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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><br>It's because it's yet another place that you have to look.</blockquote>
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<div>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.
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">> It doesn't mean that if we had a forum we had to shut down the mailing<br>> list.<br><br>Then everyone has to look *both* at the forum and at the list, if they want
<br>to keep up, or research a particular issue. If things had started out as a<br>forum, then adding a list would be bad, for exactly the same reason.</blockquote>
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<div>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.
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">> And no one is suggesting that mailing lists are outdated. I think,<br>> at least for me, adding the strengths of another great tool to the growing
<br>> list of already great tools is a good idea, especially once this starts<br>> hitting the market. I think there are some definate strengths that a<br>> mailing list has that a forum could never have. From my experiance I have
<br>> found forums to be a great tool for the novice to advanced user. People who<br>> know what they are talking about can help the beginer users and people who<br>> have more dificult questions can turn to the mailing list. And if people on
<br>> the dev team want to poke around in the forums the merrier but they don't<br>> have to. I for one think that forums could really enhance the community.<br><br>At this point it's clearly a developer community, not a consumer community --
<br>there are no consumers using a neo, and there won't be for 6 months to a<br>year, at least. From my perspective, then, the time to start forums would be<br>when there is a significant consumer community.</blockquote>
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<div>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.
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<div>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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