Linuxcnc.org forum

Doug,

Your liable to get a wrong answer from any place. Just because you use the mailing list, the IRC, the EMC forum, the CNCzone forum, the manuals, the man pages, the EMC wiki, google etc. doesn't mean one is more likly to give you a better answer than the other. That is a true statment that answers will come from the participants of that medium. If you really want to target the developers then you should use the emc-devel irc channel or the developers mailing list.

IMHO it is a mistake to think you can force users to use the mailing list if you don't have a forum. People who like forums will just go somewhere else like the CNCZone or other places. People who like to read will use the manuals, seasoned Linux users will use the man pages. People who like wiki will use that and on and on.

You never hear about the questions that get solved by using the manuals or the man pages or the wiki... unless there is a mistake

Anything we can do to improve the knowledge base for EMC will improve EMC.

John

It is a mistake to think you can force users to use the mailing list if you don't have a forum. People who like forums will just go somewhere else like the CNCZone or other places. People who like to read will use the manuals, seasoned Linux users will use the man pages. People who like wiki will use that and on and on.

In other words, you are saying that we can and should have the list, the forum, the IRC channel, the wiki, etc - all at the same time. To be honest, that is my feeling as well. However, one thing we really want to avoid is dividing the EMC community up into a bunch of islands.

Today, for better or for worse, the the 600 or so people who are subscribed to the emc-users mailing list ARE the EMC community. When we have a board election, we send ballots to list members. When we want to know the users opinion of something, we ask on the list, etc. People who only use CNCZone are "second class citizens". Nobody planned it that way, or wants it that way, but when users are divided between many different places, it is hard to keep them all connected.

At least some members of the board are struggling with the question: "do we shut down the list and switch to a forum". This comes from a strong desire NOT to fragment the community by having a bunch of different "gathering places".

I think the forum will serve the folks who may lurk and never ask questions of the list. Some people are intimidated by the depth of knowledge represented on the list, and would never ask the question they have for a desire not to appear ignorant. I've rarely asked any questions on the list - but I've read every digest since I subscribed in 2003.
I go to CNCZone occasionally, but I almost never look at the EMC forum. I guess I prefer to go where the developers are going to be.
I think we should keep both the mailing list and the forum, for no less than 6 months, and maybe the results will help define the next step.

-Doug

jmkasunich wrote:

In other words, you are saying that we can and should have the list, the forum, the IRC channel, the wiki, etc - all at the same time. To be honest, that is my feeling as well. However, one thing we really want to avoid is dividing the EMC community up into a bunch of islands.

I think most people would agree with trying to keep the EMC community together strengthens EMC.

jmkasunich wrote:

At least some members of the board are struggling with the question: "do we shut down the list and switch to a forum". This comes from a strong desire NOT to fragment the community by having a bunch of different "gathering places".

I don't think the forum would ever replace the mailing list. At least here we can advise those folks that want to participate in elections and other things that are more logical to have on the mailing list in the Forum Announcements section. And guide them to the IRC and wiki and the documents as needed. I kind of think of the forum as an entry point for the non Linux person. Someplace comfortable and easy to navigate... then we can guide them along on the rest of the journey to Linux and EMC world.

John

JohnT, I think you have it there. The forum will be the first step for many folk who will come from a non-Linux world. There is a large learning curve for EMC. Mostly, learning how to work with Linux. I'm glad Ubuntu has made that process easier, but it is still a lot for a new user to get hold of.

-Doug

jimlas53 wrote:

There are folks who just want to have a working CNC system. They aren't Linux programmers, they shouldn't need to be. I've subscribed to the mailing list since 2003, spending countless hours going through the numerous digests filling up my inbox to sift out what I can use. I find forums to be very helpful, the Ubuntu forums are a great example. I started with Ubuntu right when Dapper was released (I think) and the forums provided all the help I needed to get comfortable with Ubuntu.
The EMC community should find this forum to be helpful, especially as more posts capture some of the common issues new users run into. Much easier to search this forum than go through the digest archives!

-Doug

My 2cents... Have to agree with Doug cause I'm one of those people wants to adapt EMC to my machine and started trying to figure out how back around 2004 or 2005 which is when I also installed my first working Linux OS. I use MEPIS Linux OS and anyone with question as to the usefullness, need, or value of a good forum should check out the mepislovers.org forum for an eyeopener of how it's done. It grew from conception around that time to an invaluable & integral part of the development of the disto and a true lifeline to all users from newbie to pro. I believe the same thing will happen here if given the chance as I think there are more folks wanting to use this and only need this forum to get started. Take care all, Jerry;)