Please, Lord, bring back the forum that they stole from us.
garyg the first wrote:
> Please, Lord, bring back the forum that they stole from us.
>
>
And which forum would that be? What is wrong with this one? Wouldn’t it
make more sense to create a thread on the cons that you see it in the
suggestion section rather then create a thread like that is meant to
inflame the situation?
garyg the first wrote:
>
> Please, Lord, bring back the forum that they stole from us.
>
>
The Lord sayeth, do for thy self.
You could, by articulating your issues. That might be a starting point.
Just my 2c…
KV
For a nightly prayer I’ve heard worse. 
Given that this is a consolidation of several older forums, I figured this one would have more activity.
You mean the 1/3 of the forums that are here now? Call me crazy, but as these communities merge it is all about the members of these communities bringing fourth their individual characteristics, and making this community into a consolidation of the best of each one of them.
This forum will be what the individual members and communities make it. It’s all in how you look at it.
I for one spend less time here than previously, not because I am less interested in helping others. A sad thing really but I think if I were to attempt to describe it, the main reason is that the forum has become more corporatised and lost some of its soul.
It appears to me more serious, less tolerant, technically more capable in some ways which is a good thing, but it is more like a typical IT help desk than a community of shared values. This is my POV, yours may differ.
I am trying to describe rather than criticise. This has just “happened” as a result of the merge, and I’m not sure if anyone can fix it. And I think some of the old animosities re-surfaced as a result and “characters” (ie the soul of the forum) we once knew have left.
Probably also unfortunate that 11 came out at the same time as the forums merged. New releases appear to stress forums somewhat because lots of new installs going on, disappointed expectations in the face of hype, etc.
Under the circumstances a lot has been achieved technically, but I’m not convinced this forum has developed a personality yet, nor is it likely to. Still a good place to come for advice, but not for entertainment or to “share the spirit” as previously.
I understand your point, but I’ve been trying very hard to achieve the opposite, and comments like that make me worry that I’m wasting my time (at least wasting my time in the view of users like your self. Maybe I should stop now and not bother? ). There are other places I can post. Other things I can do with my time.
How about going to the general area (or even in this soap box area) and launch some light hearted posts, to help us turn this assessment you have around?
Interesting … I feel totally swamped by the amount of threads on sound.
Before this I used to very actively post on SLS and SF, helping everyone I could on their sound. I’m seeing way more posts on basic sound problems now, so much I think I will need to take a breather soon, as the constant posts on this very subject are really wearing me down.
Fortunately, I’ve seen a bit of a drop off in the past 4 or 5 days, which makes me think the peak from the openSUSE-11.0 release (of many sound problems) is starting to ease up a bit. … And just in time soon, as I’m close to worn out on this.
I simply do not recall the same volume of basic sound problem posts on the previous forums. … (Now some may say this is because 11.0 introduced many new sound problems, but I’m not so sure on that. 10.2 and 10.3 had their own share of unique sound hiccups).
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:56:03 +0000, watagan wrote:
> This has just “happened”
> as a result of the merge, and I’m not sure if anyone can fix it.
The members can. I’ve been through several forum transitions in my time,
and there’s always a little bit of a bump (to a greater or lesser degree)
when change happens.
A community’s personality evolves over time, and merging multiple forums
into one means that there are multiple personalities that eventually will
meld together to create a new one. But it doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s a gradual process.
> but I’m not
> convinced this forum has developed a personality yet, nor is it
> likely to.
It is only unlikely to if everyone gives up on creating it. I don’t
think that’s going to happen.
My $0.02, for what that’s worth.
Jim
It is only unlikely to if everyone gives up on creating it. I don’t
think that’s going to happen.
Exactly. If everyone expects that, it will happen. As I said earlier, it is all a matter of what the individual forum members make out of it.
Interesting … I feel totally swamped by the amount of threads on sound.
simply do not recall the same volume of basic sound problem posts on the previous forums. … (Now some may say this is because 11.0 introduced many new sound problems, but I’m not so sure on that. 10.2 and 10.3 had their own share of unique sound hiccups).
I’ve noticed the same trend across the board. Given the large number of members here, and the fact that there is a continuing growth in the awareness and uptake of linux generally, its not surprising to see so many requests for help. I can understand that you would feel swamped. I would like to think other experienced members would contribute a little more.
For those interested in alternative forums, check out:
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:16:04 +0000, deano ferrari wrote:
>> Interesting … I feel totally swamped by the amount of threads on
>> sound.
>>
>> simply do not recall the same volume of basic sound problem posts on
>> the previous forums. … (Now some may say this is because 11.0
>> introduced many new sound problems, but I’m not so sure on that. 10.2
>> and 10.3 had their own share of unique sound hiccups).
>
> I’ve noticed the same trend across the board. Given the large number of
> members here, and the fact that there is a continuing growth in the
> awareness and uptake of linux generally, its not surprising to see so
> many requests for help. I can understand that you would feel swamped. I
> would like to think other experienced members would contribute a little
> more.
>
> For those interested in alternative forums, check out:
>
> ‘OpenSUSE.us - An online community for OpenSUSE users.’
> (http://opensuse.us/)
Personally, I’d rather see people work out their differences - a unified
community is almost always stronger than a community that has been
fragmented. I see this type of fragmentation in various OSS projects and
it usually creates more problems than it solves because the expertise is
fragmented as well.
Again, MHO. I’m officially (and not) nobody here - just another user
with some strong opinions.
Jim
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:06:04 +0000, Lysdestic wrote:
>> It is only unlikely to if everyone gives up on creating it. I don’t
>> think that’s going to happen.
>
> Exactly. If everyone expects that, it will happen. As I said earlier, it
> is all a matter of what the individual forum members make out of it.
Yep, we are in violent agreement on that point.
Jim
Personally, I’d rather see people work out their differences - a unified
community is almost always stronger than a community that has been
fragmented. I see this type of fragmentation in various OSS projects and
it usually creates more problems than it solves because the expertise is
fragmented as well.
Agreed.I like to think that the collective technical expertise of opensuse.org serves to reinforce and add to all members linux knowledge. The spirit of this community forum should be to help our fellow users wherever possible by propagating information. I personally strive to help others whenever I feel I can contribute constructively. I also enjoy gaining knowledge or having vague concepts clarified by reading the posts of other experienced users. I’d like to think we all share in this. 
I post often from work where I’m on a Windows box. I was going to dual-boot my new work laptop with openSUSE 11, except I didn’t get my new laptop at the last moment. We ordered brand new laptops for every member of IT, and then hired a new guy. Guess which one employee got left in the cold?
I’m a nice guy. I’ll understand.
Either way, I’m wary of posting help from a Windows box, in case I lead people astray. I do try to provide help on a lot of basic stuff in the Apps and Install areas.
Quite frankly, I find the forum a bit slow for my taste, and I’m not sure you guys need the help, but I’m really coming to love openSUSE, and if you guys are looking for any more moderators, I’d love to help out.
Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not a developer, and I can’t contribute more to OSS, since I get so much out of it.
I used to visit the old forum quite a lot and help out where I could. Funny, since I lost my old tag (winxp_escapee) my visits to the new forum have fallen off a great deal. My feeling is that the old forum was more welcoming, friendlier and informal whereas the new forum feels more official, which I guess is what it is supposed to be. I think the website design has a lot to do with it the new design is very stark, cold and minimalistic, as opposed to warm and welcoming.
Hi cygnuslodge (aka winxp_escapee)
Always good to hear from another familiar face behind the new mask. Don’t be a stranger - your valuable help is needed HERE!
Did you read this thread by kastorff?
“Support forums” that don’t allow reading without registration = fail^2.
As for the “old forums”… If you ask me they should re-open the Novell SuSE forums and let all the news people go back there.
That way everyone wins - “we” get our forums as we want them with all the functionality we are used to and “they” get to play in their little circle holding each others hands, cry how the HTTP users don’t understand their needs and how 5% of users should dictate how the rest of the world works.
Supposed to be according to whom? Not according to me!!
From my perspective, the users of this forum should push for what they want, and if it is felt we don’t provide enough forums for some informal friendly fun (but still in the most part, related to openSUSE Linux), then they should push for it … come up with specific suggestions, and be willing to compromise (as we all have to compromise) … the forum will be what the users make of it.
But note this will only happen with positive contributions. IMHO negative contributions tend to be great for tearing things down, but not as great for building. Users who post witty and fun posts, can really brighten up a forum, and so I ask those users who have the impression that the forum is “too formal”, start contributing more, along the lines of what THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE!!
Which skin are you using that gives you this “very stark, cold and minimalistic” impression? I dont’ get that at all. Rather I have a skin that is very close to what I had on both SLS and SF.