On 9/10/2010 0:02, Mark Storer wrote: > Bruno? Your thoughts? I can't deny that the mailing list has its use, because challenging questions in the past have helped us: - fix bugs - add new features - write examples for the book.
The reason why we can answer many questions with "read page X of the book" is because the question has been asked before and the answer was interesting enough to be presented in the book. 0) It has been suggested to me that I should post an FAQ to the mailing list, for instance every two weeks. So it's something I'll probably do after Devoxx. 1) right now, there is already some kind of moderation. Every day, I manually remove the SPAM that is sent to the mailing list address and that is caught by the list service at SourceForge (only occasionally a SPAM message reaches the list). What really annoys me, is the fact that "services" such as Nabble allow people to post from their site. I really appreciate the fact that third party services archive all mail to the list (because the archives at SourceForge suck), but what I hate is the fact that developers register at Nabble and post their questions there instead of registering on the mailing list. Developers that work like this don't realize the administrative work they cause. I have to manually approve every mail that is sent to the list by people who didn't subscribe... Because of the architecture of the mailing list, there are no possibilities for a different kind of moderation. For instance: once a SPAM message gets through, there's no way to remove it. It has been sent to all subscribers and it's archived on all archive sites. 2) That's why I have been thinking of switching to a forum that can be read by every one but where only registered users can post. I've set up such a forum: http://itextpdf.com/forum/ but I'm waiting to "activate" it until I've made some decisions. (Some people have already tried to register, but I don't allow anyone yet). The decisions I have to make are: - should I ask a fee for registration? - is there a way to check if somebody has the book (wouldn't it be ideal if only those who own the book can post questions?) - should I allow people to register for free? In any case, I WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ANONYMOUS PEOPLE. All hotmail, gmail, and other free accounts will be banned, except if there's a way to check the identity of the person who owns it. (But how else can this be done than by asking a fee to register?) With the book (almost) finished (it should go to print next week), I'll take a vacation first. (Those who have read the MEAP of the second edition, know that I'm attending the International Flanders Film Festival each year.) After the film festival, I'll gear up for Devoxx. I'm making the Conference Guide of this year's edition: http://code.google.com/p/devoxxguide/downloads/list In December, I'll make some decisions. I'm close to hiring a business developer, and if we make sufficient money, I'll probably also hire some developers... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beautiful is writing same markup. Internet Explorer 9 supports standards for HTML5, CSS3, SVG 1.1, ECMAScript5, and DOM L2 & L3. Spend less time writing and rewriting code and more time creating great experiences on the web. Be a part of the beta today. http://p.sf.net/sfu/beautyoftheweb _______________________________________________ iText-questions mailing list iText-questions@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/itext-questions Many questions posted to this list can (and will) be answered with a reference to the iText book: http://www.itextpdf.com/book/ Please check the keywords list before you ask for examples: http://itextpdf.com/themes/keywords.php
