Re: [libreoffice-design] Topic for design team to investigate: Content hosting consolidation on ask.libreoffice.org

Hi Bjoern,

> Stating that a classic CMS is by definition better suited for the task at hand
> than something more interactive like discourse is a foregone conclusion. Given
> that the lack of community involvement is the core reason for many limitations
> of the current setup, its not a valid one.

I think the quickest route to success is adopting a proven framework for hosting extensions. If you 
want to build something unique start from scratch, I’d use a generic framework (again, not sure 
about Plone, I couldn’t find the repo for the current site), but really never a framework made for 
a very specific function. I’ve been there (helping others professionaly) and pulling my hair out as 
a developer when I was asked to add some new functionality that didn’t align with the core 
functionality that that specific framework offered. 

> > - Lack of integration with LibreOffice? -> Create an API on top of the
> > current database and integrate it with LibreOffice (another thing that I
> > guess would be hard to realize with a foundation based on Askbot)
> > [...]
> > - Lack of moderators? -> All of the above?
>
> Please dont guess or speculate on this, you will likely get it wrong. This is
> something that needs to be evaluated by trying.

Sure, these are questions. But I’d always want to try the simplest route that also is promising for 
future development and do basic experiments in the current situation when possible that will learn 
us something more about the requirements. You’ve been suggesting starting with a MVP on 
ask.libreoffice.org <http://ask.libreoffice.org/>. Sure, try the templates function, you always 
learn, but I can assure you it will be a deadlock when you want to grow it into a full fledged 
extensions site. Look at the growing list of ideas. One day you want features comparable to other 
platforms and I can’t see how a Q/A platform will get us there.

> > I really doubt that OAuth or not has anything to do with it. Localisation, probably yes.
>
> Well, where do the 45.000 accounts on askbot come from? The site is far from
> being perfect, but still doing better that all other forums we have. OAuth etc.
> certainly has a role in that, as does gamification, badges and social media
> integration.

Sure, but again, I doubt it matters to an extensions website. Mozilla has no OAuth, and still has 
imho a great extensions website. In an ideal world everyone contributes and consumes, but in 
reality it is just a small percentage. Especially when it comes to more complicated stuff like 
building extensions and quality themes.

> For the community the decision should go with the team that gets the most
> content, interaction and users on their platform. 

Interaction & users should imho not be the primary goal for an extensions website, great extensions 
should be. If clearly communicated, I strongly believe the 1% of users that is willing to volunteer 
will step up, but until the moment you opened the thread there wasn’t really a way I could see this 
was something I could help out, and I’m subscribed to a list oriented toward LibreOffice’s end-user 
experience (this list). 

g.,


Maarten


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