Forums Page?

mathew davis someoneinjapan at gmail.com
Tue Feb 20 18:19:52 CET 2007


Hi I am kind of new to mailing lists so forgive me if I am steping on
anyones toes.

I am used to working with forums more than mailing lists and find them to be
a little easier for newcomers to work with than mailing lists.  Is there a
plan for a forum?  I think that it may not be as important to have a forum
now as it will say when the phone is released and there will be a lot more
people trying to find more organized data.  I have given this just a little
thought and some input from more experianced people would be welcome.  Here
is the layout that I have though could work.

For the forum you could have the following layout.

Announcements - would contain things like product releases, firmware
upgrades, patches, press releases, and the road map.
Getting Started - would contain things like, what the project is, what you
can do to help, how you can get started, forum rules, how you can start
developi9ng.
Community - would be the place for the general questions and wish list.
     • Phone FAQ - contain FAQ's about the phones apps, Hardware, and future
of the phone.
     • General Phone Questions - would be a place for users to get trouble
shooting answers (probably the most used when phone is released).
     • Applications - would contain discussions about apps that come
packaged with the phone.
     • Wish List - A place where people could post inovative new ideas and
approaches to problems to be implimented in future versions of the phones
and firmware.
Distribution - Would contain discussions about the distribution aspect of
the phone.
Development - This would be the place for developers to get answers and find
answers.
     • OpenMoko Framework - Would be the place for people working on the
framework.
     • Applications - This is where App developers can go for help and ideas
to get their apps working and looking good.
     • Theming/Skinning - This would be a place where people can go to learn
how to make the designs hot and how to develop their own Theme for the
phone. (Maybe could be moved up a level)
     • GSM Architecture - Here users can learn how the gsmd/libgsmd work
with the phone and development.
     • Third Party Applications - Here third party developers could meet and
discuss problems and solutions.
     • Linux Kernel - This could be a place for people to find answers about
the linux kernel and can contribute to future versions.
     • OpenMoko u-boot - Here users can learn how to use the u-boot and find
answers to questions.

Of course more layers can be added and more forums can be added as the need
is realized.  As far as I can see right now here are what I am seeing about
the Pro's and Con's to a forum.

*PRO'S*
- Easier for new comers to get at information they are seeking.
- More organized than mailing lists and meets somewhere in the middle of a
mailing list and a wiki..
- A forum is searchable.
- I believe a forum's layout and use are more well known that mailing lists
and wiki's.
- It will help grow the comunity and be another resource to the OpenMoko
comunity.

*CON'S*
- It will require people to moderate and take care of the Forums.
- It could create overlap with the mailing lists and could spawn some
confusion with mailing list users.
- It will need to be created by someone and hosted by someone.
- Planning will be required.

Of course this could be taken care of by anyone.  And the forum could be
maintained by experianced volunteers.  And maybe down the road through adds
and other fund generating methods it could become self sustaining and some
of the volunteers could then become compensated.  I am sorry if I am way out
on a limb here but this was something that I was looking for and was
dissapointed when i could not find one.  Any input here would be great.
Also if there is a forum somewhere and I have not found it I am sorry to
have cluttered up the mailing list with this rambling and if you could point
me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt
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