[X2Go-Dev] Fwd: X2Go Forum?

[Mike Gabriel]

Hi Alexanderstr,

On  So 20 Okt 2019 22:01:33 CEST, Alexanderstr Miete wrote:

> You wrote:
> Well, that is all possible with the mailing list, too. We also have an
> IRC chat which can be used for quick questions.
>
> Not all is possible with this mailing list.
> Especially users cannot browse for previous issues which may have been
> solved in the last 10+ years. Also I cannot search for keywords to see if
> another user may have encountered or solved similar issue I face.  Thats a
> great downside. Also its very difficult for new users to become friends
> with X2Go, as a forum is much more approachable, "visual" and "friendly"
> than a mailing list, which feels a bit "exclusive". This alienates
> potential X2Go users; at least it did this with me at the beginning.
>
> Its your call in the end, you are the devs. If you are opposed there is no
> point. But please consider it, for X2Go's sake; its a great product and I
> wish it was spreading fast. Sometimes if there was not the right time in
> the past the right time comes later.
> Counterquestion: Why don't you just move this mailing list to a Forum
> Platform. Then you have the same interaction with the missing benefits.

The archiving software (Pipermail) of the mailing list software that  
the X2Go project uses (i.e. Mailman2) is pretty poor indeed.

We need to migrate the mailing lists from Mailman2 to Mailman3 (or  
something completely different) in the more or less near future (as  
Mailman2 is Python2-based and Python2 is end-of-life after 31 Dec 2019).

In Mailman3's archiving component (Hyperkitty), all the above  
forum-like functionalities are core features (key word search, recent  
posts, also writing posts IIRC, etc.). However, all past posts will be  
immutable (which is a wanted / must-have feature for an X2Go  
archive/forum/what-not).

The disadvantages of forums in Free Software project management comes  
in for developers / contributors / power users that participate in too  
many projects already. If communication can be stripped down to  
emailing, then one can manage all communication in one's email client.  
If each project runs its own forum, then one has to access one forum  
per project and check for new posts there. That does not scale well  
(at least not for me).

If you know of a forum software that can be transparently communicated  
over via email-only, please let us know. Also, please let us know  
about a potential migration plan for that forum software (transferring  
all past postings from Mailman2 into the forum).

Adding some extra service to the X2Go project will not provide any  
gain and will end up in non-skilled people recommending non-good  
practices to other non-skilled people, if the group of developers is  
not convinced of the new forum platform. Not a good idea to introduce  
this as Stefan pointed out already.

Replacing our mailing lists with another mailing list software that  
provides a forum postings feature and a good archive viewer / search  
engine is something we all should be interested in.

More then setting up such a piece of software, it needs people to  
maintain that on a long-term basis. If you are ready to provide that  
contribution to the project, let's continue this discussion.

Otherwise, well...

;-)

light+love
Mike
-- 

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