[wpkg-users] wpkg Forum

[Tomasz Chmielewski]

Florian Thießen schrieb:
> Well, I can see the advantage of being notified immediatly and
> being able to answer straight ahead, this is in fact really nice
> for the "now", specially when it comes to up to date stuff like bugs and
> such.
> 
> But now imagine searching for something that has been posted quite a
> while back (which you don't know if you're new) so you gotta search the
> _whole_ list which will most likely result in a lot of hits,
> few/many/most of them not being related to what you were looking for.
> 
> The mentioned services can't offer such a structure that is needed to
> "conserve" information for a long time and yet keep overview.
> The big advantage by choosing categories is that you can specify your
> search easily to those posts that high likely answer your question(s).
> 
> If someone can think about a way to have both without being in
> competetion, that would be nice, if not it's not a big deal either.

Although it may sound reasonable what you've just written, let's answer 
one question first: what is the purpose of various communication 
channels, like mailing lists or forums?

1. It should help new users solve their problems

2. It should allow developers or experienced users offer help to users 
who need their help. Remember, those helping do it mostly in their free 
time and don't demand anything in return - although "thanks" is 
sometimes nice to hear ;)



A well organized forum with a properly designed structure could surely 
help those new users from point 1.

However, what about point 2? Don't get me wrong, but I get the feeling 
that I myself answer ~80% of direct postings to wpkg-users list 
(Bugzilla is a different thing, big thanks for Rainer and others 
participating there).

When someone sends a new post to a mailing list, all subscribers have it 
immediately in their inbox. One may say it's a "push" method - new 
information is delivered to you directly.

What about the forum? It's the opposite, you have to monitor it 
constantly to see new postings. In other words, it's a "pull" method - 
information gets to you only when you log in to a website and browse 
through different forum categories.

If we want to introduce a forum, it also means we demand from developers 
and experienced users to monitor this forum at least once a day: log in 
to a website, browse the categories, browse all threads to see if there 
are any answers... With a mailing list, it's as simple as looking to 
your inbox - it happens automatically. I'm not sure a forum full of 
unanswered questions is a good idea.


You also say that a new user may search the mailing list and will not 
find an answer? Well, he should post his problem to a mailing list, it's 
that simple. I'm sure 99% of posts to wpkg-users mailing list are answered.


A forum may work well for communities with thousands of active users, 
but WPKG is still very far away from such world domination ;)



Now, if someone has too much time and energy, please see here:

http://wpkg.org/TODO_list#Documentation

"Write a proper documentation manual. Right now, documentation is in 
tiny little bits (different functionalities described on different 
pages). It isn't necessarily bad - but it isn't very friendly to new users.

New documentation should be an A to Z WPKG manual, with chapters, 
subchapters etc."



-- 
Tomasz Chmielewski
http://wpkg.org