[kdewebdev-site] kdewebdev could use a forum

[Chris van de Wouw]

On Monday 23 May 2005 04:59, Eric Laffoon wrote:
> Hi Chris,
> thanks for voicing your opinion...
>
> On Sunday 22 May 2005 16:14, Chris van de Wouw wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On forehand, my apologies if this is already discussed and/or decided on.
> >
> > I think a major thing that kdewebdev, or even Quanta is missing, is a
> > place for a community to evolve. Sure there are these mailing lists, but
> > a forum on the website is much more accesible.
>
> Yes it is, but forums on web sites have other factors. They require
> administration to a large degree. This includes the obvious answering
> questions as well as general focus and of course policing the forums to
> deal with disruptive or abusive types. The more popular a project is the
> more demanding this can be. We need administration for other things we want
> to do and we seem not to be getting a lot of people stepping forward
> already.
>

Yes, I agree on the required administration. As for the obvious answering, I 
think that would/should be handled by frequent Quanta users (such as me) and 
of course the faq will have a decreasing infuence on obvious questions.

Policing the forums shouldn't also be done by you guys. Your time is needed to 
program, not to moderate a forum. When the popularity of this forum 
increases, sure there will be more abusive types. But I'm also sure there 
would be good guys, even people who'd like to moderate.  If required, I would 
even like to be a (part-time) moderator.  

> > I'm a huge fan of Quanta and have used it for years now, but since the
> > start of kdewebdev.org I only visited the site twice. This was also the
> > case with the old quanta site.
>
> The old site was a joke and the new one is less than 10% finished so it's
> really not fair to evaluate it's functionality as a portal on that basis.
>

Point taken.

> > Most users install Quanta or any kdewebdev app through their
> > distrubution, giving them no reason for visiting the site. Some people
> > might check the site to see something's going on, but most visitors will
> > only come when they run in any kind of problem, or have some specific
> > question in mind.
>
> I'm cracking up now. ;-) You're about four years behind my realization of
> this. With KStuff, news, resources, tips, faqs, feature requests, the
> ability to see the development process and other things there would be more
> reason to visit the site. In fact there are about a dozen menu items built
> into Quanta that take you to the site, so we just need to complete that.
>

It was never my intension to lecture you on my fantastic insights ;-) as if 
you wouldn't realize that. I think as leader of such a succesful project, 
author of long, very... very long posts, there's no doubt you have great 
insights yourself. ;-)
I only want to share my view, as a user not developer.


> > For most people, only having a mailinglist available, is too much hassle.
> > I think a forum would generate much more discussions and questions.
> > Consequentially a more visible community will arise and therefor more
> > frequent users will visit the site.
>
> I agree that a forum site would be both appreciated and demanded and I
> intend to create this... ;-)
>

yay \o/

> > This mail is inspired by the 'request for help' mail (Quanta mailing
> > list) by Eric. Having more frequent users visiting the site, increases
> > the chance of donations and sponsors. Off course I can't be sure, but I
> > think most visitors of the site currently are people who are checking it
> > out, not the people who are frequently using Quanta (or any kdewebdev
> > app).
> >
> > my 2 cents,
> >
> > Chris van de Wouw
>
> I have another domain which I acquired specifically for support reasons.
> With this I intend to do the following...
> 1) Offer consultant based support for commercial companies.
> 2) Set up a forum and offer support subscriptions to users. This will
> amount to probably around $2-$5 a month for a basic subscription and more
> for advanced support or corporate priority support. Users will be able to
> do things like take up admin tasks or work on resources for free
> subscriptions if they require a special consideration.
> 3) From this base pool we will launch professional articles on development
> with Quanta involving various tasks and technologies. This will mean that a
> subscription will not only provide forum access but a quality electronic
> magazine and advanced resources.
>
> None of this will take away from the main site or program. The thing is, a
> small contribution from a 10%-20% segment of our users could create a
> massive development opportunity. Currently FLOSS conventions don't
> generally charge for attendance and as such we have a a hard time getting
> all our travel costs covered. Then there is the hardware upgrade issues,
> not to mention the huge amount of time I often end up investing on the
> project. Establishing a revenue stream based on a viable and reasonable
> subscription model returning real value to users would enable us to
> dramatically improve our efforts. I would like more XML tools and knowledge
> but I don't have time. I'd like to have advanced graphics and animation
> tools ready for plugin. I'd like to have a first class set of resources
> available to download.
>
> For me it seems simple that since a forum will be so desirable it makes
> more sense to sweeten it even more and then give it the attention it needs
> than to have it become a further liability and drain on the few people
> actually making the project run. When I start work on it I would of course
> welcome help, but I have to do things with the kdewebdev.org site first as
> I think it would be bad form to go the other way.
>

Perhaps its time for me to step in, and see if I can do my share. I don't have 
very much time available, but I'm sure I can find some time to contribute 
something.

> So that's my take on it. ;-)


Thank you,


Chris