[License-discuss] web forums for license-* [was Re: proposal for revising code of conduct]

[Karl Fogel]

Luis Villa <luis at tieguy.org> writes:
>I've personally never seen open source forum software that wasn't an
>abysmal nightmare from a usability perspective, whereas many people
>here have email clients that they have chosen and customized
>specifically to deal with their workflow. So I'm very reluctant to
>make anyone less productive here by forcing them to use bad software.
>
>Similarly, I'm strongly disinclined to create "another inbox" for list
>members; again, I want this list to be productive, and additional
>inboxes are a source of anti-productivity in the world.[1]
>
>That said, I know Karl and the infrastructure team have looked at
>forum options with an eye towards using them for forums for members.
>So if any of them have thoughts on the state of the art I'm all ears -
>it is possible that there is now good web forum software that
>integrates well with email and is pleasant to use from the web.
>
>I'm open to the idea at all because, as has been pointed out, our
>current archives are awful (hard to browse, hard to search, etc.), and
>part of the purpose of license-review (and to a lesser extent,
>license-discuss) is to create a permanent record of OSI's thoughts and
>wisdom on licensing. I acknowledge Rick's concern about not getting
>information into local storage very easily, but IMHO it is much more
>important to create information that is publicly accessible and so
>useful for future generations of people who deal with licenses, and if
>a web forum, maintained by OSI's infrastructure team, can help us with
>that, I'm strongly in favor.

The answer is probably Sympa (http://sympa.org/), but IMHO Infra has its
hands full getting a wiki set up soon.  

I certainly agree that the in-browser experience with Mailman is not up
to modern standards, and the next version of Mailman appears to be
ever-receding, sadly.  So we'll probably switch away from it eventually,
and when we do, having a good online forum-like interface should be part
of the requirements for any new system.

There's no reason we should have to choose between two interfaces.  The
underlying objects are the same -- discussion threads -- and whether a
user interacts with those objects via email or via a browseable forum
interface should be up to that user.  This is how Sympa works I believe,
and AFAIK how all modern message-based discussion systems work.

-K

>http://lifehacker.com/5364596/reduce-your-inboxes-to-streamline-your-workflow-and-reduce-stress
>
>On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 1:10 AM, Lior W. <opensource.*.nwo at neverbox.com> wrote:
>> Please don't take it the wrong way, but this seems like an opportunity to
>> ask to move this mailing list to a forum.
>>
>> If you make sure it has un/subscription features.(both in general and in
>> specific topics) and the ability to personally block someone, I think it
>> could solve the aforementioned issues.
>>
>> Be sure you'll be neither the first nor the last to make the transition from
>> a mailing list to a forum.
>> I personally witnessed a very old mailing list out of the blue transitioning
>> to a forum. Even one day earlier, no one could have imagined the subscribers
>> getting along with it. But nowadays no one even remembers that it used to be
>> a mailing list.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Kuno Woudt - kuno at frob.nl
>> <+opensource+nwo+5ddf229e06.kuno#frob.nl at spamgourmet.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>>
>>> On 01/03/2013 05:04 AM, Luis Villa wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you have concerns about someone’s conduct, you can speak to them
>>>> directly, you can speak directly to the list moderators, or you can
>>>> discuss the conduct on the list.
>>>
>>>
>>> For those who feel the need to "speak directly to the list moderators" it
>>> is perhaps useful to make that into a link which when followed informs them
>>> who the list moderators are and how to contact them.
>>>
>>> -- kuno / warp.
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
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