I'm not sure I understood everything you had to say although I think I get
the jist of it. Trisquel is based on Drupal and this forum integrates with
it. This is most likely the reason for this particular forum software and
wiki.
There are some unusual features that have been added to the site. This could
complicate an upgrade. Particularly for an outsider. One of them is a script
which turns the forums into a mailing list to which you can subscribe.
I'm betting an upgrade to Drupal 7 would fix many of the issues people have.
Would the new Drupal forum software work as well as the one Arch or Ubuntu
use? I don't know. The reason I believe Trisquel is not using the forum
software that Canonical uses for the Ubuntu forums is that it's non-free. I'm
not sure about the forum software Arch uses.
It might be worth investigating Drupal 7 and trying out the newer versions of
the forum, wiki, etc along with any other needed modules. It probably
wouldn't hurt to also look into the feasibility of integrating non-Drupal
forum software. One of the consideration here should be difficulty of
maintenance. We don't have a full time web developer. Rubén is from my
understanding maintaining the web site himself and appears reluctant to
release any control to another. This is completely understandable. There are
very few people who have shown to be reliable, able, and committed to the
project.
I think what needs to be done is we need to get people working on projects
like this even if the output is not used. That shouldn't be seen as a wasted
effort. Learning about the software used, implementation, and so forth is a
valuable lesson. From which we can go forward regardless of if a particular
implementation is used.
To do a new web site there needs to be a list of requirements made and reason
for doing it. Right now that would involve Rubén as he is the only one who
understands whats involved in the current web site. Something he probably
doesn't have time for. Making a list of features/requirements and inquiring
with him on it is the way to go forward here.
Some of the other requirements I'd imagine include translation features. How
well does forum, wiki, and similar software support it?
I think putting a demo site together would be an excellent idea and then
putting forth on the current wiki a set of features/requirements. If those
features can be implemented I'm sure Rubén would be much more open to
requisitioning control. He has given some control over to others it relation
to the translation effort. He's not the only one translating the web site
from one language to another.
