Hey Les. Welcome to the asylum, glad you could make it!
You make a number of good points, some of which we are already aware, some of which we are not. We are diligently working on refactors and redesigns of various components of our project, ranging from the main project website, to the extend/add-ons directory people have already mentioned. I agree with Ringmaster when he said that we are far from dying. Habari is more alive and cutting edge today than it has ever been, we are just finding it difficult to do the work necessary to make it cutting edge and powerful, and also to pimp it as such. Something people tend to forget is that projects like WordPress did not have dedicated communities of volunteers and great documentation over night. It took years, and quite a bit of money to get to that point. A mass exodus from another blogging platform helped in that regard as well. As someone who was their for the first release of WordPress after the b2 fork, I can attest to that. I was in the trenches, helping to make WP what it is today. We are a young project by most standards and it shows, good and bad. I love the fact that you are fired up to get in the trenches and lend a hand. We need more people who are willing to get in and get stuff done on the non-code front. We value those types of contributions greatly. I will do my best to try and be present in the forum, but as was mentioned earlier it can be difficult and frustrating to provide support in that type of environment. On Thursday, January 3, 2013 6:58:25 PM UTC-6, Les Henderson wrote: > > While I am trying my best to indirectly motivate this group into a state > of pride-induced euphoria I would be remiss to not present some of the > shortfalls I have encountered thusfar. > > Again, I wish no disrespect but I have to note that the more I research > this project, the more broken links and dated Habari-related posts I find > amongst the blogs of even its core members. > > Obscurity seems to be the norm so far. Plugins are not only bereft of any > sense of adequate description but most are admittedly outdated with year > old promises to update them so that they run on the latest version, which > was .6 at that time. > > I can see, only from your personal interactions, that the actual program > is cutting edge but the marketing and promotion is shite. Seriously, if I > can't find current praise or user reviews from the founders themselves then > something needs work. I just hope that my efforts can help in some small > way. > > Meritocracy has its place, but perhaps you occasionally need input from > someone who has no vested interest and can speak out without being banned > from the dev commune. I sincerely want to help since it is obvious that > everyone involved is as genuinely altruistic as I feel I am myself. > > Go Team Go. > > On Thursday, January 3, 2013 11:13:08 AM UTC-5, Les Henderson wrote: >> >> Hi Michael, >> >> Apart from not having any idea how to edit the Wiki, I find that forums, >> despite all their problems, have more of a tendency to generate community >> spirit and voluntary support. Even when knuckleheads like me don't know the >> right answer, they are still often willing to help. Many hands make light >> work. >> >> Sometimes it clicks and other times the forums just sit dormant. I've had >> failures with them so I know they can be problematic. I don't anticipate >> burdening the dev team with support issues but it would be nice to have >> some as members. >> >> As mentioned, I currently belong to a tablet user forum with topics that >> range from high level rooting code to a discussion of early days in the >> computer industry called Old Timer's Corner. Lots of laughs and general >> interest discussions as well as the actual purpose of the site. Somehow it >> works. http://www.forum.lepanlife.com/index.php >> >> There's not much wrong with the documentation for those that know the >> process, but I'll try to offer suggestions as I notice things. I'm actually >> trying to do things in a way that I can note any concerns or roadblocks I >> have and how I resolved them. Once I've figured it all out, it's too late. >> I'd be just another person wondering why everyone isn't as smart as me. Ha. >> >> I'll just keep plugging away at it for now and hope for the best. It >> might just end up as the basis for a manual in the end. Still helpful, just >> different. The funny thing is I now won't have time for blogging so I don't >> need Habari. >> >> >> On Wednesday, January 2, 2013 7:34:04 PM UTC-5, michaeltwofish wrote: >>> >>> Hi Les, >>> >>> I agree that we lack quality user-focused documentation and that >>> customisation can be difficult for new and less technical users. A complete >>> renovation and refocus of the wiki would likely receive support. Is there a >>> reason you've chosen to start a forum rather than working on the existing >>> wiki? Easier to start with a clean slate perhaps? I'm definitely happy to >>> talk about how we can improve or replace our documentation. >>> >>> You should also know that we've tried running a separate forum in the >>> past; it was eventually shut down, mostly due to the fact that it's >>> difficult for the people who know stuff to effectively provide support on >>> too many channels. See >>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/habari-dev/71L-3y5fxyM/discussion. >>> >>> >>> On 3 January 2013 10:27, Les Henderson <les.hend...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Early days yet but I have something online which might give some idea >>>> of what I propose might be helpful. If the use of the logo is an issue, >>>> let >>>> me know. It will take a fair amount of work to get it up to snuff so >>>> please >>>> be patient. >>>> >>>> http://www.habarians.com/mybb/index.php >>>> >>>> I'm trying to do it up as a chronology, or road map, of my own >>>> experience as a user. >>>> >>>> On Tuesday, January 1, 2013 3:00:44 PM UTC-5, Les Henderson wrote: >>>>> >>>>> I'll do what I can when time permits. I hope I can set something up >>>>> that will take on its own momentum since, like you, I have many irons in >>>>> as >>>>> many fires. I tried to think up a good name for a forum site domain but >>>>> apparently your group, the squatters and the Ugandans took all the good >>>>> ones. Ha. >>>>> >>>>> I settled on habarians.com since the term was used here in the groups >>>>> over the years and not much elsewhere. I'll let you know when it is set >>>>> up >>>>> with categories I think will be helpful to the average user. >>>>> >>>>> As for immediate suggestions I highly recommend that you add a couple >>>>> items to the top left navigation block of the wiki to include links to >>>>> Manual, Plugins, Theming, Installation. That alone would have saved me >>>>> quite some time running around. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Monday, December 31, 2012 5:27:16 PM UTC-5, ringmaster wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Our community is oddly troll-resistant. I think they'd rather ignore >>>>>> it >>>>>> than fight. And it is holiday season, after all. Apparently, I'm >>>>>> the >>>>>> only one stuck at home, working. >>>>>> >>>>>> Habari currently falls into a weird niche, where its users need not >>>>>> know >>>>>> why all the underlying code works, but they're likely to need to roll >>>>>> up >>>>>> their sleeves a bit and get their hands dirty. As you've noticed, >>>>>> Habari can be rough for someone who knows nothing about running blogs >>>>>> or >>>>>> code or HTML, because it fits in that niche. It's most likely that >>>>>> it >>>>>> remains there because it's difficult for its developers to step back >>>>>> far >>>>>> enough to realize what they need to explain to the common person >>>>>> installing it. >>>>>> >>>>>> That said, it would be lovely to have someone on the front side >>>>>> working >>>>>> to discover and implement (or pass on to developers for >>>>>> implementation) >>>>>> what features/services would please common end-users. >>>>>> >>>>>> A good portion of the issues you've described have to do with our >>>>>> woefully incomplete addons directory, which is meant to house plugins >>>>>> and themes. This will supplant the wiki and other listings as the >>>>>> primary source of addons. >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm happy to work with someone who is interested in enhancing >>>>>> Habari's >>>>>> user-facing image, though my time is primarily spent in the coding >>>>>> trenches, building Habari and using it for paying client work. If >>>>>> you >>>>>> had some immediate action items that you think we could execute on to >>>>>> hopefully increase novice user adoption, I'll help as I can, and I'm >>>>>> sure other people would, too. >>>>>> >>>>>> Owen >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>> To post to this group, send email to habari...@googlegroups.com >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> habari-users...@googlegroups.com >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/habari-users >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Michael C. Harris >>> http://twofishcreative.com/michael/blog >>> IRC: michaeltwofish #habari >>> >> -- To post to this group, send email to habari-users@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to habari-users-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/habari-users
