Re: [tdf-discuss] [Forum]How will the forum be organized?

2011/1/11 Fabián Rodríguez <magicfab@member.fsf.org>:
> On 11-01-09 08:28 PM, Andy Brown wrote:
> > On Sun Jan 09 2011 07:04:12 GMT-0800 (PST)  RGB ES wrote:
> > > https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/forums/
> > > They are "hidden" (no link on the help page) and you cannot post on
> > > them yet, but they exists and you can register ;) So my question is:
> > > how those forums will be organized? There will be one for each local
> > > site or only one on English? Categories? Organization (moderators,
> > > etc.)?
> > > Regards
> > > Ricardo
> >
> > Why add another forum?  There is already a LibO Forum at
> > http://libreofficeforum.org/forum .  The "Official" OOo Forum at
> > http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/ not only supports OOo
> > but off shoots such as Libo, NeoOffice and StarOffice.  The
> > "Un-official" Forum at http://www.oooforum.org/ is the oldest and
> > largest OOo related support forum around and has received LibO
> > questions and answers in the past few months.
> >
> > Andy
>
> I just registered to http://libreofficeforum.org and I am fairly certain
> it uses Drupal. I took the liberty to contact its creator and he's
> already indicated he's willing to collaborate:
>
> "I would be glad to see LibreOfficeForum.org as the official forum. I
> personally am not a developer, and I don't have any official role in
> LibreOffice. For years I have been a heavy user of OpenOffice, spending
> many hours on it every day. And now I'm sure that the way forward is
> LibreOffice. I'm not an expert yet, just a heavy user. ;-)
>
> I created the site immediately after LibreOffice was announced, because
> I saw that they had no web forums, and I personally don't like mailing
> lists. And I know that there are several unofficial forums as well for
> OpenOffice (like oooforum.org), so I'm sure that this site could also
> occupy that role if the Document Foundation doesn't approve it officially.
>
> It appears likely that LibreOffice will continue to diverge more and
> more from the code base of OpenOffice, and it would be confusing to see
> bugs and support requests for two different products in the same forum.
> So for that reason I would personally recommend that the Document
> Foundation not continue to use the same user.services.openoffice.org
> forum for LibreOffice.
>
> - Sam"
>
> I supposed someone from TDF / steering committee could maintain this
> contact more formally than me, I hope I am not overstepping anyone when
> doing this.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fabian
>
> --
> LibreOffice questions ? Des questions sur LibreOffice ? Preguntas acerca
> de LibreOffice ? Ask LibreOffice: http://libreoffice.shapado.com/
> ~
> Fabián Rodríguez
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:MagicFab

To answer some questions, yes the forum uses Drupal, which is not the
best alternative for functionality or familiarity for end users as it
takes a lot more time to setup moderation, roles, etc. You will also
find many references to the inadequacies of using Drupal as a forum
system. [1]

If we are to use an external forum as the official infrastructure we
must have confidence about longevity of information, confidence in
appropriate moderation and assurances about the server hardware/plan.
IMO we shouldn't leave hosting of critical official infrastructure up
to one person, who 'could' forget to pay the bill for their server
plan, then poof... it's gone.

In sumary, I totally agree with the vast majority of comments here. If
we don't provide an official forum it will be done offsite, without
the checks and balances within the community. We also risk losing many
users and contributors if we don't provide this essential support
infrastructure.

I would love to see a phpBB test install on the official servers for
the website team to test/configure so we can consult early and often
with the community about our requirements.

Thanks,
Michael Wheatland

[1] http://drupal.org/node/242239#comment-1259545

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