I agree with Stiles. When I first started with SipX, I was too looking for help on the forum, but never got any responses. I thought the project might be dead, until I too came to the conclusion that support mainly came from the list. So I signed up to it. If the two can be merged, it would be a good thing. Postings on the forum shows up in the list and messages on the list showing up in the forum, including responses would be great. It will be up to the user to choose whichever method they prefer. A win-win for all, and not having new users think no one cares because all the experts are on the email list and never even see the user's messages for help being posted through the forum.
-----Original Message----- From: sipx-users-boun...@list.sipfoundry.org [mailto:sipx-users-boun...@list.sipfoundry.org] On Behalf Of Stiles Watson Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 2:35 PM To: sipx-users Subject: Re: [sipx-users] Mailing list or forum A newbe's perspective. I'm new to SipX and to the mailing list (just signed up actually). I normally do not signup for mailing lists - I get enough email as is. I do however, have a problem that I need to solve. I first went to the forum, submitted my question and got no response. So I tinkered around in SipX a little more until I got a small part of my problem solved, went back to the forum and posted an update and asked for further help. Again, no response. I tinkered, updated and asked one more time with the same result. Then...I noticed that the people who were getting responses were on the mailing list - so I joined. I have no idea if the forum posts to the list, but I'm guessing it does not. It might and it is just that one knows how to help me. If so, I'm OK with that. I do need help however, so I'll explore every avenue. Back to the philosophical list/forum question: It is true that lists are "old school" and that forums are the prevalent way of doing things, BUT Paul's observation about participation is also very, very true. Email has the huge benefit of being a 'push' technology, forums are a 'get' technology. To solve the 'get' technology participation problem, forums starting using RSS to push the content to the user. RSS solves part of the issue, but many are confused by RSS and do not use it. Everyone knows and uses email - it will never go away (at least not anytime in the near future) so it remains the best way to push content. My recommendation is to merge the two someway so that forum member's questions also get posted to the mailing list. That way everything works regardless of how a particular person likes/wants/needs to participate. Stiles Flatfender wrote: > On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 2:18 PM, Paul Herron <p...@sagecraftsmen.com> wrote: > >> While I agree with everything Josh has written below, I'm loathe to let go >> of the mailing list. I fear/suspect that shifting to a "forum only" will >> lead to a decline in participation and or attrition. >> In my particular case, IT is just one of the many hats I wear, if I have to >> proactively go to a forum, I won't go unless I have a problem. It's not >> because I don't want to help but rather, that I don't have the time and it's >> not top of mind. The open source mail server I use hosts a forum. When I was >> first deploying the server, I went to the forum frequently. The developer >> also had a point person who was very active in the forums answering >> questions and providing updates on the development plans. When answers from >> the developers slowed and development updates slowed, participation in the >> forums waned. Now, I visit my mail server forums maybe once every three >> months and there is very little activity. >> For me, the mailing list is a good thing. I'm much more familiar with Sipx >> because of the mailing list and, I'm more likely to contribute when I can >> with the mailing list than with a forum. >> Just my $.02 >> Paul >> > > +1 > _______________________________________________ > sipx-users mailing list > sipx-users@list.sipfoundry.org > List Archive: http://list.sipfoundry.org/archive/sipx-users/ > > > _______________________________________________ sipx-users mailing list sipx-users@list.sipfoundry.org List Archive: http://list.sipfoundry.org/archive/sipx-users/ _______________________________________________ sipx-users mailing list sipx-users@list.sipfoundry.org List Archive: http://list.sipfoundry.org/archive/sipx-users/
