Re: [tdf-discuss] phpbb for the official LO forums

On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton <dennis.hamilton@acm.org
> wrote:

> It is the case that Stack Exchange is a challenge, although I don't recall
> having all that much difficulty with it.
>
> I concur completely about the desire for forums and the phpBB forums seem
> to
> work quite well (at least based on the experience with the OpenOffice.org
> Community Forums).  It does indeed depend on the vigilance of volunteers,
> moderators, and administrators.  But Forum governance can work very
> smoothly
> and it is a great outlet for peer support and the satisfaction of peer
> supporters who advance into volunteer and other categories.
>
> There is one value to Stack Exchange.  It is possible to set a search on
> Stack
> Exchange questions and watch for ones that are relevant to OO.o and LO.  I
> have done so and I see about one per day.  (I have probably responded to at
> most two of them.)
>
> I suspect it is possible to also create a search that also finds asked and
> answered or still unanswered questions about OO.o and LO.
>
> More eyes on those, especially for those who are enamored of Stock
> Exchange,
> would be valuable.

I think the big benefit for StackExchange is the built-in mechanism for
rewarding contributors with points.
See for example http://askubuntu.com/ (the Ubuntu StackExchange).
1. As you help out people, your readers can upvote your answers and you
earn badges.
2. There are bronze and silver and possibly gold badges.
3. You also earn privileges as you get more points. For example, you can
earn the privilege to modify/fix the questions of users if you feel they
can become better.
4. The design of StackExchange is to move much of the moderation work
towards the users themselves, and get them trained to produce better
answers.
5. AFAIK, there are dedicated people who perform general moderation for
issues that are missed by the volunteers. This helps tremendously to create
a nice and cooperative environment on AskUbuntu.

StackExchange is complementary to a forum.

There is Shapado and there is StackExchange. Which to choose if we ever go
for such a service? I would prefer StackExchange as it is bigger and hosts
already many heavy sites such as StackOverflow.
I fear that Shapado does not have a big consumer yet.

To get a LibreOffice StackExchange, there is a process where StackExchange
users need to vote in favor of the proposed site.


Regarding the forum, I think it will need to have the karma feature, a way
to reward users who post often.
In addition to this, it would be good to have an option to Thank the author
of a specific post.
See for example http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755389 (at
end of post, 3 people thanked the author).
Both http://forum.xda-developers.com/ (4m members) and
http://ubuntuforums.org/ (1.5m members) are based on vBulletin, a
proprietary forum software.
If phpBB can perform similar functionality to vBulletin, it should be fine.
phpBB supports mods (addons), so it's an issue to search and test the
appropriate addons that they work reliably.

Simos


>  - Dennis E. Hamilton
>   tools for document interoperability,  <http://nfoWorks.org/>
>   dennis.hamilton@acm.org  gsm: +1-206-779-9430  @orcmid
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Italo Vignoli [mailto:italo.vignoli@gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 13:19
> To: discuss@documentfoundation.org
> Subject: Re: [tdf-discuss] phpbb for the official LO forums
>
> On 11/4/11 7:56 PM, Florian Effenberger wrote:
>
> > many users have made *very* clear to me several times that they want a
> > "real" forum they know, like phpBB. Otherwise, I would have simply gone
> > with Nabble, so I'm a bit hesitant...
>
> I agree with Florian. Users want a forum, and this has been made very
> clear by many people. After having been accused of ignoring user needs
> because we didn't have a real forum, any other solution, at this stage,
> would be perceived in a negative way.
>
> Please remember that users are different from developers. As a user, I
> find stackexchange simply unacceptable (would really like to know who
> has had the idea).
>
> Users do not want to study the solution. They want to write a question,
> and get an answer. Simple problem, with a simple answer.
>
> Stackexchange makes it complex, in a useless way. I have been on the
> site for ten minutes, and I haven't been able to understand what I was
> supposed to do. I am usually considered a power user (sometimes, even a
> geek, at least in the marketing environment), and I don't see how
> something like stackexchange can be considered a better alternative to
> mailing lists and forums.
>
> Best, Italo
>
> --
> Italo Vignoli
> italo.vignoli@gmail.com
> mobile +39.348.5653829
> VoIP +39.02.320621813
> skype italovignoli
>
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-- 
A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion
Q. Why is top posting bad?

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