[sword-devel] PR

[Chris Little]

I wanted to clarify my vision for the forums.  I see it as a place where
new and veteran users alike can go to share tips, complain about lack of
features, discuss new releases, etc.  It should be open to anyone to
come and read but require a login for those who wish to post.
Moderation should occur after the fact because we should trust all our
users until they prove us wrong in doing so.  The forums should be
attended to regularly, meaning people sould be willing to visit them and
answer questions a few times a week if not more often because the users
won't always be able to answer each others' questions.  And the topics
should be focused squarely on Sword.  People wishing to begin religious
wars should go to USENET.

Here are a couple sample forums that I personally visit, which offer
similar functionality to what I have in mind.

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbcgitivo/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro
http://discussion.brighthand.com/

The advantages of a bulletin board to a mailing list are that moderation
can be done after a posting has occurred and minimal damage will result.
You can't unsend email, but you can delete a message on a bulletin
board.  And bulletin boards offer an easy to use resource for people who
would never sumbit themselves to a mailing list.  Bulletin boards can be
easily searched and posted to, without requiring the commitment of
subscribing to a list.


All that said, at the moment I'm leaning towards using W-Agora like
Brook suggested.  It looks very full-featured and it's free.  Due to my
bias and past experience, I would also recommend using the Ultimate
Bulletin Board clone theme that it has.

--Chris