "everything about the ASF" type of list.

My real life work is often changing, so not much point
talking about that. It involves using xml structured
information to create search systems and reporting systems.

-David