Greetings, I've been hearing whisperings of people unhappy and/or confused with the recent transition to a split IRC channel arrangement. Hopefully I can clear up some of the dissent here.
- Why?: Well there has been a need for this for a while. #ubuntu-au had depreciated to 'yet another social channel', to the point where we were unable to hold meetings without being hijacked by offtopic discussion, and where people joining for support were often ignored in favour of whatever the topic of the moment was (and their questions then flooded offscreen preventing anyone else seeing them). This had to stop if #ubuntu-au was to remain relevant. Other LoCos have done a similar thing, and had an offtopic/chat channel for ages now. - It wasn't discussed!: Maybe this hasn't been discussed as part of a meeting agenda (but hey, we've been struggling to actually maintain focused discussion of meeting agenda points anyway - hence we haven't had one for months), but it *has* been discussed as far back as May 04 last year[0] (that is 20 months ago). There has been discussion sporadically[1] since then, but it *has* been discussed. Additionally, I regularly get people suggesting it be done in PM, in f2f discussions, and other channels. - Won't #ubuntu-au die now?: No, believe it or not, it wont. With the offtopic talk moved elsewhere, people will (re)learn to use the channel for what it was created for, discussing Ubuntu in a local sense, and locally provided support. Already we are seeing questions actually being answered, or at least acknowledgment and suggestions for finding an answer elsewhere. - Why not make it #ubuntu-au-ontopic?: Because that would never work. People needing help are not going to feel good about being put through channel pingpong. It would be counterproductive and would not make people feel welcome locally at all. - Why not make #ubuntu-au-meeting?: We could, but this would really obfuscate the meetings and end up with little attendance. Meetings get the best results from being in plain view where anyone who notices them or joins the channel can contribute. Many of our meetings have had great input from new people who didn't even know about the meetings, but saw them happening. So, you see, this wasn't a rash undiscussed decision. It has been in the works for nearly as long as the team has been around. However, I really cannot explain why of all times it is happening now. Hopefully you can also understand why it has been done, and more to the point, hopefully we can get the real time discussions and meetings back on track. Thanks for reading. [0] May 04 23:01:51 <womble> We have #ubuntu-au-community and #ubuntu-au-organisation ? [1] Grepping my logs shows: June 20 2006, July 21 2006, Oct 13 2006, Oct 26 2006, Nov 20 2007 [2]. Yes, there's a year-long gap there which is either due to people giving up on a functional channel, or sloppy grepping on my part. [2] Nov 20 00:03:51 <elkbuntu> Marat, the topics we've listed in the o4o factoid are aimed primarily at #ubuntu-offtopic, where they tend to quickly degenerate into personal attacks and flamewars Nov 20 00:05:29 <elkbuntu> Marat, other ubuntu channels should stay true to their topics -- ie #ubuntu for ubuntu support only, #ubuntu-motu for packaging talk only, etc. this one fails in epic proportions courtesy of kgoetz and siccness, which is part of the reason the loco is inactive at the moment. it's not possible to have a proper conversation here (note: this wasn't intended as a personal attack) Nov 20 00:05:56 <Helvasca> elkbuntu: not that thats a bad thing :D Nov 20 00:06:14 <Helvasca> i think we need the channel #ubuntu-au-ontopic Nov 20 00:06:17 <elkbuntu> Helvasca, it is actually. we used to be a good loco Nov 20 00:06:36 <elkbuntu> Helvasca, i agree. Nov 20 00:06:52 <Helvasca> Can you make it happen? Nov 20 00:07:08 <elkbuntu> Helvasca, i'll make an offtopic, ontopic would jsut confuse people Nov 20 00:07:21 <Helvasca> mmhmm Nov 20 00:07:37 <Helvasca> So you'd basicly transfer the convo's from here to offtopic? Nov 20 00:08:25 <elkbuntu> ban forwarding is a wonderful thing (note: meant in jest, it's not a threat) Nov 20 00:08:36 <Helvasca> huh? Nov 20 00:09:13 <elkbuntu> Helvasca, set ban with forwarding channel, kick them, watch them return and get piped into other channel Nov 20 00:09:24 <Helvasca> ah ok Nov 20 00:09:29 <Toma-> ...when is -au ever ontopic? Nov 20 00:09:41 <Helvasca> Toma-: I never have seen it -- Sincerely Melissa Draper http://www.meldraweb.com Phone: 0404 595 395 (intl): +61 404 595 395 P.O Box 1412 Lavington, NSW 2641 -- ubuntu-au mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
