Using the forum for news & general meetings defeats the purpose of a forum - that information is better served on the homepage where it's seen immediately. Why make someone dig for news?
I realize it is everyone's choice as to which communication method to use, but it is sabotage to exclude one. Frankly, quite elitist if someone wishes to keep themselves from the "newbies". We were all newbies at one time, and how does one expect new people to join if the effort is not made to welcome them?
I am not calling for the death of the mailing list much less IRC; I am calling for a format that others might be more familiar with to include those people for their participation.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Clement [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 2:09 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum?
What if the forums were used for announcements for the general public
like meetings and convergence and neat Linux news, etc, while the
mailing list is for the usual discussion. We could also, since forum
traffic would be really low, have it send forum postings onto the list.
That way newbies can read about events without touching the mailing
list and those of us who don't like forums still get the information we
need.
Jeff
Andrew Barnes wrote:
> There will always be problematic people who might not act (or choose
> not to) appropriately with others - mailing list or forum, it changes
> nothing.
>
> There's no reason to leave the IRC - every forum I frequent uses a
> chat of some sort of desparately wants to have the feature.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jarrod Major [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 12:50 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum?
>
>
> I guess the crux of the argument is that there are many forms of
> communication. We have the mailing lists that have been informative and
> annoying. Informative from the viewpoint that folks can ask questions and
> other folks try to answer them. Annoying from the point that we get
> the odd
> over-zealous person on here who deems it necessary to flame people or
> make
> people feel bad or worse, stupid because of their questions. The
> poster in
> question does not make it better for themselves by asking poor
> questions to
> begin with before doing some sort of web search or looking through docs.
>
> We try to self moderate and it has worked pretty well so far. We are
> supposed to be adults here. I am proud of our mailing list. I have
> seen lots
> of excellent topics of discussion come and go on this list. And as
> Aaron has
> said lots of inane prattle (to paraphrase) as well as a few completely
> inappropriate posts. I guess we take the good with the bad.
>
> We have the IRC channel, which I would like to use more personally.
>
> A Web forum would be a welcome addition in my opinion as long as it
> wasn't
> the ONLY way we communicate. It's all about choice right. I understand
> that
> by not being on IRC I am missing some important, vital, informative
> discussions. I'm not going to cry about it. So if I only subscribed to
> the
> clug-talk list and did not check a future forum implemented on the CLUG
> site, it's no big deal, that's my choice.
>
> I would like to see us offer this anyway.
>
> Jarrod
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Aaron J. Seigo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 12:19 PM
> Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum?
>
>
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > On Thursday 05 December 2002 11:34, Andrew Barnes wrote:
> > > At last night's meeting, the issue of moving to a UBB forum was
> broached.
> > > I wondered if there was more interest for this as there's benefits
> to be
> > > had - less chance of spam,
> >
> > what spam? *looks around* i don't see any spam, do you?
> >
> > > IMO easier to refer someone to a forum thread,
> > > more static viewing so a guest can browse and get the feeling of the
> > > community, moderation if necessary... I have used phpBB - it's both
> free
> > > and quite good.
> >
> > if you mean "move from email lists to web boards" the answer from me at
> least
> > is a resounding "Hell no!". i do not have the time nor patience for the
> > inneficiencies of web boards. email is far more accessable, quick and
> usable
> > for this sort of conversation.
> >
> > if you mean "augment the email list with a web board" i could be in
> favour
> of
> > that. boards for things like listing hardware/software
> needed/available,
> > linux jobs/companies, discussion of the website ;-) etc... might be
> well
> > served by a bulletin board on the website while keeping that noise
> of this
> > list.
> >
> > but, in general, web boards are horrible for the sort of
> communications we
> do
> > on this email list. if you want me to rant on about why, i can. but i
> would
> > assume that most people here already know the reasons.
> >
> > > I am unfamiliar with how CLUG is exists on the webserver though -
> I got
> the
> > > impression that it is people sharing their bandwidth by providing
> hosting.
> > > Is that correct?
> >
> > yes
> >
> > > The reason I ask is that I would like to inquire if I (or someone)
> could
> > > redesign the website.
> >
> > i don't think anyone would object to a nice site design... mock-ups and
> > concept previews for people to peruse are more than welcome... just
> post
> the
> > URL to the list and i'm sure you'll get feedback...
> >
> > > I mean no disrepect to the efforts that have gone
> > > into what currently exists, but the layout is rather antiquated and
> doesn't
> > > lend to easy access.
> >
> > don't worry, i don't think there was much in the way of any
> "design". it's
> > just a wiki site with some very basic HTML around each page...
> >
> > > I think the site would attract more if it were
> > > easier to browse, and the content on the main page was a little more
> active
> > > - more Linux related news amidst CLUG news for a portal effect. Not
> > > looking to re-create Slashdot but it adds to why someone would go
> to the
> >
> > i'd suggest that at most we have listings of the last N stories from
> > appropriate linux sites using the RDFs they publish in side boxes. i
> don't
> > think calgary.linux.ca would be successful at nor is an appropriate
> place
> for
> > YALNS (yet another linux news site ;)
> >
> > > site. My intention or suggestion would be to move to a PHP/MySQL
> etc.
> >
> > the voting/membership system is PHP/pgsql, so i think we already have a
> > PHP/database requirement. it might be nice to keep it all in a
> single db
> > engine if possible...
> >
> > > setup in the interest of adding email newsletter support,
> >
> > by "email newsletter" do you mean a "what's going on in CLUG" type
> thing?
> if
> > so, i'd suggest that it would be pretty small and that there are better
> > places on the net to get non-CLUG related info...
> >
> > > polling
> >
> > for?
> >
> > > accounts for site administration like news posting and backups....
> >
> > that would be nice... the reason we're using wiki right now is to make
> this
> > easy. of course, if there are admins, then those admins need to be
> dilligent
> > in keeping the site in shape (e.g. posting news submissions). i for
> one am
> > in favour of a more open style of a site rather than tight control by a
> few
> > admins: it means we rely less on those admins (and require less of
> those
> > admins; it works both ways) and ensures the site is free and open.
> >
> > in the time we've had the wiki up we've had two small incidents that
> were
> both
> > easy to correct.
> >
> > > The forum would
> > > provide even more of a backend to the site, with the ability to
> discuss
> > > news topics etc. and allow newcomers easy access to view the
> community.
> >
> > i think t
> >
> > > am I stepping on toes?
> >
> > no..
> >
> > - --
> > Aaron J. Seigo
> > GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
> >
> > "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
> > - Albert Einstein
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>
