[ubuntu-marketing] Forum news (Re: forum-ambassadors to improve communication between forum users and developers)

[Jan Vancura]

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Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 12:42:44AM +0100, Roald (ubuntu_demon) wrote:
>> Please read the entire document. All feedback is welcome. Especially
>> feedback regarding communication between us forum ambassadors and you
>> developers. For example in what way should we report to you about
>> interesting trends and wishes ?
> 
> I haven't reviewed the ForumAmbassadors document recently, but in answer to
> your question above, I think that the most useful and compatible way to
> transfer this information is in the form of news.  It would be great to have
> a weekly forum news roundup which highlighted activity which might be of
> interest beyond the forums themselves.
> 
> This would be much more effective than individuals attempting to pass
> specific issues from forums to teams one-by-one.  A hypothetical forum
> update might include, for example:
> 
> - A summary of testing feedback in the new testing forum for a recent
>   milestone release, with a hyperlink to the full thread
>   (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=201), which would be of
>   interest to the QA team
> 
> - A summary of a thread discussing a new Ubuntu feature (proposed, under
>   development or released), giving user feedback and suggestions which might
>   be of interest to the developer working on it
> 
> - A summary of a thread where users are struggling with a particularly
>   common or severe bug
> 
> - A summary of a thread where forum users are discussing their reactions to
>   a recent change in the Ubuntu community, such as a new team or new
>   appointment, which might be of interest to the Community Council
> 
> The forums represent our largest window into the opinions of the user
> community, but it is far too large for project leaders and developers to
> monitor themselves.  By summarizing important general-interest threads,
> this information could be brought to a wider audience in a clear and
> unobtrusive way.
> 
> One possible vehicle for this is the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, which is
> regularly published by the Marketing Team (thanks!).  Perhaps a section in
> the newsletter could be devoted to the forums, a few responsible citizens
> from the forum community could spend a bit of time each week to fill it in
> with the week's events from their perspective.  I've CCed their mailing list
> to discuss this idea.
> 
> The editors would need to be selective about what is published, and consider
> issues in the context of the project as a whole.  They must focus on
> concrete, general-interest issues, and avoid vague or speculative topics.
> The Ubuntu community would rely on them to filter this information for the
> benefit of all concerned.
> 
> What do you think?
> 

Great idea - I'm sure the rest of the UWN team will also welcome this.
I'll be happy to help the other mods with editing the newsletter,
although I won't be able to do this job myself for these few coming months.
Whenever you edit the UWN, join #ubuntu-marketing on freenode, where we
discuss it (almost nonstop) in realtime. This way, you will also know
where we are currently editing (wiki or gobby server).

Incidentally - CC'ing the people involved in the forum ambassadors
discussion.

- --
Jenda Vančura <jenda at ubuntu.com>
GnuPG: 519D056A
Jabber me at jendavancura at gmail.com
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