[Koha] Forum boards

[Christopher L Middleman]

MJ Ray <mjr at phonecoop.coop> wrote:

> I pointed to the current web forum, but I got an MAILER-DAEMON error
> message back from the stcames.com mailserver saying that some server I
> don't know (not one of my usuals) is banned for abuse.

Unsure why this happened but if our ISP bans you there is usually a good 
reason.  No saying you but maybe somebody else has abused your telco.  
Google search for abuse and maybe you can find out the reason why.

>I'm not against the web forum interface.  I'm against splitting the
>koha user community into very small pieces.

I would like to point out that you are not fracturing the community.  
What you are doing is focusing knowledge.  My questions about a Ubuntu 
install are going to different then someone else's on Windows.  Breaking 
them up allows people to find information faster.  I may also have 
questions on data conversion.  Maybe I am usnure how to start asking 
questions.  By hitting the section on data conversion I can lots of 
different questions.  I may even run across someone who has asked a 
question on it that answers everything I need to know to pull it off or 
it wil help me to focus my question to get the best out of the group.  
People are free to graze whatever channel they like.  As I mentioned in 
my long post the bike forum I belong to I read a minimum of 3 sections a 
day.  I do not feel like I am not a part of any of the groups when I 
start posting in a new part.  A good community like they are always 
makes me feel welcome.

> The current web forum groups all the responses into one place (and
> threads them) and allows easy searching.

My current experience with this is that it is a mess.  I have a hard 
time finding the information I need.  It takes to long to get a proper 
response.  The history of a thread is right in front of me and I can see 
how an idea is developed.  The current format does not and I often waste 
lots of time trying to run through and entire thread not knowing where 
at in the thread may be my answer.

> Is there any evidence that "forum boards are strong for the general
> person"?

The three forums I visit are very strong.  Posts every day and they tend 
to be quick for answers.  Look at majorgeeks.com with their forums.  I 
usually get a quick response there that works.  A community is only as 
strong as the people want to make it.  The nice thing about forums is 
that people can start to feel like they are actual neighbors and because 
of this more work gets done.

> Some of us have been weighing in, but it seems like we're being
> ignored.  Over 90% of forums are ghost towns, often because they've
> been forked over too much.  Please don't make the same mistake for koha.

Well I will let you know that if the support set up for koha does not 
change into something more coherent it will continued to be ignored at 
large.  This group needs to change something to make it work better and 
for the knowledge that group has be accessed in a better way.  Could you 
imagine a library organized this way?