What about adding some kind of easy searching to the mailing list archives? That seems to be only commonly brought up minus to keeping this format.
I am able to access them (the archives) with my login, but the standard listings by month and downloadable gzip'ed archives makes searching nontrivial. Improving that would be a big + On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 11:24 PM, m33crob <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > -- Andrew (Wave Admin Wankers) The Wave! 24/7 CTF 1/2 respawn times http://thewaveserver.com _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
