Re: [Perfparse-devel-int] Support forum on sf.net

[Yves <yme...@pe...>]

> The one problem I can see is posting a question to the news groups
> without subscription.  Anonymous email may not work if the user does no=
t
> know where the answer will be seen.  Although currently possible.

People usually subscribe or say they did not subscribe and would like to =
be in CC for
the answer.

> I would like to consider a user forum in wiki a little further, as a
> second support mechanism.  Let me list (in no order) some reasons:
>
> 1 Keeps users close to FAQ and other helpful information.  They may see
> the answer before the 'dump post' we all hate making :)

You can (additionnaly) edit the web page where you explain where to subsc=
ribe and add
that users should read on wiki.perfparse.org before asking for something.

> 2 Easy anonymous posting of a question.

There is always a way to post an anonymous question :)
Besides this, in some countries, you (as the maintainer) would be respons=
ible for the
contents of anonymous posts.
Flo, where is wiki.perfparse.org hosted ? Any idea about what the law say=
s ?

> 3 Email alerts possible for the rest of us.  (Check, is this possible?)

I prefer a form that send the question directly to the mailing list and r=
eturns to the
user that some answers may be found on the mail archives. I prefer it thi=
s way in order
to centralize everything in the mail archives.

> 4 Keeps posting/viewing/searching on the same server.

mail archives :)

> 5 Ensure entire PP project in same look/feel, when style sheets agreed.

You cannot do it because of the mail archives :)

>  > This is something we have to decide : how do we provide support ?
>  > Because our support is free, we have to find a way not to spend too
> much time on it.
>
> See point (1) and (4).  The user in search of an answer can access lots
> of information in same location.  Then they can post an anonymous
> question.

We can do this another way : everywhere the mailing-list appears, prepend=
 "Read the FAQ
on wiki.perfparse.org before" :)

This should be done even if you choose to use the forums.

> At the moment we are too disconnected.  The information may be on one o=
f
> three web sites, or in an email archive.  This may lead to replication
> of information and confusion by users.

This is my best argument to reduce the number of communication channels.
1/ www.perfparse.org
2/ wiki.perfparse.org
3/ mail archive
4/ mailing-lists

Adding a forum would be a 5th channel even if hosted on wiki.perfparse.or=
g.

>
>  > We have the mailing-list and the html archives. If you insist on
> html, the only missing
>  > part is a form to send a mail to the mailing-list and say that the
> answer will probably
>  > be in the archives :)
>
> Totally agree.  One solution is a CGI program to accept a question, pos=
t
> it to our groups and send them to the archive.  But I can see two
> problems with this:
>
> 1 There is no mechanism to let them know of an answer.

This is the cost of anonymous posting on somewhere nobody can be connecte=
d : with mails,
the mail comes to you. With forums, you go to the forum but nothing comes=
 to you.

> 2 It requires a http server which is not part of the archive http
> server, which is closed to us.  So you cannot link from the archive bac=
k
> to the question page.  So users viewing the archive will not know of
> this nice page we provide to add to the archive :)

Maybe that's too complex ? Should we do things simpler and stupid ?

Yves
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