[scribus] Using BBS (or newsgroups) instead

[Barry McKenna]

On 2/22/2011 4:44 AM, a.l.e wrote:
> me too :-)
>
>
>
> On 2/22/11 1:04 PM, Stephen Carboni wrote:
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> Instead of using a mailing list for scribus support, how
>> about we use
>> a forum/BBS?
>>
>> I find the mailing list to archaic and clunky.
>>
>> Forums are much easier to use for the end user who has
>> problems they
>> want to resolve.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> -Steve.

>
> more seriously, what are the advantage of a forum against a
> mailing list?
>
> i'm aware of the fact that many people prefer asking
> questions in a forum, but i'd like to read from a
> forum-power-user what would are the good reasons to switch
> to a forum.
>
> - what is archaic in here?
> - what is clunky?
>
> on the other side:
> - how can you make sure that good answers get in?
> - who filters out the trash?
>
> finally, there are two ongoing projects to create a
> forum-like interface to this mailing list...
> maybe, we will have a solution for everybody soon...
>
> personally, i've rather made bad experiences with forums...
> but it may be just me!
>
> ciao
> a.l.e
>

I much prefer usenet newsgroups.

This is a link to one group I read occasionally:

news://forums.codegear.com/embarcadero.public.delphi.non-technical

 From the support page:

"To access our forums, we offer a standard web browser 
interface at https://forums.codegear.com or you may also 
access them via your favorite NNTP news reader."

That https link allows access to them as through a web 
browser and the web forum format, but the usenet format is 
much more efficient, for me anyway.

To access the newsgroups on usenet, with Mozilla Thunderbird 
for example, you would select

Tools>Account Settings>Account Actions>Add another 
account>click the radio button "newgroup account" and then 
enter "forums.codegear.com" which will bring up the whole 
site and then you click into the different top level group 
headings to find the actual groups you want access to. I've 
select 43 of the groups, although I don't always use each of 
them, but they are there when I need them.

One may need to register first with this - I forget - and if 
that is the case then I apologize in advance for any 
frustration delivered.

Usenet newsgroups are the best way to quickly see both all 
of the different threads and how all of those different 
threads are neatly folded under until you want to open up 
the thread.

Newsgroups are also very efficient for keeping higher level 
topics together that belong together.

For instance:

Master Pages
Fonts
Text
Graphics
Pdfs
etc,
etc...

As for some people's bad experiences with newsgroups, I'm 
sure that has happened. However, the emarcadero community 
which is really the Delphi community sub-group that I use is 
one of the most helpful and finest manifestations of 
internet community anyone could ever find.

Some newsgroups can be a bit terse or unfriendly. They each 
have their own personalities and cultures. Some are also 
very fussy about getting people to trim their posts so that 
they are easier to read and find the newest comment. This 
custom also likely originated from the days when everyone 
had very little bandwith and hard drives had 20Mb ;)

Barry McKenna