I too would prefer to keep the mailing list. If a forum materializes out of this conversation, I would be interested in becoming a moderator. I'm already super active in the Steam Forums and you guys may or may not have noticed that I update the Steam Forums server sections almost everyday.
On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 9:15 PM, Jesse Molina <[email protected]> wrote: > > I prefer mailing lists, which is why I am here. Discussion and replies are > below: > > I prefer mailing lists because there is a small technical barrier to entry. > Chances are that you had to use a search engine to find it, which means you > probably already tried to find what you were looking for via that search > engine and failed. Many noobs don't even know what a mailman list is, and > that's good. I want to talk to other people who can actually help me. This > mailing list is not primarily for a social experience. For most forums, a > significant amount of code is dedicated to smileys, avatars, signatures, > friends/foes, etc, because they need the social experience, because they are > ad-revenue driven. The amount of whitespace on web forums, compared to > email, is terrible. > > Here's a thought: The quality of the discussion is primarily impacted by > how those with authoritative knowledge (Valve employees and pros) engage in > the discussion. If Valve employees were more inclined to participate in > discussion on a web forum, I'd go web forum. I would not cry too hard if > this one mailing list went away. It's just games. > > About the archives: Why are they password protected, and why has my > password never ever worked? From day one, the password that came in my > welcome email didn't work and I never tried again. I have never ever > searched the archives because I can't. > > It is nice to have a single point of discussion for issues, as opposed to > many different sites and applications. As an example, I am an aquarium > hobbyist, and I often visit five different web forums because each has some > specialty, or the community is fractured up. This is annoying. This is > also why I don't check forums.srcds.com but once in a great while. > > I've never seen a duel-pane message board reader that worked well. I see > browsing message boards as messy business. I use mutt and Seamonkey as my > mail clients, depending on where I'm at. > > I use my android phone to check email. Checking a web forum would be > significantly more difficult. I would not do it, at all. I check email, > rss, and podcasts with my phone. Web forums are iPhone/Android unfriendly. > My Android client is k9mail. > > Some people brought up the issue of email spam because they fear giving out > the mail address. Use a spam filter. I don't get spam because I have my > own server with Spamassassin running. If you are using a free mail > provider, you get what you pay for (adverts). Business and professionals > use email. I wish I had more pleasant advice to give out, but that's the > truth. > > What about a forum that sends out email update announcements? I don't use > those myself, with a very few exceptions of where I really must. This is > mostly because most of those forums have a very low signal to noise ratio. > I only click on a very few threads. In other words, my participation level > is lower with web forums. > > > > Replies: > > > Kigen wrote: > > Honestly, I don't like getting my inbox spammed with these messages. > > That is what mail rules/filters are for. > > > > > DarthNinja wrote: > > > > I don't like the idea of forums, because it's a passive stream of data. > > People have to visit to check up on topics. > > People are just a lot less likely to reply to things in a forum > environment. > > I agree. > > > > msleeper wrote: > > Valve, I'm sorry, but your forum population is about as dumb as > > > facepunch, and I hope you realize it. > > Harsh, but true. > > This is why I signed up for the mailing list. I am pro network > engineer/unix sysadmin, but I didn't know anything about srcds servers a > year ago. I needed a place where I could come to for technical help on > server administration related tasks. I did not come to discuss in-game > content issues at all -- such issues are good for the main forums. > > That being said, let's face it: More than half of the people on this > (linux) mailing list doesn't know what a pipe, |, does on the bash command > line. Their preferred editor is the pico clone nano. Just gotta put up > with it... or maybe even help a noob once in awhile. > > > > > Steffen Schmolinske wrote: > > I'd like to have a forum just for the sake of proper archives & search > > functions. > > Valve is, right now, actively stopping you from having this. Ask them why > they are doing that. > > > > > Ryan Stecker wrote: > > I would love a forum. I don't think the mailing list provides any decent > > method of searching, > > Again, Valve is stopping you from having this. Ask them why they are doing > that. Why are they taking away from you something that you would otherwise > have? They have deliberately password protected the archives and prevent > search engines from searching them. > > > > > msleeper wrote: > > the main reason the list fails > > (and moving SPUF would only make it worse) is that most people post > > crap nobody needs to hear or wants to read and isn't useful. > > ... > > > And guess what - we don't care about or need to hear about you telling > > us that. Shut up, keep your stupid opinions to yourselves, and maybe > > there wouldn't be a "problem" in the first place. > > Jesse Porter wrote: > > The > > farther away from server maintenance and updates the discussion get, the > > less interest I have (recent discussion on classes, etc). > > This is just the classic pros vs noobs thing. Reference ESR's Asking Smart > Questions, which most have not read, or even heard of. > > Because this mailing list involves video games, it has a youth and > stupid-noob factor -- not to be mistaken as the same issue. I don't think > that can be helped. A FAQ to throw at them every time they failed to google > it might help. > > > > > > -- > # Jesse Molina > # Mail = [email protected] > # Page = [email protected] > # Cell = 1.602.323.7608 > # Web = http://www.opendreams.net/**jesse/<http://www.opendreams.net/jesse/> > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/**mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux<http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux> > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
