Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
On Feb 11, 2015, at 4:16 AM, René J.V. Bertin wrote: On Tuesday February 10 2015 21:27:07 Craig Treleaven wrote: PS Some forums can be set up to send you an email when a sub-forum or topic is updated (after your last visit). I don't know of any that allow you to send an email that becomes a posting, however. Anyone who ever reported a Google Chrome or Chromium bug knows an example. I guess I never have. They use forum software as their issue tracker? I'm aware of bug tracking software that allows you to reply to an email notification whose contents then gets posted in the bug report. I'm not aware of forum software that allows you to reply to an email notification to post the contents to the forum thread. ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
On Tuesday February 10 2015 21:27:07 Craig Treleaven wrote: PS Some forums can be set up to send you an email when a sub-forum or topic is updated (after your last visit). I don't know of any that allow you to send an email that becomes a posting, however. Anyone who ever reported a Google Chrome or Chromium bug knows an example. I don't know to what extent that particular software is comparable to other forum systems in functionality, nor if it's available to outsiders (or if a group such as MacPorts could set up a forum to be hosted by Google like that). R. ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
At 5:45 PM -0500 2/10/15, Lawrence Velázquez wrote: Having both forums and mailing lists would be harmful to the community. We'd end up with two bubbles (one much smaller, probably) that don't interact with each other. The only way forums would work is if we migrated *all* discussion there. The MythTV project set up an online forum a year ago in addition to the mythtv-users mailing list. I'd say the experience there is that the two bubbles that don't interact much...but that is not a bad thing. Mailing list volume is basically unchanged since the forum went live. The forum is still growing every month and now gets several thousand visitors per month. The biggest volume of MythTV-via-Macports support that I do is via the forum. But I still follow the mythtv-users mailing list and answer questions there, as well. As I see it, there are folks who ONLY do mailing lists and folks who ONLY do forums. (And a few of us gluttons that do both.) I suspect that a MacPorts forum would be viable if a few of the usual suspects would answer questions on it. A forum would provide a venue for folks that are not comfortable with subscribing to a mailing list. Forums do offer a couple of advantages over mailing lists. The key one is: images inline with text. A user can post screen shots together with a description of their issue. Obviously there are ways to achieve much the same result with mailing lists but the integration on a forum thread is very nice. OTOH, a forum takes work to set up and maintain. I'm not volunteering to do it.But if a forum is created, I'll add it to the list that I check and probably answer questions when I can. Overall, the MythTV experience shows a forum would not be harmful to the community NOR that we'd have to migrate all discussion there. Craig PS Some forums can be set up to send you an email when a sub-forum or topic is updated (after your last visit). I don't know of any that allow you to send an email that becomes a posting, however. PPS One could argue that IRC and mailing lists serve basically the same purpose and it is redundant to have both! ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
On Feb 10, 2015, at 12:43 PM, René J.V. Bertin rjvber...@gmail.com wrote: To kick off the discussion: has a MacPorts forum site ever been taken into consideration Not since I've been paying attention, which has been a few years. if so, what were the reasons not to provide one (a summary would be fine)? I personally would not want to have to check Yet Another Source of MacPorts Discussion. I don't see what benefit a forum would have over our mailing lists. vq ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
On Feb 10, 2015, at 5:29 PM, René J.V. Bertin rjvber...@gmail.com wrote: I see them as complementary. Some people prefer mailing lists, others like myself prefer to keep their incoming mail as few as possible. Complementary implies that the items in question reinforce each other in a positive manner. Having both forums and mailing lists would be harmful to the community. We'd end up with two bubbles (one much smaller, probably) that don't interact with each other. The only way forums would work is if we migrated *all* discussion there. If not only because new posts on a forum (= topics I'm not already participating in) cannot pop up in your email and nag you to get distracted. Use email filters. With some forums you get only a single email alert when there's new content after your last visit, not a copy of each and every message posted, which is a nice feature too. Use Mailman digests. http://www.list.org/mailman-member/node27.html I guess it should also be possible to set up some kind of gateway between a forum and specific mailing lists Like third-party archive sites basically do? https://trac.macports.org/wiki/MailingLists#archives vq ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
Re: MacPorts forum(s)? (was: Re: memberlist)
On Tuesday February 10 2015 17:45:39 Lawrence Velázquez wrote: Complementary implies that the items in question reinforce each other in a positive manner. I think they would, but who am I ... =) Having both forums and mailing lists would be harmful to the community. We'd end up with two bubbles (one much smaller, probably) that don't interact with each other. I'd take that as an indication that the (much) larger one works better - and let the other one die its natural death if that's its fate. As to being harmful to the community: the current mailing lists are intended mostly for support and technical issues. That creates a bit of a one-sided, single-minded community, no? (and I'm almost tempted to say - what community ;)) IMHO, a forum would be much more conductive to organising things like collaborative efforts, user groups, but also to run polls etc. Anyway, macports-dev was probably not the best place to bring this up... to get distracted. Use email filters. Bah, doesn't work. Just means more locations to check for new email ... Use Mailman digests. Except that those contain all messages of all subjects, instead of 1 message per thread. A good threading email client would be better, and doesn't oblige you to copy paste subject lines and the relevant bits of a message before you can even start replying. Like third-party archive sites basically do? No, I had the reverse in mind, for people who don't want to visit a forum but still subscribe to what's going on there. There is forum software that allows you to add a comment by replying to the alert/emails you get. Anyway, I'm not going to keep defending the idea in a resounding void of indifference and lack of enthusiasm, but let it go the way of the dodo (like myself, but under the French meaning of sleep) =) R. ___ macports-dev mailing list macports-dev@lists.macosforge.org https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev
