Re: [tdf-discuss] Re: Forums - A Different Question

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 7:28 AM, Marc Paré <marc@marcpare.com> wrote:
> Le 28/04/11 09:04 AM, Carl Symons a écrit :
> > On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 2:52 AM, Harold Fuchs
> > <hwfa.libreoffice@gmail.com>  wrote:
> > > Please, why does the LibreOffice web page link to the forums for
> > > OpenOffice.org ?
> > >
> > > The current LO Help web page at http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/ has
> > > two
> > > links to OOo forums:
> > > - http://www.oooforum.org/
> > > - http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
> > >
> > > Harold Fuchs
> > > London, England
> >
> >
> > Because they are a useful resource for getting LibreOffice help, as
> > LibreOffice and OpenOffice closely resemble each other.
> >
> > There are millions of people using OpenOffice. There are fewer
> > millions (so far) using LibreOffice. The OOo forums are more mature
> > and more heavily trafficked than the LibreOffice forums.
>
> As the "forums" discussions are/have been/will be controversial, could we
> add a more informative comment on the web page/forums section. Something
> such Carl has just mentioned. Perhaps something like:
>
> "You can get support for LibreOffice from various independent forums run by
> LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org users and supporters. These forums are more
> mature and heavily trafficked and offer quality support to the LibreOffice
> project. LibreOffice does not offer a native forums board at this time. A
> native forums board is still under consideration."

I agree Marc.

I can't see into the future, but it is easy to imagine that there will
be an active LibreOffice forum sometime. Easy to imagine that The
Document Foundation would host it, sans ads. And that it will be the
GoTo LibO forum. This will be the case increasingly as OpenOffice
deteriorates (easy to imagine that too, IMO).

I'm not sure that the average user will get the meaning of "native
forums board". Maybe "official forum" or "forum sponsored by
LibreOffice itself".

"Still under consideration" may be technically accurate. I think that
it would be understandable and land better with users to say something
like "implementation details are still being discussed by the LibO
community".

I don't want to offend anyone's delicate sensibilities, but the forum
I use for LibO questions is Google Search. Search for "openoffice
forums" or "libreoffice forums", get more than a million results.
Thus, I think that it would be effective to add something to Marc's
write-up suggesting online search for solutions using either
LibreOffice or OpenOffice as a qualifier.

Carl

> This way, the user, seeking help on this page, will be informed of the
> outside links, informed of their solid performance in helping LO users,
> informed that there is no native forums at this point and informed that a
> forums board is still under consideration.
>
> Although quite verbose, it would inform users of the situation at this point
> and slow down the constant new threads about creating a native forums board.
>
> It is very clear that the forums topic is a recurring topic and that it will
> most likely never disappear until a native forums board is created OR until
> one/more of the external board adopt a name change that is more inclusive of
> the LibreOffice name.
>
> Cheers
>
> Marc
>
>
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