On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 21:35:20 -0600, donavan nelson donavan@4wx.net wrote:
We thought it was more important to get CentOS a face (www.centos.org) than have every possible bell and whistle implemented at launch.
Once again it's a matter of opinion. I would consider the addition of web forums (without a mailing list to forum and vice-versa gateway in place) a bell, definitely a whistle ;) I'm saying that mainly because the mailing lists were fulfilling the purpose of communication between project leaders and users.
In many cases it's what you prefer (the format).
I agree.
I prefer forums for a historical perspective. IRC for real time discussion and mailing lists for conveying information. Too many people use mailing lists in place of realtime discussion. See today's "Where is ethereal" for a perfect example. Or this thread for that matter.
This is where we disagree, generally mailing lists and newsgroup archives (groups.google.com, marc.theaimsgroup.com, gmane.org) are used for the purpose of effectively archiving past discussions. I feel that having this discussion on the mailing lists is pretty fitting since it will be archived and therefore be available for anyone else as a reference. IRC, like you noted, is for real time discussion. Once that conversation is over it can't be linked to in an email for someone else's benefit.
The cms being used on www.centos.org is xoops. The next version of the forums software _should_ include mailing list <=-=> forum features. I'm making no promises my self as I'm a developer of neither (xoops or the forums).
Great. I (and it appears others as well) look forward to having that option available to the people who are sticking with the mailing lists and those who prefer web forums.
By the way, I hope my comments are perceived as constructive criticism. I acknowledge that it's the efforts of the Centos project members that are sustaining this project's growth.