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<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT
face="Courier New">Shane,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT
face="Courier New"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT face="Courier New">This has been
discussed here before. The bottom line with it is that it just wouldn't
fit with everyones current workflow nearly as well as an email list does.
My vote for changing to a forums set-up would be a no.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT
face="Courier New"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT face="Courier New">Something like
PHPBB and Mail2Forums was sugested, allowing everyone the best of both worlds,
but no one ever did anything with it.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT
face="Courier New"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT face="Courier New">While my vote for
changing to a forum is a no, I think a forum could add a lot. If you are
gun-ho about this, if you have the time to put into this, the technical skill to
do this, and you really wanted to create a site that would start to change
peoples minds, you would have to offer them content that they will use and
that is easier than what they currently do.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=854581220-13112006><FONT
face="Courier New"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>Here are some ideas
for you to think about:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- a single
board with feeds to/from all of the various LTSP mailing
lists (Ltsp-discuss, Ltsp-developer, Ltsp-announce,
Ltsp-translations.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- a google coop
search for LTSP specific websites.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- </SPAN><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006>set up a bot to allow automated captures of
irc.freenode.net #ltsp and #ltsp-docs conversations and then have the
transcripts automatically posted to the site (politics of that are up to you to
figure out...).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- a news blog
or newsletter type thing for LTSP, with news summeries from the various
lists, IRC's and CVS changes.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- an updated a
set of key links to good LTSP websites.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- set up a
"K12LTSP-Teachers" forum, and answer questions in that forum (hard questions can
easily be forwarded to this list for more technical help)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- set
up torrents for all K12LTSP ISO's</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN class=854581220-13112006>- Try to figure out
other ways to get LTSP content on such a site that would draw people in and
help enhance the community, rather than trying to change it.
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><SPAN
class=854581220-13112006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<HR>
Steven Santos<BR>Director, Simply Circus, Inc.<BR>Email:
Steven@SimplyCircus.com<BR> Mail: PO BOX
620753<BR> Newton, MA 02462<BR>Phone:
781-799-4938<BR> eFax: 309-214-0899<BR> Web:
www.SimplyCircus.com </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> k12osn-bounces@redhat.com
[mailto:k12osn-bounces@redhat.com]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Shane
Sammons<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 13, 2006 2:34 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
K12OSN@redhat.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> [K12OSN] Opinions on a
Forum<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Hi Everyone,</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>I had a little side questions about a forum in a previous question.
However, I wanted to be a member here for at least a week to see the flow and
organization of stuff here.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Now I have decided it is time to ask your thoughts and opinions on
forums. Not to replace the mailing list, but to offer a more interactive,
community driven, better organized, and active resource to add to the items
K12LTSP and such might have. I think a lot of good can come from it, but only
if many people agree and willing to use it. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>I am willing to host it and provide a license I have or use a free forum
like phpBB or Simple Machine. I have a lifetime Invision Power Board license
that I am not using anymore and can easily place on a subdomain of the site I
registered it with. I think vBulletin would be a great board to have, and I
know the XML based mods for it make it VERY easy to add awesome features to, I
just don't have a license for that one. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>So that said, what are your thoughts and reasons pro or con.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Mine Pro:</DIV>
<DIV>*We can organize, categorize, and sub-forums things</DIV>
<DIV>Think of things broken down like Client Setup -> Brand -> Model
with topic for each system, how much cleaner could it be?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>*Its able to be searched, no need to use Google, though we all love it,
you need not take an extra step</DIV>
<DIV>*We can rank members, give awards (special ranks), and if modded even
more potentially</DIV>
<DIV>*We can moderators to help manage posts and topics, editing, and more is
available.</DIV>
<DIV>*It is database driven, which we can export and move elsewhere is the
time comes</DIV>
<DIV>*It is convertible, most major forums convert between each other without
topics loss</DIV>
<DIV>*Member groups allows easy identification of developers, contributors,
company reps, etc. and can be optional</DIV>
<DIV>*You can still "subscribe" to topics and forums to still get email
updates of events.</DIV>
<DIV>*We can make guides and topic solutions that can be submitted to the
Wiki</DIV>
<DIV>*Because of categories the community can have "other" topics to help
branch out beyond the scope mailing list</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here are the pros I can think of:</DIV>
<DIV>Requires Internet browser, can't just use your email.</DIV>
<DIV>Will likely require a login, at least in most areas.</DIV>
<DIV>Likely to confuse people as its like the mailing list and might be
thought of as just "one more web page to visit"</DIV>
<DIV>Requires community interaction and support to operate adequately.</DIV>
<DIV>Loads the server as all users are connected to a single point, not their
inbox.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Well hopefully that is a good start, and you can all share with me. I
would like to help this project out, and I feel a forum is the one area I can
contribute. However, I just want to make sure it is a valid option and choice
to help out with. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks,</DIV>
<DIV>Shane</DIV>
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