[Owncloud] Revolutionizing the help system (yes, that's exaggerated)

[post at deryo.de]

Hi there.

I am "the new guy" some of you met at the developer meeting in Berlin.  
The one that doesn't code that much, but wants to try to improve  
communication.

The first thing I want to achieve is to define the purpose of each  
communication channel. Where do users get help, where do the  
developers hang out?

At the moment there are several communication channels such as  
Website, Mailinglists, Wiki, multiple BugTrackers, Forum, IRC  
channels, "Help" on the web frontend -> (http://apps.owncloud.com/kb),  
Twitter, Facebook (?), Blog, Wikipedia and so on.

As a start we should focus on the user experience and that is  
primarily getting help (and not getting frustrated in the process).

To achieve that I plan to propose some rework of forum and website to  
make user communication channels clear, eg. that the forum is for  
users only and no developer will ever have a look at it.

Also I think it is essential to have only one place per communication  
purpose. I hope everybody agrees that the help system inside each  
ownCloud instance is not that helpful. People ask questions there,  
report bugs, but nobody reads them or answers. Also the forums look as  
if you could get help from developers there, but you don't.

Frank, Jan and I agreed on the following:

- The next major version of oC (v5.0) should no longer use the apps  
knowlegebase
- The apps knowledgebase should be shut down afterwards
- The "Help" label inside oC should reveal the all new and shiny  
documentation[1] plus some links as eg. the USER forums and the new to  
be created page "how to report a bug or request a feature" on our  
website
- The Documentation is delivered either within the ownCloud package or  
presented as an iFrame or something using our website

The user now has 3 steps he can go:
1. Try it himself (documentation)
2. Try to get help (user forums)
3. Contact developers (bug report/feature request)

This implies:
The all new and shiny documentation has to be filled with content  
before the next major release!


This decision is not yet fixed but charts a path forward. I am eager  
to hear your thoughts about this.


Johannes "DerYo" Twittmann

[1] https://github.com/owncloud/documentation/blob/master/README.rst