[D-community-discuss] current status / plan update

[Chris Lale]

Holger Levsen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Tuesday 06 March 2007 19:59, Chris Lale wrote:
>   
>> Yes - That's sensible. Don't duplicate effort! At present though, I am
>> not aware of any list for Debian newbies.
>>     
>
> Let's create one and see if it works out? Can you create mailinglists at 
> berliOS (within the newbiedoc project)?

Yes, I could create a mailing list. I think that it would be better to 
wait until there is a core of people willing to monitor it and provide 
guidance. At present, this function is served by the "Questions" section 
on NewbieDOC. There is not much traffic.

>  Or are webforums better suited for 
> newbies anyway?
>
>   

Well, this is a good question. In the UK computer press, the success of 
Ubuntu has been put down to the strong community. Their forum 
(http://www.ubuntuforums.org/) has these sections:

    Absolute beginner talk
    News and announcements
    Main support categories
    Other support categories
    Third-party projects
    Community discussions
    Ubunto LoCo teams

Using this as a model, perhaps a D-c forum that includes a newbie 
section would be the way forward?

Quite a lot of forum software includes email notification of replies 
which would be a very useful feature. It overcomes the problem that in a 
busy forum you can quickly lose sight of your entry and its replies. So 
you have the advantage of immediate replies (as in a mailing list) and 
easy webpage navigation of the conversation without the need for a 
suitable email client. Also, if you are not submitting a question, you 
can read the forum instantly without having to go through the rather 
tortuous list sign-up procedure or the equally tortuous navigation of 
the archive.

-- 
Chris.