Help on Canadian Ubuntu mailing list [was rogers rocket stick sierra 330U]

[Bob Jonkman]

On 12-09-13 06:47 PM, Kip Warner wrote:
> What do they find? Ubuntu never works. The list is mostly silent but
> then suddenly erupts into a flood of "How do I get my blah working 
> with blah on my blah, blah..." followed by a bunch of "Try this try 
> that." In short they find: *A whole lot of fail.*

How is that different from going to a Web forum? Not only are the Web
forums full of messages full of fail, the answers are often full of fail
too.  And never mind that Web forum implementations are full of fail as
well.

The problem with Web forums is that I have to go there.  On the other
hand, mailing list messages come to me.  That means when someone asks a
question on a mailing list I'll actually see it, and very quickly after
it's been asked, and so I can answer it (or get an answer) almost
immediately.  A question on the Web forums often just sits there,
unanswered for years.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of different Web forum implementations
out there.  Many of them are difficult to navigate, Javascrippled, and
full of advertising.  On the other hand, I'm completely familiar with my
mail program, I use the same mail program for the dozens of mailing
lists I subscribe to, and (most) mailing list messages are completely
ad-free (and my spam filter takes care of the rest).

I have a far greater sense of community with people on mailing lists
than people on forums, even though most of the mailing lists I subscribe
to are tech support lists and not "community building" lists.

--Bob


Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>         http://sobac.com/sobac/
SOBAC Microcomputer Services              Phone: +1-519-669-0388
6 James Street, Elmira ON Canada  N3B 1L5  Cell: +1-519-635-9413
Software   ---   Office & Business Automation   ---   Consulting


On 12-09-14 01:14 AM, Ori Idan wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 1:47 AM, Kip Warner <kip at thevertigo.com> 
> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, 2012-09-12 at 22:32 -0400, Pedro I. Sanchez wrote:
>>> I have to disagree with Kip's comments above, specially when the
>>>  original question involves a Canadian-specific situation. But in
>>>  general, I must say that asking technical questions and 
>>> providing answers is probably the best way to build a community. 
>>> Getting together to drink a couple of beers and for key-signing 
>>> hand shakes is one way to solidify that which has already been 
>>> built.
>> 
>> Imagine that a new non-Ubuntu person is living in Canada and just 
>> got excited about Ubuntu. They Googled around and discovered 
>> there's this thing called "Ubuntu Canada". Cool! They have a 
>> mailing list too. Great!! So, they join up (subscribe), and start 
>> reading prior posts to get a feel for the state of Ubuntu in 
>> Canada.
>> 
>> What do they find? Ubuntu never works. The list is mostly silent 
>> but then suddenly erupts into a flood of "How do I get my blah 
>> working with blah on my blah, blah..." followed by a bunch of "Try 
>> this try that." In short they find: *A whole lot of fail.*
>> 
>> 
> Since I am currently not living in Canada and also have the
> advantage of being subscribed to other local Linux and/or Ubuntu
> mailing lists, I can say that I have never seen a list where people
> get the answer "go to another list and ask your question" Especially
> in a case like this where the guy asks about rogers specific issue.
> Remember that for anyone outside Canada the name rogers means nothing
> and might as well be a name of a restaurant or a pub :-)
> 
> 
> 

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