On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 1:02 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton <dennis.hamil...@acm.org> wrote: > I suspect Louis was talking about the OpenOffice.org Community Forums that > are already hosted on Apache. >
The thread is titled "oooforum.org". That's what we're talking about about. If you think you are talking about something else, then maybe start a new thread. > Since oooforums has never been hosted by Sun/Oracle, it is a bit dicey how > some sort of merger might happen and why. > I listed the reasons why this could be a good idea. Since oooforum.org is also running phBB, the technical side of a merger does not seem beyond the realm of possibility. > On the other hand, neither OO.o Community and oooforums have a German > Language forum. That is at http://www.oooforum.de aka de.OpenOffice.info. > OpenOffice.info also has a wiki and other European language coverage too > (Danish and Czech seem to be operating and not covered by OO.o Community > Forums). > > Some degree of informal Federation and cross-communication might be possible. > Consolidation seems rather premature and such an offer might even be viewed > as hostile. > I assuming we would not be talking to idiots. Offering to work together should even be taken as a hostile action. It is entirely pro-community and pro-user. -Rob > - Dennis > > -----Original Message----- > From: Rob Weir [mailto:robw...@apache.org] > Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011 05:45 > To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org > Subject: Re: oooforum.org > > On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 6:24 AM, Louis Suárez-Potts > <lsuarezpo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > <snip> > >> Let's take this then as an opportunity? Clayton C used to be the admin >> for the forums (oooforums) but with Oracle's departure—he was with >> Oracle and still may be—there was, to put it mildly, a hitch. >> > > I certainly see an opportunity here. This is one example of somethng > I see in many other parts of the project: We'll all be far more > successful if we but aside ancient grudges and divisions and try to > work together at Apache. We need to acknowledge that the past is past > and we have a new opportunity now to grow a community that is more > diverse and more open than ever before. > > >> The OO forums are immensely important. They are mainly for users but >> not only, though that's clearly their primary user base. They are >> furthermore pretty much user-initiated, and thus arguably could be >> administered by capable community members. >> >> Was the infrastructure also ported over to Apache? Or will it be? >> > > I don't see the benefits of having two different forum installations > at Apache. But is there anyway we could combine efforts toward a > single forum at Apache? > > I think we could argue that a combined effort would: > > 1) Attract more users > > 2) Attract more volunteers to answer questions > > 3) Attract more moderators and admins to ensure the quality of the > user experience > > 4) Would grow a larger infobase of questions and answers > > 5) Would eliminate redundant effort > >> If it will be, and if we want to continue with it, I can ask if >> Clayton would help with the transition, and even maintenance. It's >> possible he may be interested in working with some others. >> > > It would be worth having a conversation about how he sees the world, > and whether he thinks it is worth while to explore the possibilities. > >> What we need here, and I would like to issue a call for this to the >> logical lists and other public fora ("twitter" comes to mind), is a >> list (and list of lists) of things that are needed, wanted, and >> actionable. >> > > Maybe start with just opening the conversation, to see whether he is > receptive to further discussions. If we work it too much on our side > first, that may be seen as us dictating terms. But if we start with, > "We'd like to chat about the current situation with two forums and how > we might best improve things for the benefit our our mutual users", > this might be more attractive. > > -Rob > >> Right now, lots needs doing but those who can do don't know they can >> do it, or for that matter where, and using what tools. Not all of >> those able and inclined read these lists. >> >> -louis >> > >
