[talk-au] Discussion A: Is this forum fit for purpose?

[Ben Kelley]

You are missing one need: It needs to be something that people will use.

For that reason, there are many ways to handle this, with the talk-au list
being one of those.

Some people use some of the other (existing) options for discussing OSM. A
mailing list has its advantages and disadvantages, but there are other
options that implement some of the features you suggest in a better way.
The more modern platforms already exist.

    - Ben.

On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 at 09:02, Herbert.Remi via Talk-au <
talk-au at openstreetmap.org> wrote:

> # Discussion A: Is this forum fit for purpose?
>
>  “PLEASE KEEP IT BRIEF. SPACE OF OF A PREMIUM. THANKS, JANE”
>
> ## The Issue
>
> The forum needs to be robust. It needs to tolerate a lot of traffic. It
> needs to work on the busy days, not just the quiet. It needs a
> functionality that allows you to manage congestion. It needs to tolerate
> diverse interest and writing styles. It needs to have room for growth.
>
>
> **I believe OSM is too important for anything else!**
>
>
> If you love OSM, and I am sure you do, then we need a more modern platform
> then this. This mailing list is so 90s.
>
> The good news is there is plenty of options and I am sure that here there
> is the technical expertise and ability to put it on a better footing.
>
>
>
> ## Features that would be of value:
>
>    - You need to be able to tailor your view of the content without
>    intervention of a group moderator or group consensus.
>    - You need to filter the content for topics your interest in and
>    topics you’re not
>    - You need to filter the content with posts from people you like and
>    block those that you don’t (whitelist and blacklist).
>    - You need to be able to search by including and excluding keywords,
>    preferably both in the same query
>    - You need to be able to search by post tags, again both including and
>    excluding
>    - Preferable, it would be best to combine both tag and keyword
>    searches (but many platforms have problems with this)
>    - Every post should be tagged with country and state of jurisdiction.
>    The country could be default and I only suggest it as at some time other
>    this idea may spread.
>    - Provide the option to tag (plain text) the posts with the topic
>    under discussion e.g. highway, lifecycle, announcement, events,
>    registration, mapping party, instructions, and message type (“The Facts”,
>    “The Issue”, etc)
>    - You should be able to move between chat groups and follow multiple
>    chat groups. Slack does this well.
>    - A post should be able to include “attachments” that are not visible
>    until open: office files, photos, PDF, HTML links. This saves screen space.
>    - Posts should have a header. It provides a (searchable) overview and
>    the actual post could be blended in and out.
>    - A smartphone app would be great. Why? Seek data shows most job
>    applications are done on the app and take less than 15 minutes. It is
>    remarkable how much you get done on the way to work on the bus.
>    - The help provided by this forum should be made available as soon as
>    it is posted: 365 days a year, 24 hours per day.
>    - Ideally, it should support a "forms" function for registration to
>    group events (or link to an external platform that supports such)
>    - It would be great to have a calendar function for events.
>    - We need more than a plain text. Rich text functionality is
>    advisable. A HTML capable editor is an option (transparent). As I have
>    previously mentioned, "markdown" is a popular modern option support by
>    FOSS/GitHub
>
> Everybody is welcome in an OSM forum, no matter the interest. We need
> everybody we can find to help with this project. We should try to create an
> environment where is happy to do what they do best, and come and go as they
> please.
>
> I welcome your comments. 😊
>
>
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