Gav.... wrote:
The incubator IRC discussions recently express a wide range of differing
opinions on whether IRC is beneficial or not for particular projects, for
those projects community health, and for the code base. I think we are more
or less agreed here that IRC is still beneficial to forrest, does not harm
or exclude the community, and enables faster production.
Nope we are not *all* agreed. I have my reservations as expressed in the
thread David links to in the issue (FOR-921).
These are reservations not objections though. It is these reservations
that prevent me putting time into running an IRC session. It's
interesting that although everyone else thinks it is a good idea nobody
has been able to find the time in the last two months to get it
together. I think this speaks volumes.
Ross mentioned whether it would be an idea to have 'another' IRC session
where devs could basically run a Q & A for newcomers to forrest. I like this
idea, whether it would work as a second IRC session is debatable, recent
events show that it is difficult enough to get devs together for one
session. In which case then, maybe an hour or so of Q & A could be tagged on
to the end of a normal Forrest Friday (or what day it ends up), any good?
I think that was my intention when I suggested it, i.e. not separate
sessions, but an allocated slot or slots within the existing IRC
session. I believe having devs available to get users up to speed will
be good for our user base and therefore for our developer base.
The problem is that to do this we have to be sure someone is online at
the appointed time(s). I'm not sure how many of us can be as rigid with
our commitments to a volunteer effort.
With all the talk of a new and improved forrest, I think it a good idea to
get IRC up and running again very soon.
I agree that *if* the community want to see my prototype code it would
be a good idea to have an IRC session in which we can experiment with it
and I am on hand to discuss how to achieve certain things. This would
kickstart the evaluation process and give me an insight into the areas
that are not intuitive.
However, the code is not ready for this yet.
I doubt that IRC would help the RT discussion. Email allows us the time
to absorb what has been said and to let our imaginations flow. IRC is
too "instant" for that to happen.
And as others have said previously,
it really does also help the community spirit, being able to virtually meet
up and have a bit of socialising during the event also.
+1 - my reservations are with respect to the ability to do real work in
the way we have been trying to in the past, I have no reservations with
respect to the social aspects of IRC.
Ross
