Hi there
Well, that's a great job, really, nice to see such a thing is possible.
However i would like to point something very important for me, forum users are
quite different from ML users.
In fact, throught this system we face one goal of Mageia. Will it be a
distribution for "developers" or for "end-users" (well i know developers are
also end-users). End-users, well just users may come from Windows (i hope we
will attract some to the good side of the force :D ) and they feels a forum
must easier than a ML. Just look at rules on the ML here, no html, no top
posting, just quote well are things that needs to use mail correctly. And just
use mail correctly is sometimes hard for just users. I do not work in
computing and i just see how computers are seen, how they are used and how
theses 3 rules would be hard to use. No HTML ? well i guess few users (outside
those working in computing) knows how to do it, no top posting ... ouch quite
impossible, quote well ... hum what do you calll quoting ?
Let's face it, ML is a tool for developers not a tool for users. As a user i
do prefer forums, on one topic i can have the full discussion no need to
navigate between mails, there are colors, it is (or it give the feeling) more
attractive and newbies or users will prefer using forums. That's the same
thing between using GUI or CLI, i know CLI is powerful, faster, very efficient,
but for users GUI is better, they feel at ease when using their mouse to point
and click, validate.
I have also praticed a lot web forum, and a very little usenet and it is also
two differents audience. Anyone here on alt.os.linux.mandriva (hum yes Marc
Paré is on) ?
So, even if there is a good tool to have a bidirectional Gateway between ML
and web forum i don't think we will meet efficiency with it. The best way for me
is to have these different tools since they have different audiences, some of us
will be on both tools but most will use just one.
You have actually enumerated the many reasons why this is such a great
setup. Regardless of anyone's preference of communication, we can all
talk to each other. It's as if there was a universal translator that
would enable everyone to speak in their native language but we could all
understand each other --- you know like on StarTrek Voyageur!
Anyone can pick the way they want their voice to be heard and we can all
hear, whether you are a dev or user. I don't think that there will ever
be an efficient and unified communication tool, so if we can offer ML,
usenet and forums to everyone to pick from, then it is a big plus for
our distro. How wonderful is that?
BTW ... I also manage an online magazine and receive messages from user
mailists ... approximately 20-30 of them. They are pretty active and
none of them are dev mailists.
Eh! oui, je participe aussi à alt.os.linux.mandriva mais je ne suis pas
le seul du groupe usenet Mandriva qui est à l'écoute ici sur le Mageia
mailist.
Marc
