[ubuntu-in] what constitutes Ubuntu (was: How to build one's own website )

[Nitesh Mistry]

On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 05:04:12PM +0530, Ramnarayan.K wrote:
> Its because people are using Ubuntu as their main os and during the
> course of their use they have questions. Am not sure that people are
> registered for every single frigging forum / email list out there just
> because that is the narrow bandwidth within which one can get answers.

That _is_ the basic idea. Forum is for respective topic so that people
looking for advice/solution regarding that particular topic can search the
relevant forum.
 

> I would like to know how many forums one must be part of to address
> all our questions regarding our use of Ubuntu. That is my OS and
> anything i do with it is about Ubuntu, or are you trying to tell me
> that is not the case.

That is not the case (as you are interpreting). Suppose for example, I want
to know about which are good action movies so that I can watch them on my
Ubuntu pc. Should I be asking that question here, because I want watch that
movie using Ubuntu?

 
> Some days back there was a hectic discussion regarding use of
> GNU/Linux instead of Linux. (Of course no one said that was off topic
> ) but the gist was that Linux is broad and relevant and GNU/Linux was
> a narrow view point and that broad was preferable

Difficult to draw parallels. The discussion was about what nomenclature is
appropriate for general use. Nobody was arguing that Linux is broader than
GNU/Linux (personally, I am yet to know about any other type of Linux).

 
> I actually challenge anyone to say posting about asking about drupal
> and joomla and how to build a website is off topic. My OS is ubuntu,
> the tools i am talking about are available in Ubuntu repos what more
> do you seek - that every friggin second word should be friggin ubuntu.

Well, if your intention was to know about how to build a website using
tools provided by Ubuntu, I think your original post was lacking in
clarifying that aspect, which might have led to people thinking it was
off-topic.

 
> Its quite clear that people who scream "off topic"  are not consistent
> in what they think is off topic.
> 
>  - none of those folks who replied back to thwe websites thread said
> off topic to "asking about a linux magazine" or about searching for an
> indian email service. If asking about tools to build a website , on a
> friggin Ubuntu OS, is off topic,  then so are the above two.
> 
> I want to point out that for me these two mails (about a linux mag and
> about a indian email service are acceptable, want to why - because
> these folks are by and large part of the community - and they (we
> think) we have the freedom and the right and the faith to ask
> something that we feel our "friends" on the Ubuntu community might
> know about.

Please don't think that you were targeted personally. It just seems that
yours was one of the first in that series, so naturally, it was the one
replied to. I believe whatever was told to you does apply to other threads
as well.


> **
> To further add - if we start applying the various off topic rules the
> only people who will be left on this list are those developing ubuntu
> software and employed by canonical or something like. The rest are
> always going to be off topic.

Not necessarily. There would be many things to discuss by the users, like
some hardware not working with Ubuntu, or problems regarding
updating/upgrading software, organising events to promote Ubuntu in India,
introducing yourself and getting to know other Ubuntu users, etc.

Having said all this, I don't think "off-topic" messages are unwelcome.
There are topics which, though not related to Ubuntu, a user might think
appropriate to ask here, maybe because he/she thinks the other subscribers
on the list are knowledgeable about. And its alright to ask such questions
here, but with a "[OT]" tag desirably, so that someone who wants to skip
such topics can do so conveniently.


-- 
Regards,
Nitesh Mistry | www.mistrynitesh.com
PGP key id: A6FEF696 | 'geekosopher' on freenode irc
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