Just dumped GNOME for good! Could use some pointers...

[Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss]

Hi Richard,

very glad to read you are happy with the decision to use KDE Plasma 
after all these years :) I will do my best to answer some of your 
questions, and perhaps others here can add to my reply if I missed some 
things. Beyond the responses below, you may also want to check out the 
"Get Involved" page at our wiki, which has loads of useful info:

   https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved

On 9/19/23 02:41, Richard Troy wrote:
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I've been a Linux users / sys-admin (and a lot more) since Red Hat 1.2, 
> with years of 'nix experience before that. However, I'm new to KDE and 
> am so glad I switched!
> 
> I could write a testimonial about WHY I switched for good, the, oh, 20+ 
> other desktops I evaluated, the two other modern desktops I actually 
> tried (other than GNOME, which I've suffered with since time 
> immemorial), but I'll skip that unless anyone asks about it.
> 
> I get it that this list isn't for "technical issues," so instead I'm 
> asking for pointers on _where_ (or how, etc) the best places are to 
> address these technical topics. So, just generally speaking:
> 
> 1) I like the Stack Exchange family of web sites with their Q/A format;
>     does the KDE community have something like that?
> 

Check out our official forum Discuss, which uses a Q/A format:

   https://discuss.kde.org/

Although it is not part of the official KDE infrastructure (as far as I 
understand), you can also check out the Fediverse-based Lemmy instance a 
contributor has set up:

   https://lemmy.kde.social/

> 2) I have noticed that the GNOME community, such as it is, doesn't
>     actually appear to listen to their user community much - unless, of
>     course, you're a paying customer of Red Hat, which I haven't been for a
>     long time now; Does the KDE community have a place to discuss the
>     bigger-picture issues and creative ideas for direction? I have a lot of
>     perspective, solid feedback, and straight-forward, simple-enough
>     suggestions for some future features that I'd like to put out there
>     somewhere that'd actually be useful.
> 

Feature requests can be made at the KDE Bugtracker:

   https://bugs.kde.org/

There is also a brainstorming category at the forum where you can toss 
ideas around:

   https://discuss.kde.org/c/brainstorm/7

> 3) I probably haven't looked hard enough but is there a road-map of what
>     the current thinking is on the direction of KDE that I can take a look
>     at?
> 

For high-level goals guiding KDE, see here:

   https://kde.org/goals/

The schedules page at the wiki may also have relevant information for you:

   https://community.kde.org/Schedules

For instance, here's the schedules page for Plasma 6, to be released in 
Q1 2024. Here further details and links can be found:

   https://community.kde.org/Schedules/Plasma_6

> 4) I have a few non-problem issues that I haven't found in any how-to yet
>     that I'd like to address promptly or they'll just drive me nuts.
> 
>     In particular and as a perfect example: A number of items to be found
>     in the Launcher's (default?) categories are in the wrong locations and
>     in addition to fixing these, I'd like to add some that are missing. But
>     the "edit" feature is bewildering to say the least! Can I add
>     categories? ...A pointer to something helpful on this particular
>     point would be nice, but in general, is this a place to ask questions
>     like that?
> 

I don't have an answer for your specific question, but this is certainly 
something that could be asked at Discuss (https://discuss.kde.org) or at 
one of the many other channels to reach the community:

   https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved#Many_Ways_To_Reach_Us

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Joseph

> Thank you much,
> Richard

-- 
Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss
KDE Internal Communications & KDE Eco Community Manager
OpenPGP: 8FC5 4178 DC44 AD55 08E7 DF57 453E 5746 59A6 C06F
Matrix: @joseph:kde.org

Generally available Monday-Thursday from 10-16h CET/CEST. Outside of 
these times it may take a little longer for me to respond.

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