Matthew Toseland (toad@???) wrote:
> > *Communication (Meetings, forums, request board, road map). A forum would be
> > good where people could discuss instead of just a mailing list (I2P has one
> > if you want to look at their setup, looks like Slyck's).
>
> And the difference is...?
>
> > Since Freenet is on
> > sourceforge, and their system isn't that bad, their forums can be used.
>
> We used to have forums, IIRC they were used very rarely.
By their nature, web forums tend to attract a much less technically
sophisticated (often not even technically literate) user base. When
that happens, the *more* technically sophisticated people are pushed
away -- because, quite frankly, it's a horrible burden to have to explain
how to perform <insert basic task which is covered in the FAQ> 3 times a
day, 7 days a week.
So, what happened with the forums was that a rift developed between the
lowest-level end users (on the forum) and the developers and more
sophisticated users (on the mailing lists). The end users never got
answers to their questions, and stopped asking them on the forums.
Presumably, the ones who were capable of learning how to use Freenet either
answered their own questions, or found the mailing lists; and, again
presumably, the ones who weren't capable of doing those things left the
project.
Since Freenet is a pre-release project (even after all these years), that
outcome is probably the best one for all concerned. Freenet just *isn't*
ready for Aunt Tillie, and no shiny web forum will change that. It takes
a certain level of technical expertise to be able to use it in its current
form, and if you don't have it yet, Matthew certainly doesn't have the time
to try to teach it to you. Other users might be able to help, but we've
all got other commitments too.
The best place to get up-to-date information about the status of Freenet
is on the IRC channel(s). The second best sources are probably the
mailing lists. If you (SM, not Matthew) want to take that information
and polish it up and dump it back out as a monthly status report (or
whatever format you feel is appropriate), please do! You can get in touch
with Ian about whatever black magic you're supposed to do to update the
current iteration of the Freenet web site, or you can publish your own
Freesite with that information, etc.
If you feel something's not working the way it should, take action.
--
Greg Wooledge | "Truth belongs to everybody."
greg@??? | - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
http://wooledge.org/~greg/ |
