Re: Slightly OT: Comments, ideas, or suggestions for improving websites
> My ideal website would be one that combined the material in the really
> useful http://www.debian-administration.org/
:)
> with simpler guides for less experienced users (such as, the basics of
> aptitude, how to install Nvidia/ATI 3d drivers, or the basics of
> Debian-specific commands like dpkg-reconfigure or invoke-rc.d)
I think that all three of those things have been covered in the
past - one downside to the current site is that searching is
suboptimal. I haven't come up with a great solution to that yet,
although I'm tempted to start listing every article posted in
a given month on an "archive" page to possibly help.
> and
> forums where folks could discuss things, ask questions and point out
> helpful tips like where good apt sources are. There might also be a news
> section where Debian-specific items were announced or interviews run
There are existing "sections" for News and for Questions, only the
latter seems to have attracted attention. To be honest I post most
questions I receive, but there are more rejections than in any other
area. Mostly when I reject a question I'll suggest that the
submitter posts to debian-user, or looks at linuxquestions.org.
(e.g. a recent poster asking how to upgrade from Stable -> Testing
I pointed at the apt.sources documentation and suggested problems
should be mailed to this list.)
I spent a long time considering the introduction of forums
a few months ago, but ultimately decided that forums.debian.net
was a good place to send people instead. (Part of that was because
I couldn't think of a good, secure, and easy to hack forum package.
[we'd need to link the user accounts together on the main site
and the forum]).
Perhaps that could be a decision worth revisiting, but I can say
that I have received very few positive response when I've raised
the topic in the past, so I don't expect it would work out much
differently.
> (there is no shortage of Debian developers to interview or ask for
> pieces from).
I have never once asked somebody to write a piece for the site,
I would like to do so, but I'd rather wait for people to submit
pieces that they care about.
This happens less frequently than I'd like, but more often than
I'd feared. I'd say that over time outside involvement has
certainly increased and for a site just over a year old it is
doing pretty well all things considered.
Steve
--
Debian GNU/Linux System Administration
http://www.debian-administration.org/
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