Fedoraforum.org is now official?

[Paul Howarth]

akonstam at trinity.edu wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 02:51:56PM -0500, David Hoffman wrote:
> 
>>OK, so I get this note today that says that the new official support
>>site for Fedora is going to be the web-based forums at
>>fedoraforum.org.
>>
>>I guess all the hassle about the mailing list over the past few weeks
>>finally got to someone.
>>
>>However, it also says that the mailing list is not going away, and
>>that "users are encouraged to go to the forums first if they have
>>support questions.
>>
>>So now people will be going to two different places to NOT search the
>>archives, and ask questions.
>>
>>Brilliant!
>>
> 
> As many others have said this is a rotten idea. Especially if the use
> of the forum displaces the use of the list.

I don't think that's likely to happen really.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, consider three types of users:

1. Those with a specific problem looking for help.

2. Those looking to improve their general Linux/Fedora knowledge.

3. Those you might term "experts" that answer far more questions than 
they ask.

Of these, I think that forums work well for the first type of user but 
mailing lists work better for the other two types. The problem is that 
the people that can provide the answers for the first type of user are 
likely to still be on the mailing lists...

Paul.