2011/10/6 Hal Bright <HBright@farmingtonlibraries.org>:

 Owen,

I agree the list should cover non-technical threads and topics, but every question (3 in total) I have posted that was non-technical came back with A) please do not use the "reply"button to start other topics (that was the reply I got for non-technical post #1 and non-technical post #2 when I forgot about the response from #1) and B) a resounding silence on post #3 , #2 & #1.

I then asked if there was need for a listserv for users (people who use Koha, but use support companies [the myriad that are out there] for most of the issues that come across this list). I was told no, that should be done here (after post #3), but still received no answer when I repeated post #3. I resorted to asking my service provider who provided an adequate answer.

The above is supposed to come across as humorous, so a laugh is in order here>>get ready>>>wait for it>>>[Insert Laugh here]!!!!

I have successfully posted technical questions and have received answers (and thank you!), but this is a tech heavy list.  I still feel the need for a users list is warranted, but feel that this is a community decision, not one where I just start a listserv and invite people to use it.

Well you could, but it may just end up like this. This is the non technical list, koha-devel is the technical list, but you can't control what people post where, nor who answers what, there are over 2000 people subscribed to his list, only a fraction of whom are technically minded. Unfortunately we can't compell them to answer, maybe offer a cookie next time ? :) (Note this whole thread is non technical :)) Chris

Hal Bright <HBright@farmingtonlibraries.org>

I agree the list should cover non-technical threads and topics, but every question (3 in total) I have posted that was non-technical came back with A) please do not use the "reply"button to start other topics (that was the reply I got for non-technical post #1 and non-technical post #2 when I forgot about the response from #1) and B) a resounding silence on post #3 , #2 & #1.

Yeah, readers of these discussions are snowed under. Once upon a time, I was the sweeper and tried to answer all the questions that didn't get an answer from anyone else, but I can't do that any more. I'm just about to delete 800-odd emails which no-one answered because they're now so old that I doubt anyone cares about the answers any more (if anyone wants to ask an unanswered question again, please do). If anyone would like to pay me to answer more questions on this list, please email me directly and I'll send you a donation link. Alternatively, please help out and answer questions! What if you're no expert? I wasn't when I started 8 years ago. I've posted some absolute howlers, but as long as no-one dies, no-one holds them against you: the important thing is to try to help, in a humble and useful way. Because we're snowed under, misbehaviour like using "reply" to ask a new question is a pain because the bad cataloguing data it generates makes it harder for old hands to follow discussions and it also means that non-techies using the "web forum" views of these discussions probably won't see it at all. For example, here's where one of the above questions appeared: http://koha.1045719.n5.nabble.com/Bulk-Item-Modification-Assinging-Branch-Co... I don't see why people with answers about collection performance would be reading a page about Bulk Item Modification - do you? So I usually only give those a canned reply - if it was important, they'll ask it again properly, in a way that non-techies will see both the question and the answer. I don't think we can conclude that another list is needed because a few misplaced questions didn't get answers. Hope that helps, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and LMS developer, statistician. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire for Koha work http://www.software.coop/products/koha