[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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