On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 02:07:54 +0200, Colin Marquardt wrote:
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.
FUDForum is an open source project that integrates NNTP with a fairly decent web-based front-end. It doesn't natively access the NNTP server, but maintains its own database of messages. From the little I've played with it, it works fairly well - and it preserves the threading.
There are commercial products available that do this as well, and I'm sure there are other open-source and free projects that do it.
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.
Yes; one of the critical mistakes I see quite often with online communities is dividing the knowledge baseup by providing too many disconnected options. When you provide separate means of discussing the same topics (such as a web-based forum, a mail list, and a newsgroup), you end up with some who use one, some who use the second, and some who use the third, but rarely do people visit more than one, and the net effect is that you (a) have a lot of repetition of similar discussions, and (b) you dilute the expertise because some will use NNTP but not web-based forums, while others will use web-based forums and refuse to use NNTP. Unity in an online community which shares a common interest (such as a piece of software like Inkscape) strengthens the community and thus strengthens the project.
Another fairly critical issue with regards to web-based forums only is that most of the software (not all of it) does not include threading of discussions. A lack of threading makes it incredibly difficult for those who are used to interacting via e-mail and NNTP to follow a discussion. You end up with endless quote-backs or a lack of context to comments in the discussion; I see this a lot in blogging software even, where the software is not configured to thread comments. It makes the discussion a lot less coherent, and while (for those involved in the discussion at the time) it may make sense at the time of the discussion, the usability in an archival format is seriously diminished. Diminished usefulness of archived discussions results in a lot of the questions being asked over and over again, which drives the regulars to frustration with new users who can't figure out how to find answers to their questions. While the number of messages increases - and some would see that as a good thing and a sign of a vibrant, active community - it is in fact is a bad thing, because the "feel" of the community will tend towards frustration and anger rather than helpfulness.
I hope these quotes have enough good technical, usability and social content to not count as just another rant.
Excellent quotes. I'm going to have to archive them for discussions at work. :-)
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.
Another excellent point.
Jim