On Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:31:51 +0200, Per Jessen wrote:
I think it's entirely appropriate to redirect someone when better help is available elsewhere. That it happens to be to another openSUSE forum or list, that's life, we chose it that way.
You choose to use e-mail lists, Per, and that's fine - others in overwhelming numbers use the forums: We currently have 56769 registered users there. Now it is true that not all of those users are active users, we do see what looks to be an average of 400 messages a day that are posted. 2100 messages a week, and about 10,000 messages a month. Comparatively, the opensuse-users list looks to average about 65 messages a day (based on the stats available at gmane.org, which covers a period from February 2006 through today). Most of the traffic in the forums, if it were in the MLs, would be on that list (a small number would be project related, and there'd be some for factory as well - but the majority are users with installation or usage problems with the standard installation). At some point, *we* have to go where the *users* are and use what the users find most convenient to them. Otherwise, as Carlos said, they'll go somewhere else. Ubuntu, perhaps. Fedora, perhaps. Doesn't really matter - it'll be *not* openSUSE. Why? Because users like forums, and Ubuntu and Fedora both provide forums. You can't often push users to use what you want them to use, they'll gravitate towards what *they* want to use, and if you make it inconvenient to them (and that's a question of personal preference), the users will jump ship. So I for one (as one of the administrators of the openSUSE Forums) really appreciate people like Greg K-H and the members of the board who take the time to come to where the users are to interact with them. Look at it this way, Per: You're resisting going to the forums because it isn't what you're used to, doesn't work well for your way of working. (which is fine by me, BTW), and look at how you're reacting. Now recognise (please) that that's exactly what you're saying to 56,000 other people - and the vast majority of those people are people who took the time to look at something you had a part in creating. Do you really think it's in the project's best interests to alienate them by telling them that if they have problems, they need to not use a forum (like they could with every other major distro on the planet) but rather come to a mailing list, which they perceive (right or wrong) as an archaic way of getting help? Heck, we get pushback from some people about the fact that our forum has an NNTP interface for people who 'have failed to keep up with the times' (to paraphrase one person who has continued to come back and occasionally chastise us for providing two methods of access) because OSF is unique in the market for doing so - Ubuntu, Fedora - they don't provide that interface to the forums, and those used to web forums regularly complain about not being able to edit their messages more than 10 minutes after they post and other things that they take for granted in web-based forums. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org