[development] Drupal Answers: A Stackoverflow/StackExchange site proposal

[larry at garfieldtech.com]

Sounds like something to discuss in detail at DrupalCon Chicago and 
develop an action plan for. :-)

--Larry Garfield

On 1/31/11 5:37 PM, Randy Fay wrote:
> I don't think we can delegate any part of Drupal to something we don't
> control; I think that's just a non-starter.
>
> So for me, the issue is what we can learn from StackOverflow and friends
> - they do great stuff and end up with great content. And yes, I think we
> should build something on that.
>
> Who is signing up to build it? I think it's an easy sell.
>
> -Randy
>
> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Dan Horning <dan.horning at planetnoc.com
> <mailto:dan.horning at planetnoc.com>> wrote:
>
>     i have to ask ... what would we actually gain by doing this -
>     cleanup the various methods for finding info about a given module or
>     theme or bug a little and we far surpass this suggested tool
>
>     it seems that stackoverflow is driven very highly on userpoints to
>     control access - which while a good thing - doesn't really fit the
>     development model we have here. there are existing processes that
>     would have to change to fit the suggested model. I for one am more
>     for peer reviews and leadership staff assigning access than a points
>     system that someone could rack up points and just get access ...
>     what's that really do for the community - seems that would be great
>     if we were just a tech help forum - awarding points for the users
>     that help and giving them more access - but what's that do for
>     drupal and it's community? (i know there is a potential for this to
>     help ...)
>
>     another area of issue to me is - another login ? or would it use SSO?
>     do the drupal leadership users and dries have admin level control...?
>
>     mostly here i just don't get what adding yet another resource (like
>     has been said before) would do to help the lead devs, module + theme
>     devs and just supporting drupal. if i had say -=- i'd vote against
>     this idea
>
>     --
>     Dan Horning
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>      > From: "Victor Kane" <victorkane at gmail.com
>     <mailto:victorkane at gmail.com>>
>      > To: development at drupal.org <mailto:development at drupal.org>
>      > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 6:01:55 PM
>      > Subject: Re: [development] Drupal Answers: A
>     Stackoverflow/StackExchange site proposal
>      > I guess this is a good place to start:
>      > http://area51.stackexchange.com/faq
>      >
>      >
>      > On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 8:00 PM, Victor Kane <
>     victorkane at gmail.com <mailto:victorkane at gmail.com> >
>      > wrote:
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      > On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 6:57 PM, Josh Koenig <
>     josh at getpantheon.com <mailto:josh at getpantheon.com> >
>      > wrote:
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      > Stew,
>      >
>      >
>      > Thanks for starting this thread. This is important stuff:
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      > http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/2978/drupal-answers
>      >
>      > I want to put my support behind this proposal and explain my thinking
>      > in doing so.
>      >
>      >
>      > The Drupal community is already growing faster than Drupal's
>      > infrastructure can easily support. With the release of D7 and all the
>      > other associated projects getting off the ground, drupal.org
>     <http://drupal.org> is
>      > increasingly often a bottleneck or blocker. We have wonderful hosts
>      > from OSUOSL, but the human resources needed to develop, maintain and
>      > manage our own infrastructure (which is a 24x7x365 job) are limited.
>      >
>      >
>      > We have to pick our battles. I much would rather see energy, effort,
>      > attention and money poured into continuing to improve our git and
>      > module infrastructure — which is much more deeply intrinsic to the
>      > health and future of the project — and accept that even though we
>      > *can* build our own StackOverflow (@eaton proved this already) that
>      > doesn't necessarily mean it's the best use of limited resources, or
>      > the best thing for the project.
>      >
>      >
>      > Drupal can theoretically/technically solve a lot of its own problems,
>      > but I think we often suffer from a "not built here" prejudice as a
>      > result. In the realm of getting good quality answers to Drupal
>      > questions out to the most people possible, I can't see how a
>      > StackExchange site would do anything but help. I would love to
>     see the
>      > community embrace something really cool and useful from the wider
>      > Internet as a way to promote the project.
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      > You make a convincing argument Josh; my own gut feeling has been,
>      > reading this thread, "how can we delegate something so important to
>      > the Drupal Community as its own documentation to another party
>     who may
>      > or may not exist in the near/medium/long term".
>      >
>      >
>      > Can someone inform somewhat on who these guys are? And why there and
>      > not someplace else?
>      >
>      >
>      > Victor
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      > Finally, I should say that I *do not* think a StackExchange answers
>      > site replaces anything. It's not an issue queue, and it's not a
>      > replacement for the dialogue that exist in the forums. I would say
>      > it's a new resource, something that can help the 10s of 1000s of
>      > people who will be trying to wrap their mind around Drupal in the
>      > coming year.
>      >
>      >
>      > Cheers
>      > -josh
>
>
>
>
> --
> Randy Fay
> Drupal Module and Site Development
> randy at randyfay.com <mailto:randy at randyfay.com>
> +1  970.462.7450
>