Mailinglists vs Forums

[mac]

I noticed on the dev mailinglist that most people there don't like the idea of having this forum.
However I get the impression the people on the lists are mostly people with a programming background.

This is something that I have noticed before on other opensource projects.
For example most of the coding discussion for Blender is also having place on mailinglist.

So where am I going with this?

Projects like blender & flightgear do not solely depend on programmers for their succes.
They need users and content creators -- well actualy blender doesn't realy need content creators perse, but since it is a 3d suite it needs to attract them as users.

These are a different breed of people from programmers.
They need ordened and visual appealing ways of communicating and are often put off or intimidated by the way mailing lists are presented.

These forums are a much better way for users to find help with common problems (sticky threads), etc.

However, the main benefit of these forums in my oppinion is to the scenery and aircraft developement.

Being a 3d-modeler myself, I think it's safe to say most of us like things to look visualy appealing. This includes our own work, but also the enviroment we create and place that work in.
We like to post inline screenshots.
We like to use the occasional smiley.
We like discussion topics that stay in a single thread.
We like the little benefits that forums offer.

For example I don't think blender would have a thriving community if its users were forced to communicate through mailinglists.

I understand most people on the mailinglists, prefer the mailinglists and thats fine. Keep the code stuff there.
This way we can have a seperate place for the people who do not understand all the internal workings of the Flightgear program, but are just as dedicated to the project and want to contribute to the Flightgear world.

P.s. I didn't realy know in what forum subsection to post this, but since the forum is a new feature I posted it here, allthough it might fit better in a "general discussion" type subsection...

[curt]

I noticed on the dev mailinglist that most people there don't like the idea of having this forum.

[content creators] These are a different breed of people from programmers.
They need ordened and visual appealing ways of communicating and are often put off or intimidated by the way mailing lists are presented.

These forums are a much better way for users to find help with common problems (sticky threads), etc.

[snip]

P.s. I didn't realy know in what forum subsection to post this, but since the forum is a new feature I posted it here, allthough it might fit better in a "general discussion" type subsection...

Thanks for your well thought out and well worded comments. I sense that some people are intimidated or frustrated by email lists and feel a lot more comfortable with web based forums, but hadn't thought to break it down the way you did ... seems to make sense.

And Re: your P.S. I spent 5 minutes thinking up the topic categories. If people here want to make suggestions or changes or structure things differently, please feel free to make suggestions.

Regards,

Curt.

[grtux]

The forum was missing.
thanks for it

[Galloglas]

I like this forum better. The mailing list setup is OK but not very comfy for just popping in and hanging out and seeing what is up.

I've been a big fan of Flight Gear for a few years now and I "fly" nearly everyday. I feel more at home on this forum than on the mailing list so maybe I can contribute something if only screen shots or whatever.

Thanks!

Brian

[mac]

Why not start a nice screenshot thread in the "Stories and Humor" section.

[technobill]

Why not start a nice screenshot thread in the "Stories and Humor" section.

That's a good idea, but why not a whole screenshot sub-forum?

Sorry for reviving a dead thread...

[Gijs]

Well, if we siwtch to PHPbb3 (the newer software of this forum) we could have sub-sub forums. Like this:

Developing
- Scene developing
- Aircraft developing
- Aircraft
- Helicopter
- Source developing
Stories and humor
- Real life
- Screenshots

[technobill]

Would we loose all of the stuff that's already been posted here?

[Gijs]

Would we loose all of the stuff that's already been posted here?

No, the databases are switch to the new forums. So we won't loos anything. We only get a lot of better functions etc.

[technobill]

Then I, for one, think that its a great idea.