Brent, I have updated the New Users Page to reflect the new list archive link. At the same time, I also updated the links to now point to the 5.x Demo, and the 5.x Tutorial.
I have neglected the New Users Page for quite a while and it is definitely in need of some freshening up. I hope to do so in the next month or so. If anyone has corrections, suggestions, etc. for the New Users Page, please sent them to me in the next few weeks and I will incorporate them. David. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brent Fraser Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:05 AM To: Frank Warmerdam Cc: MAPSERVER-USERS Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] Re: user support Frank, Now that the mailing list has migrated, is the archive searchable? The New Users page (http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/new_users/index_html#list-arch ives)on the Mapserver site still links: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mapserver-users.html Is it still valid? I think the email archives hold great value. The challange is to enable access. Here are some ideas (by doing one test search): 1. A better seach page - ability to use AND and OR with seach terms 2. Record the top ten seaches by month (or some other stat) so we can improve the FAQ. 3. A better results page - show me hits by all my seach term combos - allow me to sort by score, Lines, subject , etc 4. Somehow identify an email containing a question/problem, and a solution 5. ... Hmmm, an automatic FAQ extractor. Sounds painful. Let's learn from Google (a search tool is beats an organized portal). Brent Fraser GeoAnalytic Inc. Calgary, Alberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Warmerdam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Milo van der Linden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "MAPSERVER-USERS" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:36 PM Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] Re: user support > Milo van der Linden wrote: > > Frank Warmerdam schreef: > >> I think it would be very valuable if some people were willing to comb > >> the mailing list for frequently asked questions and answers and turn > >> some of them into FAQ entries on the plone site. > > If this would be done in a divide and conquer manner, I would be > > interested. It would be a good thing if one could take a seat in some > > sort of board and cover a certain aspect. I would be particulary > > interested in contributing to WMS and WFS sections, as well as postGIS > > integration since this is the area I am trying to make my business in. > > Would it be possible that in return the person maintaining a certain > > area of the documentation could offer commercial support and consultancy > > on his particular field of expertise? Just a taught and trying to > > discover if there is business value in signing up for this. Because in > > the long run, we all need to make at least enough money to live. > > Milo, > > In Plone you can have a profile, and FAQ entries list their author. > So you can use your full name for your account and make sure your > author profile page describes you as a consultant, and your expertise > with a link page to your own web page. This should have at least a > modest advertising effect. > > I think FAQs mostly digested from mailing list responses should also > try to give some credit to the original author. > > I'm not sure that specific divide and conquer rules will be easy to > manage. I would suggest you just attack your area of interest. > Duplication of effort is the least of our problems now. :-) > > > I hereby offer my couple of hours. Would it be an idea to set up a group > > of say 100 people and then divide the list in blocks of say a month? > > Well, I'm not sure about how that would work. Again, I would suggest > you get a plone account from Howard, and just skim the email archives > for the last month or two looking for threads in your area of interest > and digest a few down into FAQs. I'm sure there is also room for > additional categories in the FAQ if you think it would be helpful. > > It may just be me, but I think any process that starts with "get a group > together and split up a task" is likely to get stalled and frustrated. > Better to just dig in and do a part of the task that you like, perhaps > with some notification / interaction as you find you need. > > Best regards, > -- > ---------------------------------------+------------------ -------------------- > I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam > and watch the world go round - Rush | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org > > _______________________________________________ > mapserver-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users _______________________________________________ mapserver-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users _______________________________________________ mapserver-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users
