[mythtv-users] Need for a real forum?

Joseph A. Caputo jcaputo1 at comcast.net
Wed Dec 10 14:13:51 EST 2003


On Wednesday 10 December 2003 13:49, Graham Siener wrote:
> Hello,
> I've been a myth user for about 4 months now, and I'm very satisfied
> and impressed with MythTV.  Lately I've been trying to delve deeper
> by using MythMusic and MythGame, etc.  I know that a mailing list was
> the decided form of communication, but would anyone else out there
> prefer a real online forum?
>
> I'm perfectly willing (and mostly able) to host such a site, and I
> think it would be a much more productive affair considering how
> popular MythTV is getting these days.  I often use
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/archive/MythTV_C2/Users_F11/  instead
> of the mailing list, as it is much easier to read and search.

Really?  I find it much easier & faster to search my mailbox.  But 
you're right in that it would be nice not to have to keep old messages 
around, not to mention having mailboxes scattered around on different 
computers (work, home...).  Just now I searched my mailbox for a 
message I *knew* I read in the last couple of days, and couldn't find 
it.  After about 5 minutes of searching I realized that I'd downloaded 
the message on my home computer, so I ssh-VNC'd over there, and voila! 
there it was.  A PITA, though.

> But I
> also find it frustrating when I'd like to respond to a post and
> can't. So instead I usually just email the person asking, but that
> doesn't really benefit people in the future with this problem.

This is really the only big drawback of the mailing list, IMHO... too 
often people don't use threaded mail readers, or try to respond to a 
thread by replying to a different message and changing the subject.  A 
forum would certainly address that issue.

> So, I hope I've made sense, and I wanted to know how you all felt
> about the creation of a forum?  I certainly don't want to change the
> Dev mailing list, as I'm sure that suits them best.  Whether this
> forum should run parallel to the Users mailing list or instead of it,
> I'm not sure.

A forum would get my vote (not that it means anything, as I'm not the 
one making these decisions) only if:

(1) it replaced or encapsulated the mythtv-users mailing list.  I think 
forking the user community is a Bad Idea(tm).  Maintaining a 
mythtv-users mailing list AND a forum just means that some people miss 
out on some discussions, and you've got to search 2 places for info 
instead of 1.

(2) it could be set up with a mail gateway for both reading and posting 
that respected threads.  i.e., for those of us that prefer the mailing 
list paradigm, it would be transparent

(3) Isaac and the other primary developers/list admins/etc support it.  
MythTV wouldn't exist without their hard work, and if he/they don't 
want to deal with a forum, then that's enough of a reason for me.

Just my USD$0.02

-JAC



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