My idea is that #drupal is not about support, per sé. Just a place where people can chitchat about Drupal. Stuff that now very often happens in #drupal too he only difference is that in #drupal now newbies are not allowed to ask or say anything other then pure devel related things, while hardcore drupal devs may chitchat about anything they like, even whether or not they are actually wearing shoes. To me that is fine, for its not all about work. It must be fun above all. I hang around in other channels too, #kde, #amarok etc. The athmosphere in general there is much friendlier and much more is happening there, including hardcore development. #amarok does support and development in one channel and is friendly for all. I think Drupal should move towards that too. #drupal being the hang-out a place where to discuss your latests drupal site you found (theonion.com) or if you are actually wearing shoes. But because a lot of devels will dislike th idea of hanging around in a channel where support might be given, or where the actual users (yuk!) of their work are hanging, we really need a devel place. A place where people talk about development, about hooks, apis and stuff. I beleive taht that is much friendlier then the current -oft agressive way- people get in touch with the developers. I remember cases where a noob #5 enters the channel and asks a question, only to be cursed away. He did not know that he was #5 and that people were very frustrated. No, IMO the only way to get more developers is to have a palce where to get in touch in a friendly way. After wich they cn choose to join the hardcore devel channel. Ber Op woensdag 31 augustus 2005 20:05, schreef John VanDyk:
The issue is not whether IRC-based support is a good idea. I think we can all agree that forum-based support is better. However, we already have a support channel where volunteers may offer support if they wish. So that point is moot.
I am also not opposed to people's first impression of Drupal being a "bustling hub of development activity". The problem is that this is not the case. The first impression people have is that they are rudely spoken to for unwittingly entering what appears to be a channel about Drupal, but is really a development channel. This has two negative effects:
1. Developer time is taken up redirecting people to #drupal-support. Frustration builds on the part of the developer.
2. Unsuspecting newbies, many of whom may be potential developers, are given a negative impression at the outset.
This is bad system design, plain and simple.
No one is saying that support is more important than developing software. What I'm saying is that after the 150th car crashes from going around a sudden turn in the road, it's time to recognize there is a design problem and rebuild the road.
No one is saying that development is not important. It is important. It's so important that it warrants its own channel. But what's also important is designing an on-ramp for new potential drupal users and developers that is as smooth and easy as possible. Inviting potential developers to the dev channel is far more uplifting than booting them to the support channel. The current system is broken. Let's fix it. Regards, Bèr -- [ Bèr Kessels | Drupal services www.webschuur.com ]