[plug] Forum Software

[Tim Bowden]

On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 13:17 +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> Tim Bowden <tim.bowden at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> >On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 12:01 +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> >> Cameron Patrick <cameron at patrick.wattle.id.au> wrote:
> >> >W.Kenworthy wrote:
> 
> >> 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
> 
> Well; you can use another protocol (one that's shiny and has
> blinking lights) to transfer news. :-)

Forum.  It's what most newbies relate to.  Have web browser, everything
is a web page.  Path of least resistance.  Think of the popularity of
web mail.  Mostly it's a pita compared to a decent smtp mail client, but
quite a few newbies primary experience of mail is webmail[1].

> 
> >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.
> 
> Why? There are a few usable interfaces for NN[TR]P built into web
> browsers and email clients. There are dozens of dedicated Usenet
> clients; both GUI and ChUI; especially for Linux.

So long as it looks like a web page and has a submit button, doesn't
matter what the back end is built with.  If the smarts come from some
form of NNTP architecture, well and good.  If not, well and good.
That's a technical question, the details of which should be hidden from
the "average" newbie[2] we are wanting to cater to.

> 
> Some of the better newsreaders are often "old" but still gold.
> 
> >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]
> 
> Those are the people sick of striving to be mediocre.
> 
> Do we show them the wide *open* spaces that offer freedom of choice
> or do we move them from their existing cage into one that's got the
> furniture re-arranged?

Re-arrange the furniture.  Sad to say, most people aren't interested in
exploring the vistas of freedom.  They /want/ to be led by the nose.
Press button A, Fill in form B etc without knowing /why/ they need to do
things the way they do.  If something goes wrong, they stop till someone
sorts it out.  They're not interested in having a solid conceptual
understanding of why they are doing things the way they are.  So long as
they are comfortable with the the quality of leadership (rightly or
wrongly), by and large they will go where they are lead.  If this sounds
a little depressing, it's because my experience is that the majority of
people think this way (well strictly speaking, are this way because they
don't think critically).  Those that do have an enquiring mind are in
the minority.

Regards,
Tim

[1] In my experience, which is quite limited.  I may be very wrong here.

[2] Newbie:  Let me clarify, this I consider as much a state of mind as
a level of technical competence.  Some people will still be newbies
after many years of using something, simply because of lack of
curiosity.  When things go wrong or stray from the "norm" they are used
to, they won't have developed the skills to diagnose or rectify the
situation.  They won't be interested in solving the problem themselves.
They'd rather call in an "expert" to sort it out for them.  That's not
designed to be a criticism, but rather an observation.