Re: Linux Forums
su, 2006-01-22 kello 10:35 +0100, Andreas Schuldei kirjoitti:
> * Martin Schulze <joey@infodrom.org> [2006-01-22 09:11:56]:
>
> > Mark Daher wrote:
> > > My name is Mark Daher, owner of LinuxForums.org , I would like to make
> > > my site the official forums of the Debian since there aren't any,
> > > helping people with Debian, etc.
> >
> > Did debianHELP, Planet Debian and debianforum.de recently close?
>
> why ask this question? couldnt you check for yourself?
Do you know of the concept called "rhetoric question"? I don't know if
Joey meant it that way, but it could easily be interpreted that way.
> debian is rather weak in these forum based support structures,
> which attract a lot of new linux users. other distros are doing
> much better in that regard.
>
> i would think more debian focused ones, with a lifely community
> and competent people would further debian. more such forums would
> help more.
I disagree that having more web based discussion forums for Debian is
necessarily a good idea. The more forums you have, to more dispersed the
people discussing Debian online are, and the more work it is for people
to follow all the relevant places where discussion happens. As a result,
the chance of knowledgeable answers goes down. This helps no-one. It's
better to have a few well-run forums than a large number of mediocre
ones.
Now, I don't use web forums myself, when I can avoid them, and because
of that I don't know if linuxforums.org is better than, say,
debianhelp.org. If one is significantly better, then I expect users to
flock there and the other one to wither off and eventually die.
As a project, I don't think Debian should favor any web forum. If we
decide to set up our own web forum site (and I don't think we should),
then that could be called official. Calling a third-party site official
when we have no say in how it is run is not good.
I would also avoid the word "community". A web forum is not a community,
except perhaps in the very loosest, most abstract, and most useless
sense of the word; it can act as the catalyst for one, but it is not a
guarantee of one. The fact that some people read and write the same
forum (whether a mailing list or a web site) does not make them a
community, they need some common interests, values, and a shared sense
of belonging together.
--
It's pointless to argue with someone with no soul. -- Skip Middleton
Reply to: