On Thu, 31 May 2007 22:13:28 -0700, microUgly wrote:
How many do we have? I can appreciate your point, but only one person has responded to dniezby e-mail with a link to an actual Inkscape Forum
- which I didn't see until after I posted. And a Google search
(inkscape forum) says there is only one Inkscape forum, in German.
Another subthread mentioned something about a French one. I'm sure the idea came up in this list not long ago.
That aside, whilst you could argue it divides the community, you could also argue the more website the more exposure. And the strongest one would likely win. One forum would prevent division but if it's poorly maintained and implemented, who would want to use it?
More exposure is always a good thing. Maybe what you could do is implement something like vBulletin and use the NNTP plugin to tie into the existing list with news.gmane.org. I know a few sites that do things like this to tie into existing lists.
Note that this is all argumentative. I'm not attempting to start a mailing-list mutiny :) If I was to start a forum it would be to fill a void. You've suggested there are many forums already, I'm only aware of one.
I understand that - I know the idea has come up before, and I know a few people have tried to start their own because they (a) own a server, and (b) don't like mailing lists, so a flat non-threaded "web-based" forum (which I say "ick" every time I hear - it's like holding a conversation on a constantly edited Wiki page - no organisation and very difficult to follow). I've got an IT background and I hate to see the wheel reinvented when it comes to communities because I've seen the effects of community division first-hand when one group splinters off and does their own thing (I even participated in this once about 10 years ago - and in retrospect it was a misguided idea).
A strong community is a cohesive community. That said, rather than have sub-groups splinter off and do their own thing, an integrated solution should be what is sought. That's my point.
(I'm a bit calmer now, this sort of discussion always trips blaring "danger, Will Robinson, Danger!" type alarms. :-) )
Jim