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Subject: RE: oooforum.org
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:02:49 -0800
Organization: NuovoDoc
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I suspect Louis was talking about the OpenOffice.org Community Forums =
that are already hosted on Apache. =20

Since oooforums has never been hosted by Sun/Oracle, it is a bit dicey =
how some sort of merger might happen and why.

On the other hand, neither OO.o Community and oooforums have a German =
Language forum.  That is at http://www.oooforum.de aka =
de.OpenOffice.info.  OpenOffice.info also has a wiki and other European =
language coverage too (Danish and Czech seem to be operating and not =
covered by OO.o Community Forums).

Some degree of informal Federation and cross-communication might be =
possible.  Consolidation seems rather premature and such an offer might =
even be viewed as hostile. =20

 - Dennis=20

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Weir [mailto:robweir@apache.org]=20
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011 05:45
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: oooforum.org

On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 6:24 AM, Louis Su=C3=A1rez-Potts
<lsuarezpotts@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> Let's take this then as an opportunity? Clayton C used to be the admin
> for the forums  (oooforums) but with Oracle's departure=E2=80=94he was =
with
> Oracle and still may be=E2=80=94there was, to put it mildly, a hitch.
>

I certainly see an opportunity here.  This is one example of somethng
I see in many other parts of the project: We'll all be far more
successful if we but aside ancient grudges and divisions and try to
work together at Apache.  We need to acknowledge that the past is past
and we have a new opportunity now to grow a community that is more
diverse and more open than ever before.


> The OO forums are immensely important. They are mainly for users but
> not only, though that's clearly their primary user base. They are
> furthermore pretty much user-initiated, and thus arguably could be
> administered by capable community members.
>
> Was the infrastructure also ported over to Apache? Or will it be?
>

I don't see the benefits of having two different forum installations
at Apache.  But is there anyway we could combine efforts toward a
single forum at Apache?

I think we could argue that a combined effort would:

1) Attract more users

2) Attract more volunteers to answer questions

3) Attract more moderators and admins to ensure the quality of the
user experience

4) Would grow a larger infobase of questions and answers

5) Would eliminate redundant effort

> If it will be, and if we want to continue with it, I can ask if
> Clayton would help with the transition, and even maintenance. It's
> possible he may be interested in working with some others.
>

It would be worth having a conversation about how he sees the world,
and whether he thinks it is worth while to explore the possibilities.

> What we need here, and I would like to issue a call for this to the
> logical lists and other public fora ("twitter" comes to mind), is a
> list (and list of lists) of things that are needed, wanted, and
> actionable.
>

Maybe start with just opening the conversation, to see whether he is
receptive to further discussions. If we work it too much on our side
first, that may be seen as us dictating terms.  But if we start with,
"We'd like to chat about the current situation with two forums and how
we might best improve things for the benefit our our mutual users",
this might be more attractive.

-Rob

> Right now, lots needs doing but those who can do don't know they can
> do it, or for that matter where, and using what tools. Not all of
> those able and inclined read these lists.
>
> -louis
>