Re: [tdf-discuss] Re: Forums... again

On 04/26/2011 09:57 AM, David Nelson wrote:
> Hi Sam,
>
> I regretfully have to inform you that I had to remove the link to the
> LibreOfficeForum.org site at the request of Drew Jensen seconded by
> Charles Schulz.

+1

I appreciate the effort Sam has made to create libreofficeforum.org. 
Like Sam, I feel that the general user community prefers forums to 
mailing lists, and that a well-implemented forum can really help grow 
the libreoffice community and provide a sense that the project is 
well-supported.  I also firmly believe that having an easy and 
recognizable URL is important -- oooforum won't work in the long-term.

Unfortunately, Sam made several poor choices in setting up 
libreofficeforum.org.

First, he apparently didn't discuss with the community at large (on the 
mailing lists) or the steering committee about what would make a good 
forum -- he just announced to the mailing list, in the first week of 
Oct. 2010, that he had created libreofficeforum.org.  It was set up the 
way he set it up, and that was that.  Several "what the...?" comments 
were made at the time, especially since the site had several flaws.

People have complained about the ads from day 1.  People have complained 
about MSO being advertised.  People have also said that they will not 
provide support on this site because of this.  As for me, well, I agree 
with these complaints 100%.  This is like selling candy to raise money 
for a tooth-decay foundation.  It makes no sense, and it creates a 
mixed-up message where the message should be very clear.

Sam said he needs to have ads, and he doesn't want to discuss the issue 
of ads here.  I'm sorry, but that is the major problem with the site. 
That issue needs to be hashed out, if not here, by the Steering 
Committee.  If the site needs to have ads, then we don't need the site, 
IMHO.  I'd much rather live with http://www.oooforum.org and
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum in the short-term.

In any case, I think we oughtn't link to libreofficeforum.org from the 
official LibO site until we either reach consensus here on the mailing 
list, or the Steering Committee has come to a decision.

     ----Jon

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