Perhaps it would help if the mailing lists that we have were more "available" to visitors to the web site. By that, I mean that "Contact" does not jump out at me as a place to look for mailing lists, and that it is not obvious how to search the archives of the mailing lists.
I am old school in that I like for my computer to automatically collect information and allow me to skim and search it locally without waiting for the net to respond to my every thought. As much as I dislike Yahoo, I find the combination of an offline reader like PGOffline and Yahoo to be a quick and effective way to accomplish the skim and search that I desire. Not suggesting that we try Yahoo, heaven forbid, just making note of one way to manage information overload. Steve Stallings > -----Original Message----- > From: Stephen Wille Padnos [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 9:41 AM > To: EMC developers > Subject: Re: [Emc-developers] Forums > > Steve Stallings wrote: > > >Does this forum support subscribing to e-mail feed of new > messages, or > >is plowing the web the only way to read it? > > > > > I don't think you can get all posts as emails, but most forum > software allows you to be notified if a thread you've posted > to gets any replies. > > Note that you don't get the reply in the email, you usually > get a message saying that there has been a reply, and you > then need to go to the forum to see it (with a provided link, > usually). > > I have a couple of concerns about adding a forum. First, it > means that the "support staff" has one more place to look for > people who need help. On a forum, that usually means several > new places, because you generally want to categorize things > somewhat. This categorization leads to other issues also, > since people will cross-post, or put things in the wrong > place, or just not know where to look for information. > > Second, it adds another place for a user to look for help. > While multiple sources of support aren't a bad thing in and > of themselves, it can be confusing for a new user to find the > "right" place to get help. > The main problem we have with EMC2 in the first place is > confusion at the myriad options available (and the word > Linux, but that's another topic :) ), so making support > equally confusing would be a step backwards IMO. > > Third, forum software is another thing to understand and > monitor. There are new exploits every day, and it's not easy > to keep things "safe and secure". People will scribble all > over the front page, pop up unrelated and possibly offensive > material, etc. etc. On a forum I help administer, the only > way to fix this problem was with a shell login - I had to > mess with some file permissions so the forum software > couldn't write to them. > > OK, I guess that's a few concerns :) > > I appreciate the offer of help, but I do want to be sure it's > the best thing for the user base and the people who support > them before going ahead with it. It takes a long time > (years) for a forum to become popular and useful, this isn't > an experiment that we can run for a few weeks or months (and > what would happen to the information if we shut the forum > down at a later date? ... ) > > I'm not against a forum, I just don't know if it's a "Good Thing" yet. > - Steve > > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------- > Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex > Builder(TM) are powering Web 2.0 with engaging, > cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and easily build your > RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development > software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging. > Download the free 60 day trial. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com > _______________________________________________ > Emc-developers mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex Builder(TM) are powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform capabilities. Quickly and easily build your RIAs with Flex Builder, the Eclipse(TM)based development software that enables intelligent coding and step-through debugging. Download the free 60 day trial. http://p.sf.net/sfu/www-adobe-com _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
