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<DIV>in theory what is best is a forum that also mails all posts to
subscribers if they wish . then if they want to post they can go to forum to
post .....but they get all posts without have to check forum several times
a day which,,,, is a pain in the ass.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>my opinion... but I am usually right. ed sharpe archivist for
smecc</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 3/6/2008 9:23:17 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
cmiddleman@stcames.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>So I
started a good discussion about starting a forum board and I have <BR>been
reading the responses. I want those who are against the forum <BR>board
idea to think of what is the purpose of a mailing list and how <BR>well does
serve all members. The mailing list is great for developers.
<BR>It allows them to exchange ideas about how the content they are working
<BR>on will work. They have a good un derstanding of the beast they are
<BR>creating so looking at the history of a question that has been
asked.<BR><BR>Forum boards are strong for the general person. If I have
a question I <BR>have all the responses grouped into one place where I can see
how <BR>something is refined. I can easily search the entire discussion
for my <BR>answer or limit it to one section to get a really refined set of
<BR>answers. They also have good post stuck to the top defining what
this <BR>section is about and FAQ's.<BR><BR>I read two forum boards
regularely. The first one I read every day <BR>several times a
day. It is http://www.bikeforums.net/ . Look at the <BR>structure
of board. I ride a mountain bike and currently I am building <BR>a road
bike. I am what is called Clydesdale. At a minimum 3 of the
<BR>sections I delve into daily. I use the bicycle mechanics section to
get <BR>answers on my build. I needed help attaching a carbon fiber
chain stay <BR>protector and had my first response within 12 minutes.
I had 12 <BR>within 12 hours. All nicely bundled under one topic
idea and without <BR>being interspersed among other content questions.
But I am also a <BR>clydesdale so I need to know things like what re good
wheels for a <BR>clyde. The mechanics section is ok for that but in the
clyde section I <BR>can search for an easy answer, and I found what rim and
spoke count I <BR>can go with on this build, or if that does not yield clues I
can post on <BR>a specialty wheel with a low spoke count and see if anyone
else has had <BR>experience with them.<BR><BR>The second forum I read is
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/ for computer <BR>help. Notice again how it
is broken up. How quickly questions are <BR>answered and how the answers
are grouped together so you can see the <BR>refinement of ideas the sometimes
lead to the strongest answer.<BR><BR>So how do I envision a forum working for
me on koha? Well I work at a <BR>school the has a Windows 2000/XP setup
for the teachers and the <BR>students. The main server is an Ubuntu 6.06
file server and right now I <BR>am woring on getting koha 3.0 alpha running on
debian etch. You can see <BR>that I would need right now to look at an
install section of the forum <BR>for debian pertaining to getting the alpha
done. I was going through <BR>the INSTALL.debian file and things went
along pretty smooth but I have <BR>hit a bump in the road. Let say that
30% of the people installing this <BR>hit the same point as I do. Now if
I have a forum board I have a sticky <BR>at the top that says something like
Installing of debian /version/. I <BR>read along with that and do my
install my problem may be solved because <BR>of refinements to the document by
post. If the install section does not <BR>answer that I post my question
and I may have a response to that <BR>question withing minutes instead of
having to wait for the mailing list <BR>to go out, someone one read my
question, and then me either receive the <BR>answer directly from them or from
the next mailing list that gets sent <BR>out. But what if that does not
solve my problems. How long would using <BR>the mailing list take to
possibly solve it. I had one questions that <BR>took 6 months for
someone to finally send me an answer. <BR><BR>Someone borught up the idea of a
wiki and I think for the installs that <BR>is a possible route to take but we
need to find a place to put them <BR>all. We can no longer have them
seperated out and possibly not being <BR>there. Yesterday I was looking
for the ubuntu install one for an idea <BR>about modifying a file and it was
either down or gone. We also need to <BR>end the practice of not showing
every package that needs to be <BR>installed. It should not no longer
say in the how to if you get errors <BR>then install those packages. I
should be able to run through the <BR>instuctions just like I do for stuff
posted on howtoforge.com.<BR><BR>No matter what the mailing list will be
needed but the forum board will <BR>bring a broader sense of community to the
koha project. Forum boards <BR>are lively neighborhoods. They add
to body of knowledge in a group. I <BR>would like to see this discussion
continue and maybe some of the <BR>development team weigh in on what they
think.<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Koha mailing
list<BR>Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz<BR>http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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