From: David Hall <dmhall_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:39:15 -0400

        I was hoping to start a discussion on the goals of the forums. I
brought these ideas up (in a limited and Llorean-focused manner) on IRC
the other day - but wished to see if I can't get more people involved in
the discussion.

        What are the goals of the forums? If the goals are simply help and
support Rockbox SVN why do we have an "unsupported builds" sub-forum?
Why do we have a "repairing broken hardware" sub-forum?
        I'm not arguing against these areas - I'm just not sure why the current
forum groupthink appears to be against the discussion of other topics
not technically unique to Rockbox. I am, of course, speaking about the
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=20612.0 "On The Go
Last.fm-like Playlists from Rockbox" thread, but not only about this
project. There are plenty of great programs which work with Rockbox,
and I think we serve Rockbox users by at the minimum acknowledging them,
and possibly "supporting" them by giving the Rockbox user an orderly
one-stop place to learn about them.
        The web is full of, frankly, bullshit information about Rockbox and I
suspect support will be easier if we provide a (limited) clearing house
for many-things Rockbox. In my opinion, Rockbox is better served by
nurturing "helper" software (which might not be specific to Rockbox)
such as this than nurturing "Unsupported Builds".
        When I talk about "Unsupported Builds" in this context, I'm drawing, in
my mind, a strong distinction between those builds designed and
distributed to test specific FlySpray tasks aimed at inclusion in SVN
and those builds which are collections of rejected or abandoned
features. That being said - I think there is a strong argument to be
made for nurturing even the latter type of build. Kugel is a perfect
example of someone who started out making an Unsupported Build of
questionable relevance, and who stuck with it, drank the Rockbox
Kool-Aid, and become a valuable commiter. I would hate to drive people
such as him outside Rockbox.org, and would rather incubate their
explorations in-house.

Proposals:
1:
A new top-level subforum is created with a name something like "The
Rockbox Lifestyle" ;)
        The current "Hardware" top-level forum is moved here.
        The current "Repairing broken players" second-level forum is moved
here, and no longer a sub of "Hardware".
        The current "Unsupported Builds" top-level forum is moved here.

This action alone, IMHO, draws a clear distinction between things
Rockbox.org currently claims to support and things Rockbox.org is
currently simply nurturing.

2:
A new second-level subforum is created under "The Rockbox Lifestyle",
titled "Rockbox Helper Software"
        Aforementioned Last.FM software goes here.
        The excellent QTScrobber can go here, obo willing why not give him a
home on Rockbox.org if he wants it?
        WinFF gets its own sub-forum here.
        etc
My thoughts were that all helper software could start as a thread under
"Rockbox Helper Software" and be given its own third-level subforum if
activity warrants it.

3:
Now that "Unsupported Builds" are moved into the clearly distinctive
non-supported-stuff sub-forum create a "FlySpray Testing Builds"
top-level subforum for just that. Lets draw a clear and distinct line
between the sandbox given for people to play in and the testing lab
which needs guinea pigs.

4:
Give RBUtil its own top-level forum, likely under "Getting Started..."


New Layout:

Rockbox General
 Administration / Forum business
 Announcements
 Rockbox General Discussion
 Feature Ideas
 WPS and Appearance Customization
 Recording
 Plugins / Viewers
 User Interface and Voice
Getting Started: Installation / Removal
 RBUtil
 Archos
 Iriver
 Apple
 Cowon
 Toshiba
 Sandisk
 Olympus
Rockbox Development
 Getting Started and Compiling
 FlySpray Testing Builds
 New Ports
The Rockbox Lifestyle
 Hardware
 Repairing Broken Players
 Rockbox Helper Software
        WinFF
        QTScrobbler
        Rockbox Font Converter
        etc.
        etc.
 Unsupported Builds



--Soap
Received on 2009-03-29