Hi, Today, again, the discussion about having a forum for Ubuntu-be started again. The last time, I setup-ed a Nabble forum which is just an "archive" of the mailing list presented like a forum. If I understand correctly this does not meet the needs of those preferring a forum interface for discussion. If I understand correctly, the main issues with the mailing list, and any web interface over it, is the chaos generated by multiple discussions in the same "thread" (same email subject). IMHO, this is more the result of users behaviors (changing the mail subject is easy in most email client, as is filtering and archives) than inherent to the medium (tons of FOSS projects use mailing list successfully). Personnaly, I've two issue against a forum, the multiplication of communication channels and the technical burden of maintenance and moderation.
I'm not in favor of more communication channels but maybe we should move our "day-to-day" discussions to a forum and use the mailing more wisely for announcements and when reaching its large but mostly passive users base is required. Also, a the forum should became the central point for information which could be better maintained, shared and updated through the wiki. For the technical and practical part of the maintenance issue, as the main web administrator I'm not interested to maintain a forum, even if it shouldn't be hard with Drupal. So if we should go for a real forum I propose we ask for an forum hosted at ubuntuforums.org. According to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCreatingForum we just have to ask. I don't use ubuntuforums.org a lot but it seems to offer Launchpad integration (easy login) and email notices on forum/thread updates to allow email oriented user to keep it up with the discussions. So if ubuntuforums.org fits the needs, and I think it does, the technical part is the an issue anymore. The last point is the moderation. Who will need someone tech-savy enough and time-savy to do the job (like turning off-topics posts into new thread, closing flame-wars, etc.). With the mailing list the task is lighter for the moderator because everybody needs to apply it itslef in his/her mail client according to its needs. On a forum the moderators to do the job for evertybody in a way that please everyone. -- mongolito404, king of the mongolian people -- ubuntu-be mailing list / mailto:[email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-be
