Jim Henderson <hendersj@...155...> writes:
On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:56:00 +0100, Alan Horkan wrote:
I realise there is something of a generation gap and some users really do prefer using web based forums for everything (as opposed to getting a better email client, or using news (NNTP) or anything else).
I would suggest that any forums solution for any project should include an NNTP interface - there are plenty of packages out there that provide NNTP and web-based forums (FUDForum comes to mind).
If such a thing comes into existance, then might vote yes.
If it's just a regular, "standalone" web forum however, then I'd say that we have many discussion channels and ways to access them already - multiple mailing lists, with an NNTP gateway from http://gmane.org, IRC and Jabber, the Wiki, the different Sourceforge trackers, and even Planet Inkscape could be counted. Keeping them up-to-date and accurate is already very hard - adding more places of information to that would make it even harder. An NNTP interface would at least make it more likely that developers are using the forum.
The following post reflects my opinion toward standalone forums completely (http://lists.musicbrainz.org/pipermail/musicbrainz-users/2006-January/010818...):
There is no possible way I would ever put up with having to use a web "message board" to access these discussions. I like my email software very much thank you. I am not going to wait for a web page to load every time I want to open a thread. I am not going to compose lengthy messages outside of my favorite editor. I am not going to read the content I want in some hack web designer's idea of what a page ought to look like with itty bitty fonts and tacky graphics and unwrapped lines of text. I am not going to check something three times a day instead of using my favorite biff program. I am not going to let someone else decide when messages should be marked read or expired. I am not going to come back from a week's vacation and give up on reviewing old threads because of how mind-numbing it is just to figure out where things left off. I will not sacrifice per-message permalinks and Googleable archives for some hack coder's idea of an adequate replacement. And above all I will not give up the ability to read and reply offline.
And http://lists.musicbrainz.org/pipermail/musicbrainz-users/2006-January/010827... fits Inkscape as well IMO:
Our goals are not only to answer questions but also to make the platform and the database better. I think it is a mistake to consider those entirely separate from one another and create one class of users who are "not elite" and another who "are elite". To be inclusive, a bit of friendliness on the lists and making it easy for people to get there and helping them make use of their email software go a long way. These are skills they can take with them to other projects and hobbies/interest groups.
I hope these quotes have enough good technical, usability and social content to not count as just another rant.
Another thing to keep in mind is that PHP code and especially forum software has been quite a security hole in that past - choose wisely and be prepared to update packages on short notice.
Cheers, Colin