A change of heart

[david.wright12886 at gmail.com]

> Hi David, I've looked at the software you linked to, and am a bit
> underwhelmed.
> 
> However, your concern seems like a good one, and I've heard various
> efforts towards the same goal. Rather than looking at a 'website in a
> box' I think we should back up, and look at the goal, think about how
> best to meet it, and then craft the KDE.org website and the rest of
> our public-facing tech to support that.
> 
> Our Forums are working really well, as are the wikis. IRC and mail
> lists seem to be ticking along well too. There has been some
> discussion about tuning the Help > About KDE message on every KDE
> application. We're the largest or one of the largest participants in
> both GSoC and GCi. We do some active outreach in quite a few tech
> conferences and other meetings. We've got great blogs and other
> writing, including at least two books.
> 
> However, I think we all know that we need to do more to get KDE
> software users more involved in the community, and yes, supporting us
> with their money too.
> 
> So the question is, how can we build on the great infrastructure we
> already have? Surely the main KDE.org can use some freshening, and
> honing. How about getting involved in doing that work? The www team
> has lost some momentum lately, and could use your energy and
> enthusiasm.
> 
> I think we are poised for a lot of growth in the next year, as our new
> frameworks and beautiful new Plasma work become more widely adopted.
> It would be great if our user infra was ready for the new visitors.
> 
> Valorie
> _______________________________________________
> kde-www mailing list
> kde-www at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-www

Hi Valorie,

Yes, the commons is not a magic bullet, but it does tick all the right boxes 
compared to similar systems. It is still relatively young technology at the 
moment though, so I wouldn't write it off completely. It might be wise to set 
off in a direction that could be changed to such a setup in a couple of years 
time once it has matured. 

I hope you can appreciate however what it aims to achieve, and that is to 
unify the online image of the organisation. That's what KDE desperately needs 
at the moment, unification and simplification. It is a bit of a hopping game at 
the moment to find information you need.

Things like 'groups' are very useful though as they can become the central 
location for help and information on topics. You could have for example a 
'Plasmoid Development' group, for those interested in such things. At the 
moment you're on your own really to find this information out, you'll probably 
start at the wiki, then maybe hit the forums, or irc once you can't find the 
information you need, or maybe you'll just give up (and I'm sure some do). A 
central group would hopefully solve some of these issues. You can also have 
group events, which opens the door to self organised workshops or meetups, or 
maybe just a weekend wiki 'spring clean' event. Or course it would take 
someone with a bit of passion and motivation to step up and organise things 
like that, but this at least provides to platform for it to be possible.

Certainly the multi-site (or multi-blog) element of the commons setup is 
something that KDE should really do (it uses wpmu which is how wordpress.com 
works basically). It goes a long way address the unification issues that there 
are at the moment. Ideally I'd like to have a separate site for each of the 
main applications and projects, with all the vital statistics and appropriate 
links listed. It also means that if someone with a real interest in that 
particular software wants to change or add things to the content, they can be 
given access to just that particular site, rather than being allowed to run 
riot on the whole lot. 

I would also like to setup a job board. Even if it's just listed with 
'experienced C++ devs needed' at the start. I feel some people may be more 
comfortable with a more formal approach to the process, and to be contact and 
talked to about what they'd like to contribute to and how to go about it. It 
could be worded along the lines of, 'if you want to get stuck in visit here, 
or if you'd like a speak to a friendly advisor apply here."? I wonder whether 
this kind of system would be more female friendly as well? 

I have lots of ideas really. But for them to be possible it would require that 
initial shift in direction. The current infrastructure is one of necessity; 
things have been added as and when they have been needed, it's fairly clear to 
see. So perhaps the first thing to do is to take stock of the current situation 
and see where we can consolidate and change, and what will need to stay the 
same (such as the forum and wikis).

Is there a list anywhere of all the active *.kde.org subdomains? Or is someone 
able to send me a copy? I can go through it then and produce a proper action 
plan.

Kind regards,

David.