re: Potential forum at linuxquestions.org
It's a myth that mailing lists are outdated. The web-based forums and wikis people are advocating all have their own drawbacks IMHO. Why not simply point people to http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel and/or news://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel (or maybe even http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine) and be done with it? I detest the idea of using a klunky web forum; they're usually poorly-indexed, and every one has a different interface; I'd rather use the standard mail/news interface, or at least a standard web gateway like groups.google.com or news.gmane.org. Do try the gmane gateway for a while before deciding to chuck it all and go the infantile web forum route. - Dan
On 10 Nov 03, at 9:25, Dan Kegel wrote:
It's a myth that mailing lists are outdated. The web-based forums and wikis people are advocating all have their own drawbacks IMHO.
<snippage> I concur. I quite like having the email archived on my PC where I can search quickly and easily. And that goes for many lists that I belong to. John C.
Hi there, On November 10, 2003 12:25 pm, Dan Kegel wrote:
It's a myth that mailing lists are outdated. The web-based forums and wikis people are advocating all have their own drawbacks IMHO.
<aol>me too</aol> I think news/smtp gateways, combined with a decent archive, are the best all-round option for group discussions. Even web-forums like slashdot (IMHO) only "work" in that they solve a scale problem that traditional mail lists and news groups can't - but the interface and easy-of-use suffer nonetheless and, in particular, they don't allow people to do things their "own way" (whatever that may be). I prefer to use my own choice and configuration of news and mail clients than to have a web-based interface forced down my throat. But as I've yet to see a web-based forum that I liked, I may be biased... Cheers, Geoff -- Geoff Thorpe geoff(a)geoffthorpe.net http://www.geoffthorpe.net/
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 09:25:29 -0800, Sir Dan Kegel scribed thus:
It's a myth that mailing lists are outdated. The web-based forums and wikis people are advocating all have their own drawbacks IMHO.
They have distinct advantages too. But, let's not confuse wikis and web forums here. My proposal is simply: "Let's agree to officially recognise a forum at linuxquestions.org where end users can go for help, to complement wine-users and #winehq" It's not meant to replace wine-users, and especially not wine-devel of course. Why a forum rather than a mailing list? - Forums are more focussed. When you sign up for a mailing list, you get a load of spam from other threads. Not so with a forum. - They are easier to use. Yes, you still have to sign up, but I'd guess some (many?) people aren't comfortable with making a new folder, setting up filters etc. - You can make threads sticky - More easily moderated (ie by groups of people) There is clearly a large number of people who do prefer web based forums to get help than mailing lists and newsgroups - simply read LQ yourself for a bit, the thread churn there is incredible. Most threads in the Newbie section stay on the first page for perhaps a day at most. It's a popular service.
Why not simply point people to http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel and/or news://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel (or maybe even http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine)
They can't post via the gmane interface. Google is OK I guess.
and be done with it? I detest the idea of using a klunky web forum; they're usually poorly-indexed, and every one has a different interface; I'd rather use the standard mail/news interface, or at least a standard web gateway like groups.google.com or news.gmane.org.
Well, you don't have to use it, I'm not suggesting developers use it to communicate, rather, end users can use it to discuss and help each other, with a few developers to keep an eye on things and maybe answer the tricky/obscure ones. FWIW as far as Google is concerned your last post to comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine was in June 2002 - I have no idea if it's right or not, but clearly you don't have to worry about anything changing.
Do try the gmane gateway for a while before deciding to chuck it all and go the infantile web forum route.
I'm posting this via gmane in fact, but I definately don't think nntp is as easy to use as a web forum is (for people not familiar with news). Finally I'm not sure why you think it's all or nothing. This wouldn't replace anything, but rather fill a niche we're currently ignoring. thanks -mike
participants (5)
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Dan Kegel -
Duane Clark -
Geoff Thorpe -
johnc＠cniconsulting.com -
Mike Hearn