community Digest, Vol 36, Issue 45

Mathew Davis someoneinjapan at gmail.com
Fri Jul 20 18:11:24 CEST 2007


>
>
> It's because it's yet another place that you have to look.


This is true but it's a place where novices will look.  And I don't think
questions on the forums will be as technical as the mailing list.  I think
it will boil down to what you need answered.  If it's a simple question you
think can be answered on the forums then free up some space on the mailing
list and let the mailing list focus on more developer/important on topic
discussions.  Let the off topic/interesting but not important stuff go on in
the forum.  I think it will naturally go that way.  If you want to tighten
it up a little just add some moderators I am sure there are plenty of
knowledgable people who would be fine with volunteering for that.

> It doesn't mean that if we had a forum we had to shut down the mailing
> > list.
>
> Then everyone has to look *both* at the forum and at the list, if they
> want
> to keep up, or research a particular issue.  If things had started out as
> a
> forum, then adding a list would be bad, for exactly the same reason.


I don't agree.  I think the things in the forum will be way more basic than
on the mailing list.  If there is something important being said on the
mailing list I am sure there will be people who will post it on the forums.
I will anyways.  So if your looking for something technical or important
stick to the list.  I don't think there will be anything new/important said
exclusivly on the forums.  If you don't want to look in two places then
stick with the mailing list I am sure you won't miss anything.  If you want
to help out some of the less technical users go to the forums and help
answer some questions.

>  And no one is suggesting that mailing lists are outdated.  I think,
> > at least for me, adding the strengths of another great tool to the
> growing
> > list of already great tools is a good idea, especially once this starts
> > hitting the market.  I think there are some definate strengths that a
> > mailing list has that a forum could never have.  From my experiance I
> have
> > found forums to be a great tool for the novice to advanced user.  People
> who
> > know what they are talking about can help the beginer users and people
> who
> > have more dificult questions can turn to the mailing list.  And if
> people on
> > the dev team want to poke around in the forums the merrier but they
> don't
> > have to.  I for one think that forums could really enhance the
> community.
>
> At this point it's clearly a developer community, not a consumer community
> --
> there are no consumers using a neo, and there won't be for 6 months to a
> year, at least.  From my perspective, then, the time to start forums would
> be
> when there is a significant consumer community.


I agree.  But it's only 6 months away why not get things started.  I am sure
it will take a bit of time to get a forums started and a generous comunity
built.  If the neo's hit the market and there is a forum but no one uses it
yet, or it's not very polished or it's still buggy they will not use it.
And if non-technical users who purchas the phones can't figure out how to
customize thier neo and don't like the phone that will not be good for the
neo no matter how you look at it.

Sorry for writing so much but I really feel strongly that a forum will only
be a positive thing.  The more information we can get out to general users
and the more help we can offer them the better.  I personally thing the
forums and the mailing list will be two seperate tools.  I don't think there
will be that much overlap.  By that I mean people who use the mailing list
now will probably want to stick to the mailing list.  But I also see a lot
of things that really don't need to be on the mailing list.  General topics
about equipment to go with the neo, new way's they will use the neo, and
just general questions about network providers and plans don't need to go
here.  Let them ask those question in the forums.  I think the forums would
be a good place for people to ask general questions get general answers and
just enjoy discussing a wide range of things.  I think the mailing list
could benifit a great deal from a forum.  Just my $0.02.
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