Forum integration

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 10:02:50AM +0100, Matthew East wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > I don't think the domain name is as important, but I have no objection.
> 
> I don't think it is a big deal, but absolutely every other site in the
> community ends in dot ubuntu dot com. I think if the forums used that
> url structure too it would be a good symbolic move.

This isn't quite true; for example, many LoCo teams seem to have ubuntu-xx
domain names.

> > The community in general would benefit from some more formal approach to
> > quality assurance regarding Q&A.  Too often I see incorrect or misleading
> > information given out by community members when authoritative and correct
> > answers are available in documentation, the wiki, etc.  I don't think
> > there's any shortage of official answers, but somehow they don't reach the
> > people who are giving out answers informally.
> 
> As Peter mentioned elsewhere on the thread, it's impossible to prevent
> community members from giving non authoritative information from time to
> time. But we can improve this drastically by ensuring that the
> documentation that exists is central to the support process. Answers on
> the mailing lists and irc (especially to common questions) can always be
> answered by a reference to the documentation, and community members can
> be encouraged to search the documentation resources (which they are
> likely to be more familiar with than the person seeking support) before
> giving answers.

It may be impossible to prevent in its entirety, but I think that we can do
better than we are currently doing.

Perhaps one positive step would be to create a documentation resource aimed
at support volunteers, whether they do their work on IRC, the forums,
mailing lists, etc.

Yes, I realize that one of the problems is that not everyone reads
documentaiton, but it's easier to point everyone to a central document which
explains the issues than to teach everyone individually.

> In my opinion a strong central documentation resource is really vital
> for bringing the various different technical support communities
> together. And ensuring that the function of the technical support
> community is well defined is central to achieving that. I'd like to see
> the forums focusing on technical support, and embracing this concept of
> a more central resource for documentation. I think that would be a big
> step towards (a) bringing the forums closer to the wider community, (b)
> improving the quality of technical support given, and (c) encouraging
> contribution to the documentation by forum members.

We already have a central documentation resource, and I think my suggestion
above is along similar lines (defining the function of the support
community).

-- 
 - mdz