On 10/01/2015, at 8:49 PM, Luca Beltrame wrote: > For reference, I'm one of the KDE Community Forum adminstrators (aka the > "green guys").
> In reply to what Ian Wadham wrote: >> So what CAN I do? This needs major re-phrasing --- hopefully as positives >> rather than negatives. > > This comes from the upstream software we use - phpBB. I admit it's written > in a not-so-friendly way, but there's little we can do at this point: mainly > because we try (reasonably) to avoid modifying the upstream software too > much, because that has a maintenance cost (and we already are short on > skilled people and we already have some modifications to the forum software > wrt upstream). > >> I have one. Otherwise, I would have to register a new KDE Identity in >> order to reply, for example, to a "maintainer wanted" post(?) > > Yes, the forum requires a valid KDE Identity login. > >> more. Another possible turnoff. Speaking for myself, I almost invariably >> click away from sites that want you to register, unless I am really, >> really interested. > > Unfortunately, this is unavoidable as forums as large as KDE's attract a > whole load of bots, spammers, and other ad-spewers. Even with registration > enabled (and checks to external services to prevent obvious spammers) we > have to kill several spam posts per day. > Also IMO registration is to keep a minimal barrier of entry to prevent > flames and other unwanted behavior (granted, the forums behave exceptionally > well - few times we've had to poke people to behave). > > Hopefully this clears things up. Yes, it does. I understand. I guess I could add a rider paragraph to anything I post, to reassure newbies to persevere with the way the site does things and to say that they will not sign their life away or receive endless emails and ads by getting a KDE Identity. KDE really does need new recruits --- badly. Cheers, Ian W.