[OSM-talk] forum.openstreetmap.org
Richard Fairhurst
richard at systemeD.net
Fri Sep 14 16:42:16 BST 2007
Alex Mauer wrote:
> Gmane (.org) does this already, for those not aware. They provide an
> nntp:// interface as well as several different web views.
>
> I think that fragmenting discussion and forcing people to check 3
> different locations (mailing list, wiki, and forums) would be less
> than
> good.
An official forum is rapidly becoming essential for OSM.
It's not about fragmenting discussion. All project development
discussion would still take place on the mailing lists, as it does now.
But what a forum would do is provide a place for newbies to ask
questions.
Most non-Unixy type newbies are not familiar with IRC or mailman
lists, but are familiar with forums (forums that look like forums,
that is, not the messy compromise that is Gmane). The minimal traffic
on the newbies list demonstrates that. Yet as anyone who's had to
clean up the mess left by an enthusiastic but less-than-informed user
can testify, the newbies _need_ help.
I realise this might seem like anathema to some of the more hardcore
users, especially those who come from a software development
background, but as OSM grows to be a more mass-market-friendly
project - thereby giving us the mappers we desperately need - we have
to respond to their needs, not dismiss them with a "that's not how
things are done round here".
I don't have any particular objection to osm.na1400.info, but it
would be a lot better if the forum could reside on the main OSM
servers, so that it could have single sign-on with the main site.
Someone on IRC had gone some way towards achieving this, I forget who...
cheers
Richard
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