Re: Re: Sum-up: Re-proposal: web forums

["Philippe A." <futhark77@xxxxxxxxx>]

You see Google Groups as something very Google-specific and you don't like it. This is maybe because you don't know what Google Groups is? I will try demystifying Google Groups a bit for our readers. I guess you know what newsgroups are, and that they existed before Google. What Google did is to index them into their database. They did not only that, they also created a great web interface to browse them. That's Google Groups. That's all there is to say for our current concern. True, only registered users may post through Google Groups, but anyone can browse them and anyone can post into them through a newsreader. Heck, chances are there is a newsreader integrated in your current mail client.

2006/4/22, Segin <segin2005@xxxxxxxxx>:

Hello, I have noted below problems that we can take care of [...] 

> 4) Missing Googlish search function
>[...]
Well, that's not a real problem because it is truthful for some poor
people that don't use Yahoo!/GMail/Hotmail/Excite/etc. (those services
offer large email boxes)

This isn't very serious. It's like you're saying there is no point searching archives because you can leave everything in your inbox. Well I don't want to download months of archives in my mailbox to be able to search them.

>Solution 2:  Point people at Gmane or Google Groups in a prominent place
>========================================================================
>
>  Pros:
>   ) We don't have to do anything :-).

You may want to try to transfer archives into the newsgroup, if that's feasible. You may also need to learn more about how newsgroups are registered etc. I don't know anything about that myself.

>  Cons:
>   ) If it's not directly on winehq.org, it's probably not official
>enough that people are going to use it.

Oh come on. A project like the Eclipse IDE could have their official newsgroup listed on their website but Wine could not?

>   ) Not everyone has a Gmail account (required to post through Groups)
>   ) Not everyone is adept to using Gmane

Right. But not everyone is adept of (mailing lists|newsgroups|forums|you name it). That's not the question. The question was how we thought things could be improved. Maybe you should propose status quo, if it is what you have in mind.

Here's my own evalutation of the newsgroup suggestion.

Advantages (most important first in my opinion):
- The fact is a newsgroup is the closest format to the actual mailing
list.

- Chances are you will retain the features of your current mail client.
- Chances are it is not too much work to maintain once deployed, compared to other suggestions.

- You instantly get a very good search.
- You save yourself coding a web interface which has a fraction of the features found in a newsreader. I guess you can always code one if you want though.
- You really are doing yourself a favor by using format specifically
aimed by Google.

Costs (worse first in my own opinion):
- Transferring the archives, registration hassles, etc.
- Convince existing users to configure their newsreader.

It really comes down to priorities. Easier submission, better search, better structure (directory-like structure of a forum)?

Regards!
_______________________________________________
wine-users mailing list
wine-users@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.winehq.org/mailman/listinfo/wine-users