I’ve written this partly just for myself, but If you’re keen to see what more you could do to help, read on. I think ‘owning your own OS’, in the Open Source way means that you can truly influence the future, which is really something special.

you can truly influence the future

Also, checklist isn’t really the correct word, doing even one of these things is enough to make you awesome…

Pay and Ensure the Future

Pay once when you download, you can go back and pay without downloading again.

Become a patron to ensure sustainability

Buy Merch

Community Spirit

Using elementary OS for free is totally OK and there are many non-financial ways to help improve things.

Ask / answer support question on Stack Exchange (if somebody answered your question correctly, make sure you mark it as the correct answer).

Engage with fellow users on Reddit

File bugs, in the official bug tracker (note: Reddit & Stack Exchange are not for bugs, and things are much more likely to get fixed on the bug tracker).

Do you have press connections, or just like writing (like me)? Blog about your experiences.

Have a custom setup that other users might love? Literally write down your instructions and share them.

Help a friend to install it, maybe even have an elementary OS install party and help lots of people make the jump!

Download & seed the torrent (a magnet link is available on the download elementary OS button), this improves availability and download speed for others.

Geek Mode

So far I’ve done 6 things off this list, including becoming a patron, and I’m going to check off every single one (eventually)!

What have I missed? Have you encouraged someone else to try it? Tell me your stories…