Linux Agora - New Name

[fos]

Agora - A place of assembly, especially a marketplace.....

We would like to embrace the entire Open Source Community, not just the Debian world. Don't get me wrong, I think the Debian philosophy embraces everytning good about the OSS movement. The new name should indicate to new members that they are welcome here not matter what their operating system preference might be.

We are also considering a change in forum software. We are looking at the options available with vBulletin. vBulletin has security and user features that are unavailable with phpbb.

We intend to make the changes as smooth as possible for the users. If you have any suggestions or comments as we try to improve the board, please let us know. This board is for you!

Thanks, fos....

PS. We are also going to transition the domain name to:

linuxagora.com

The new name will be closed while we install the new software, debianquestions.com will also continue to work.

[AndreL]

If you have any suggestions or comments as we try to improve the board, please let us know. This board is for you!I believe that the "Help please" and "How to" topics should be kept separated.
I would also think that to have a direct limk to the "Libranet Archive" would be apreciated...

Thanks.

[danieldk]

I wanted to add that we would like to take DebianQuestions (now Linux Agora) from just a small niche forum to a place that can be helpful to a lot of people. Kind of like the Libranet forum, but also for users of other systems.

I know that transitions can make people skeptical, and some people may not agree with some steps. But at every step, our primary concern has been, and will be, the community. Community is what makes free and open source software possible, and we are looking for ways to nourish the community.

I hope that you will all stay with us during this trip. Thanks!

[fos]

Hi Andre,

Once the new forum software is installed, we should be able to have "Help Please" and "Howto" back and part of one of the existing sections. It certainly was popular in the Libranet Forum.

We will difinitely place a prominent link on the page for the Libranet Archive. I just purchased vBulletin last night. It will take a few days to get familiar with its twists and turns.

fos....

[Lavene]

I know that transitions can make people skeptical, and some people may not agree with some steps. But at every step, our primary concern has been, and will be, the community. Community is what makes free and open source software possible, and we are looking for ways to nourish the community.
I just purchased vBulletin last night. It will take a few days to get familiar with its twists and turns.


With the risk of stepping on some toes... is it just me that find it odd to use non-free forum software for a free software/ OSS related forum?

Besides that I like the plans for this place. I hope though, that you plan to offer something unique that really will add to the community and not "just another forum" that will just end up competing with other forums like LinuxQuestions and the like.

God luck in your endevour
Tina :)

[danieldk]

With the risk of stepping on some toes... is it just me that find it odd to use non-free forum software for a free software/ OSS related forum?

I agree that there is an inherent contradiction. The problem is that there aren't many opensource buletin boards that provide good features (e.g. for user management, spam handling) and are able to handle higher amounts of traffic. So, it is a necessary evil.

Besides that I like the plans for this place. I hope though, that you plan to offer something unique that really will add to the community and not "just another forum" that will just end up competing with other forums like LinuxQuestions and the like.

I have some ideas. For instance, I was thinking about a separate section with editorial articles that will contain high-quality in-depth articles, covering e.g. new distributions or specific technologies (e.g. "The state of disk encryption in Linux: theory and practice". I have written articles for some projects and Linux sites in the past, and I know that there are a few others to with publication experience. So, I think that we can have a approach that is threefold:

- A community (the forums)
- HOWTOs (by the community, will be readded as stated by fos after the migration)
- In-depth articles (with the thoroughness of LWN.net articles, but aimed at a less kernel-hackerish public)

Disclaimer: this is just my personal braindump ;).

[fos]

Tina,

vBulletin -

I had the same thought regarding the cost of vBulletin. It has security and user features that phpbb and smf forums do not have. We can do things to make the forum different than the others that we can't do with phpbb. While phpbb is pretty secure it does not have the tools to prevent intrusion that vBulletin seems to have. I once had a board for low vision users based on SMF, it was hacked and had some embarassing info placed on it. I'm sure SMF has been improved since then.

vBulletin is actually open source, its just not GPL. The source is included with the license and you are free to modify everything but the copyright info. You can even purchase a licence to remove the "displayed" copyright on the pages for an extra fee.

vBulletin is not as open as I would like it to be. But, I don't mind paying for the work that professional programmers put into a project. They deserve to be compensated. If when software is freely distributed, I try to at least make donations for software that I use on a regular basis.

Thanks Tina, please keep the suggestions coming.

fos

[bhobjj]

The Unix Forums
http://www.unix.com
uses vBulletin.

[AndreL]

The Unix Forums
http://www.unix.com
uses vBulletin.Looks pretty cool indeed!

[Lavene]

vBulletin is actually open source, its just not GPL. The source is included with the license and you are free to modify everything but the copyright info. You can even purchase a licence to remove the "displayed" copyright on the pages for an extra fee.

Yes. PHP is sort of open source by design but I was refering to their licencing. It's not free (as in freedom) software. I'm a big fan of the GPL and think it's a pity that a site devoted to FOSS uses non-free software. But I'm not going to star an argument about it :)

I agree that there is an inherent contradiction. The problem is that there aren't many opensource buletin boards that provide good features (e.g. for user management, spam handling) and are able to handle higher amounts of traffic. So, it is a necessary evil.

<snip>

I have some ideas. For instance, I was thinking about a separate section with editorial articles that will contain high-quality in-depth articles, covering e.g. new distributions or specific technologies (e.g. "The state of disk encryption in Linux: theory and practice". I have written articles for some projects and Linux sites in the past, and I know that there are a few others to with publication experience

Sounds like you really want a full blown CMS system. Have you looked at, for example, Drupal (http://drupal.org/)? It's maybe a bit more work setting it up but it's very well maintained. And it's free ;)

Anyway, I'm dropping the topic now. Just wanted to point it out.

Tina

[fos]

// Yes. PHP is sort of open source by design but I was refering to their licencing. It's not free (as in freedom) software. I'm a big fan of the GPL and think it's a pity that a site devoted to FOSS uses non-free software.

You are right. I did play tug of war with that idea before I purchased the license.

I tried using Drupal a couple of years ago, I wasn't pleased with it. Maybe it is time for another look.

I hope you stay with us through our growing pains.

fos...

[Lavene]

I tried using Drupal a couple of years ago, I wasn't pleased with it. Maybe it is time for another look.

I hope you stay with us through our growing pains.

fos...

Personally I think Drupal has really matured over the last year or so. I too dismissed it at one point (about 18 months ago) but now my site badly need a facelift so I consider trying it again... I'll let you know what I think :)

Tina

[danieldk]

Ah, no. IMHO things should be kept simple and stupid. We have done such thing for a large Dutch community site, and it is a PITA. It requires a lot of glue to keep a unified interface, not to speak of account synchronization. It is magnitudes easier to keep everything forum-based, and aggregate some stuff to a front page with a simple PHP script (that just picks the most recent editorials, news items, and hot topics).

[Lavene]

You're the boss(es) :)

Tina

[danieldk]

You're the boss(es) :)

No, I am just stubborn ;).

[AndreL]

:lol:

[jjmac]

Hullow all ...


Curiously i successfully logged in :)

Been having some trouble getting into a couple of deb sites lately. Including this one. But for some magical reason i was successful today :) :)

It has been a while since my last visit too, way before June 2006 as my profile suggests for registration (grin).

Really like the new name too, and the logo. Really like the idea of trying to provide a cross distro, distro androgeneous (sic) atmosphere too.

I like the idea of cross linking, or providing info on various things that are happening as well... such as quality in depth article releases, wiki's, howto sections, etc.

In any case, i'm just on a roll at the moment with my successful login. The planet must be passing on i guess :)

All the best with the site revamps.


jm
http://counter.li.org.
#313537

[fos]

I'm glad you made it over to the new site. The server host had the DNS messed up and it didn't manifest until we moved the site to the new domain name.

Hopefully it is fixed and you will be able to visit often.

fos...

[Bullgoose]

Honestly, with the Libranet folks AND the Debian folks together on the same forum, I would expect telepathic updates nightly; MUCH more convienient than dial-up; honestly, there are some SERIOUSLY smart people involved here, I would hope that some inspiration will take hold and prosper here; all it would take is an idea that hasn't been tought of yet, that's it; all you inventive Linux users, start those brain-cells generating heat!!:biggrin:

[Red_FoX]

lol..were gona need some big heatsinks and fans :p

[jjmac]

Howdy,


Bullgoose wrote:
>>
Honestly, with the Libranet folks AND the Debian folks together on the same forum, I would expect telepathic updates nightly; MUCH more convienient than dial-up; honestly, there are some SERIOUSLY smart people involved here, I would hope that some inspiration will take hold and prosper
>>

(grin)


It all depends on the people that drop by i guess. There is a lot of differences between various sites, even though the basic Linux theme is the same.

Iv'e been doing debian since 2002, starting with woody (had some potato expossure), and now sarge. And have never been happier. I like to modify, which is the approach i take to forums. In the way i respond to queries, discusions etc.

The structure is there, in the docs, and deb does have a somewhat strict structure. And rightly so too. But to get the modifications to work, back porting sid packages, using recent kernels ... forum discusions can become really helpful.

I'd like to see people experiment more along those lines. Rather than staying within the realeases limits. Isn't that what the 'equiv' facility is, after all for :)

Libranet:

I don't follow Libranet much, not for any particular reason mind, but the last i heard, the guy who 'inherited' the distro rights decided to bail out, and take the code/rights with him.

I guess that didn't kill the site in the process. If so, very good :) as i noticed a lot of people praised it as a distro when it came out. It would be a big loss

Drifting off topic (grin), nar ... just lateralising :)


All The Best

jm

http://counter.li.org
#313537