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<font face="Verdana">You know, I'm wondering if it might not make sense
to use Drupal's multi-site capability and follow up on this sister site
idea with an in-house solution -- a new site sharing the existing user
database (only one login) but otherwise having a
different-yet-complementary look and more casual focus. A <b>Drupal
Lounge</b> (lounge.drupal.org) where forum topics are more free-form
and the focus is more user-centric. All the heavy lifting, developer
talk, debugging and troubleshooting would remain on Drupal.org, but the
Lounge would be more of a place where people can brag about their
sites, talk about how they did X or Y, ask all the dumb questions
(though there's no such thing as a dumb question, only dumb answers),
and talk about ways to use Drupal, as opposed to ways to improve/change
Drupal. It also could be a place for a self-appointed welcome wagon.<br>
<br>
That way there's an expanded/new community to grow, without balkanizing
the Drupal community too much.<br>
<br>
Too much work? Too radical?<br>
<br>
Laura<br>
<br>
</font><br>
Kim P. Werker wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid0F43EFA1-76A4-46C4-B31F-3DA4CCEEA3A6@crochetme.com"
type="cite">On 5-Jan-06, at 6:35 PM, Charlie Lowe wrote:
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">This for no other reason than the difference
in who would feel empowered to speak and contribute in such a
community.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes! Exactly.
<br>
<br>
I think I failed to be clear about something I said earlier -- I wasn't
complaining. Any resistance I thought implied or explicit isn't
something I feel defensive about. Especially today, I'm simply gaining
more and more of an understanding of the community and of the project
as a whole. In light of this, and after grabbing a drink with Boris et
al. tonight, Greg and I are reexamining and fleshing out our newbie
documentation ideas. Heine, thank you for wanting to help.
<br>
<br>
Back to what Charlie said -- I waited over 9 weeks to join drupal.org
and make that forum post. I didn't join until *after* I nearly ditched
Drupal and then figured it out. I wasn't comfortable asking what I
feared would be considered stupid questions, or, even worse, I didn't
want to come across as a whiner. I think Charlie hit the nail on the
head.
<br>
<br>
Anyway, it took a pretty lively discussion on our forum post and the
serendipity of living in Vancouver to bring me to today, when I finally
figured out that my assumption about the future of Drupal (that it
would eventually be super user-friendly and easily implemented by
everyone and their uncles) *isn't* actually the end everyone's striving
for. And that's totally cool.
<br>
<br>
Now I get where the Hitchhikers page fits in. I still think posting it
is a bad idea, but I definitely think I would have benefited 11 weeks
ago from a page that told me that drupal.org is a developer-centered
community that depends on an open source behaviour code (if you will),
and only provides user support based on the generosity and/or
professional services of community members.
<br>
<br>
Cheers,
<br>
Kim
<br>
---
<br>
Editor
<br>
Crochet me Online Magazine
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.crochetme.com">http://www.crochetme.com</a>
<br>
<br>
This is your brain on yarn.
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br>
</blockquote>
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