Does OpenSCAD deserve a modern Forum platform?
Am I missing something ? From what I can see of the Facebook page it has about 10 posts and the newest is 5 years old. If I hit Community I get a few more recent posts but I can not see anything worth following.
A quick look at the Reddit site was enough to put me off. Far too many Adverts - ignoring that the right hand half of the page is taken up with Adverts that sit there flashing at you - there are also far too may false entries, embedded Adverts.
I like a "text with occasional images” forum that occupies the entire web page and not an “image server with some occasional text” (often aimed at mobile phone users) that takes ages to render properly as it slowly loads even more Adverts. Yes I know I can switch classic mode on, and yes I do run the occasional advert blocker, I have a piHole sitting next to the router.
Just how do I search through the complete history ?
What I want is a well organised, easy to search, easy to follow, easy to ignore threads, Advert free tool. What that is I do not mind, as I do not have the skills to offer to help, I will have to take what I am given.
Given a free choice I prefer a structured set of forums (fora?) with defined sections (e.g. bug reports, new releases, feature requests, general, getting started, even a "what I printed” section (separate from the real business), some good pinned topics/help up front in each and a bloody good search engine.
The biggest problem I see with this thread is the “Someone should” line. I think it unlikely that “someone” will come from the forum community if only because most of the members will recognise their lack of knowledge of setting up the newer tools and are invested in either writing the code or running the forum and unlikely to have the time or desire to learn yet another skill.
cheers
BobC
On 26 Jan 2021, at 18:21, Jordan Brown openscad@jordan.maileater.net wrote:
On 1/26/2021 3:29 AM, Troberg wrote:
OK, here's the result:
https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/l3ybcl/openscad_mailing_list/ https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/l3ybcl/openscad_mailing_list/
Some interesting points, draw your own conclusions.
One thing that I thought interesting was the repeated comment that they liked the "one stop shopping" aspect of reddit, that they didn't have to visit a separate forum. That's the exact reason why I prefer a mailing list - it feeds into my primary "communications hub".
I asked earlier, but didn't get any responses, perhaps because it was at the bottom of a longer message: Why don't forum fans use the subreddit, the Thingiverse group, or the Facebook page? What is it that they lack that you want?
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On 1/26/2021 12:11 PM, Bob Carter wrote:
Am I missing something ? From what I can see of the Facebook page it
has about 10 posts and the newest is 5 years old. If I hit Community
I get a few more recent posts but I can not see anything worth following.
Yes. I included it only because Facebook is generally a major player,
an "everybody uses Facebook, right?" choice. (It happens that I don't,
but I recognize that I'm somewhat unusual.)
The biggest problem I see with this thread is the “Someone should”
line. I think it unlikely that “someone” will come from the forum
community if only because most of the members will recognise their
lack of knowledge of setting up the newer tools and are invested in
either writing the code or running the forum and unlikely to have the
time or desire to learn yet another skill.
Yep. I get the impression that Michael manages the forum because, well,
somebody has to, and that he doesn't want to spend any more on it than
he must.
If somebody else wants to set up a forum somewhere that can do
bidirectional integration with an existing mailing list, I expect that
it wouldn't be a problem to get it hooked up to the mailing list - and
if it works out, the old forum could be decommissioned. (Not that I'm
the person who would make such a decision.)
caggius wrote
The biggest problem I see with this thread is the “Someone should” line.
I think it unlikely that “someone” will come from the forum community if
only because most of the members will recognise their lack of knowledge of
setting up the newer tools and are invested in either writing the code or
running the forum and unlikely to have the time or desire to learn yet
another skill.
Not really, the big problem with "just do it" is paying for hosting.
Installing one of the most popular forums is more or less a
"next-next-next-finish", then plop in a logo image thing.
It's also about "not stealing the official mailing lists thunder". The user
base isn't that big, no need to split it with an unofficial forum.
--
Sent from: http://forum.openscad.org/
Sure sounds like if we ask on a forum, people want a forum. If we ask
on a mailing list, people want a mailing list.
True, but the reasons are still interesting.
My main reason for using the list is that the forum software does not
work well for me. I need to use a special bookmark to be able to log in,
and when I post something I get a warning that I am not on the list. In
fact, I receive most messages twice because of this nonsensical warning
(stangely enough, not all messages).
A workable forum would be in the same "communications hub" (thunderbird
in my case) if it features an RSS feed. Yes, I would need to log in into
the forum to post or respond, but I do not post that often.
If the group would use a working forum, I would definitely use it.
Am Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:07:19 -0700 (MST)
schrieb Vigardo bioramon@gmail.com:
I´m not an expert, but in my modest opinion a new modern Forum
platform would contribute to revitalize the OpenSCAD impact on the
community. What do you think?
Sent from: http://forum.openscad.org/
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Mails are my preferred medium of communication.
As long as I can receive the contributions as plain text mails, I see
no reason to log-in into a forum. The only exception for me would be
intelligent software to search the online archives. But so far I
haven't found anything like it anywhere.
It may be that I'm just too stupid when searching.
My two cent.
Peter
xgarb wrote
B) Click button to install Discourse
https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/discourse
Does it require an app to use it? If so, I'm pretty sure that would be a
deal breaker for a lot of people. I know it would be for me.
--
Sent from: http://forum.openscad.org/
Discourse works just fine in a web browser.
On Wed, Jan 27, 2021, at 4:53 PM, lar3ry wrote:
xgarb wrote
B) Click button to install Discourse
https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/discourse
Does it require an app to use it? If so, I'm pretty sure that would be a
deal breaker for a lot of people. I know it would be for me.
--
Sent from: http://forum.openscad.org/
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