Topic: Forum Names and Website labels

[tcarroll]

I suggest the web site be changed and the forum names are changed.  It needs to be explicit where folks can get support.

The forums should be renamed, IMO, from General discussion to Support - General, and from Experienced User Forum to Support - Technical.  While at it, I recommend providing a devinfo forum that links to the mailing list and it also be renamed to Support - Development and also you could change the Bug Reporting and confirmation forum name to Support - Bug reports.

The community really needs to project the idea that SME is supported and not just something hobbyists play around with.  By projecting the idea of lots of support it will help people feel at ease and have confidence they are going to find the support they need to run such a great distribution.

It may very well allow us to direct users to the appropriate forum without all the OT posts in the other forums or lists.

Otherwise, thanks for everything you guys are doing.  I am very pleased with the direction SME is going.  Keep it up!

Tom

[Anonymous]

I agree and would suggest that the forum to email functionality be re introduced. This has the benefit of allowing people to post support help without having to trawl the forums looking for questions they know the answers to.

[RonM]

I share your concerns, and hope we can figure out how to deal with cross-posts. Still, what is the difference, really, between general support and technical support?

Instead of changing the forum names, which have been this way for years and we're all used to, why not change the name of the link, from "Forums", to "Support Forums"? Pick one, and put "Ask for Support here" in the description.

[tcarroll]

Cross posting should be handled by the software that runs the forums and e-mail lists.  Not sure as I have never tried to use both methods at the same time.  I know some folks prefer to not have their inbox filled with forum traffic, while others like the ability to respond to forum traffic via e-mail (as I do).

Either way, renaming the forums and mailing lists or just changing the link names will project a more professional involvement behind SME support.

The difference between the two forums, General & Experienced User, in my mind is that the general forum would be where someone could ask a question about how to reconfigure apache to listen on port 8080 via the template system.  A technical question would be related to setting up a new package, or possibly a security question like how to configure and set up Tripwire.  More than likely the answer would lie with the experienced folks (or Technical people) and the apache question could more likely be answered by the new comers (General users).  Support - Development would be where developers could ask questions concerning programming issues or package wrapping for SME.  Then again, I may be a little twisted in my thoughts here...

If SME is wanting to go mainstream, then they must project the mainstream image of a stand-up distribution while also not presenting a difficult system to learn or where to get the help one may need.

[matsk]

I suggest the web site be changed and the forum names are changed. It needs to be explicit where folks can get support.

The forums should be renamed, IMO, from General discussion to Support - General, and from Experienced User Forum to Support - Technical. While at it, I recommend providing a devinfo forum that links to the mailing list and it also be renamed to Support - Development and also you could change the Bug Reporting and confirmation forum name to Support - Bug reports.

I realy don't see the big advantage with relabeling the forums totaly.

Below is my interpretation of the proposed relabeling, bold = new titel, bold italic = Old titel and the forum charter is in italic.

I can agree that "General discussion" is less describing for the forum but the rest seems OK for me.

There is a problem with persons not reading the charter for the forums and not searching the forum before asking the questions. This could be solved with an moderator/moderators.

And maybee there is a need for an FAQ that has topics about stuff regarding the SME server modification/tips and so on.

I can also see the need for an anouncement forum where new contributions/enhancement and so on could be posted.

But remember that contribs.org is a vouluntary organisation....

---- <Interpretation of the proposed relabeling> ----
Support - General
General discussion
Installation problems, comments, feedback, and basic questions about the SME Server and gateway.

Support - Technical
Experienced User Forum
Discussions related to development and customization of the SME Server.

Suggestions
A place to suggest new features and enhancements in future releases of the SME Server.

Support - Bug reports
Bug reporting and confirmation
Here you can post suspected bugs and user confirmation of these suspected bugs.
---- </Interpretation of the proposed relabeling> ----

My 50øre thoughts

/Mats

[raem]

There has been so much change ie new web site, new mail list etc, that new names for the forums should not create anyone a serious problem.

If the names give a better indication of what the forums are for then that has to be better and easier for people to use.
My suggestion

Support - Basic
Support - Advanced

and reinstate (create ?) the 2 way email functionality that the old e-smith forums had for both forums.

Furthermore the purpose of contribs.org has changed dramatically since Mitel decided to "hand over" the forums and mail lists etc. Originally it was created to bring to one site the many contribs that were scattered on various web sites etc.
As it has now taken on the role of overseer to the future development of the sme server as well as contrib development promtion, perhaps the current web site should be renamed to smeserver.org. It seems so much more appropriate given the current tasks at hand. I did see one post that mentioned the same thing.

Regs
Ray

[Boris]

Furthermore the purpose of contribs.org has changed dramatically since Mitel decided to "hand over" the forums and mail lists etc. Originally it was created to bring to one site the many contribs that were scattered on various web sites etc.
As it has now taken on the role of overseer to the future development of the sme server as well as contrib development promtion, perhaps the current web site should be renamed to smeserver.org. It seems so much more appropriate given the current tasks at hand. I did see one post that mentioned the same thing.

Regs
Ray

Totaly agree and I think Jeff already made some steps in that direction by reserving some of relevant domain names. Its just not implemented yet. Maybe Jeff can comment on the future plans and eta?