I'm going to try and sum things up, since there were a ton of mails since I last checked last night.
The biggest reasons for opposition to a forum: 1) Is this shunning the existing community? I don't believe so, I believe this is unifying the community, by having a central, official, place for SUSE on the web in the form of a forum. That said, comments from those running existing forums really is needed. 2) They could just join the mailing list or post up on bugzilla. This is probably the worst reason to oppose a forum. People are familiar with forums, familiar with the web. Sure, we've all come past a life surrounding the www, but not EVERYONE has. In fact, most new users have not. The sheer volume of mail on this list, and others, is far too much for most users to keep up with. I even have trouble sometimes, which is the reason I'm trying to sum everything up in one email. Bugzilla is scary to new users. As I believe pflodo commented, information is asked they don't feel they should give out, don't know how to give, etc, etc. On a forum, questions can be asked directly, they follow specific commands, and they might find its not a problem, perhaps something they did. Even if most users felt comfortable posting on bugzilla, this would mean more work for dev's, since it would take up alot of time reviewing, responding, marking as duplicate, etc, etc, etc. Is this really a solution, or a new problem when asking users new to linux to do this? 3) Extra effort would be needed, taken development time away. I sincerely disagree with this argument. Aside from initial configuration, what main work needs to be done? Moderation? Simple, users will be able to do this. Many of you know many others on this list, who are not Novell employees or otherwise developing, who would happily contribute their time and effort to the community in this way. Theres a very good reason too... this is a way that some people may feel more comfortable contributing. They also will be many of the initial experts on the forum, negating the "who will answer the questions" issue. 4) It would be a duplicate effort of having the mailing list. Definitely have to disagree here too. If it were a duplicated effort, why would SUSE and Linux forums exist? Mailing lists have been around for the various distros forever, so it isn't as if this is a new idea. Theres a reason forums have become popular over mailing lists. The general perception is, a mailing list is for die-hards, and a forum is for general users. You won't, and I have to repeat "won't", be able to change peoples minds on this. Now, aside from those items mentioned, lets bring up a few other things in support of a forum. Not everyone has gmail (or equivalent) with some web interface for their email. Many users have a computer at work, at home, at their significant others' place, etc. A forum lets them log in anywhere, anytime, whether at home, over a family members' house, or at the library. This, imho, is a Very Good Thing (TM). People commonly search for <Insert Topic> and "forum". This, as mentioned, is how many people believe new users best communicate with "experts". So why be limited to a mailing list as the only means of communication. Well, thats it for now, this email is too lengthy as it is. As an aside, I like the idea of a more grassroots approach to finding new users. I myself discuss Linux regularly with many, and have even gotten one of my bosses (my life is Office Space) to make the switch on his tablet, dual boot on his laptop, and one of his home PC's. Friends, relatives, etc, etc. I think more can be done though on a wider scale. Are there any NYC/NJ area users out there who would like to collaberate on getting some ideas together, maybe setting up at libraries and such to show off SUSE, etc? Just send me an email or reply here, whichever, though preferably using a different subject line ;) Joseph M. Gaffney aka CuCullin --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
