[plug] Forum Software

[Tim Bowden]

On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 12:01 +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> Cameron Patrick <cameron at patrick.wattle.id.au> wrote:
> >W.Kenworthy wrote:

<snip>
> There are other options... such as increasing the exposure of the
> plug.* newsgroups.
> 
> Unlike forums, the user interface is completely under the control
> of the user. They can have silly animations to represent smilies and
> vor people who want to be seen, include article headers with ugly
> mugshots (aka avatars).
> 
> At least users of newsgroups have the option of using a real text
> editor.

NNTP was fabulous in it's day, but it's lost mindshare.  For good or
ill, it doesn't look like it will ever make it back.  Most linux newbies
won't even know it exists.  Even if we promote it as a support option,
they won't grok it.

As far as using a decent text editor goes, the bulk of the computer
using population has a hard time grasping the idea that you would want
(or even that there could exist) an alternative to MS Word or textpad.
These are the people who will increasingly be knocking at our door as
family/friends have set them up with a linux system.  They will start
turning to groups like us for support.  We need to be able to cater for
this if we are to achieve world domination [1]

Regards,
Tim
[1] As defined by Linus, ie, don't take it /too/ seriously. Keep it fun.