[Typo3] Some feedback to TYPO3 marketeers

[Alex Heizer]

JoH wrote:

>>Likewise, there is probably a reason most "ordinary" users prefer
>>forums. ;) Forums also allow you to put threads into categories. As it
>>is now, to add a category to a mailing list you need to add  a new
>>list.
>>    
>>
>
>There's a very simple reason why you should not use a forum even though
>"ordinary" people might prefer it:
>It's the "ordinary user" who asks the questions, but in most cases it will
>be the "professional" who is expected to answer.
>I don't expect many of the TYPO3 professionals to ever visit such a forum,
>no to mention they would ever answer a post there.
>  
>
Then I can say I see a reason why the TYPO3 community is mostly filled 
with developers instead of customers, at least those coming from the US. 
If it's going to gain acceptance by the US consumers, it's going to need 
to meet them on their playing field, playing their game with their 
rules. For the US, that means a forum, despite how we may each 
personally feel about it.

Besides, I have seen more than once when someone has posted for the 
first time to the T3 mailing lists that are in existence, only to be 
responded to by a "professional", and the answer is, essentially, "rtfm".

>Just to speak for myself: I would never answer any forum thread just because
>I don't have the time to
>1. go to the website
>2. login with my username
>3. look in the different categories if there is something worth to answer
>4. write the answer or just kepp it in mind to come back later and repeat
>the whole story
>
>With the NG it's just one click away from the mails I check every 30 min.
>After that it takes just some seconds to browse the threads for something
>interesting and usually I will give an answer within just a few hours, when
>I find the time to do so.
>I guess most of the TYPO3 pros here do it exactly the same way.
>
>So if you want high quality answers, stay away from forums and stick to the
>newsgroups.
>
>Joey
>
Okay, so you're saying we don't need to sell T3 to you, that you're 
already part of the community. Good. Now what about the millions of 
potential T3 customers in the US who have never even heard of a 
newsgroup? I've made websites for people who barely know how to surf the 
Web, let alone set up their own email account. Setting up a newsgroup is 
more difficult to set up than an email account, so how are these people 
going to be able to do that? They need help, too, and for the vast 
amount of users, compared to the relatively small amount of 
"professionals" or "developers", they choose forums. They are already 
surfing, it's easier for them to surf to an existing site and do a search.

My question is: shouldn't we give them what they want? Or should we just 
complain that we don't have the market share that we want because our 
potential customers are lazy and don't want to do things our way? People 
learn differently, if we're going to help T3 gain broader acceptance, 
we're going to need to give them a choice of how they can get support 
and become members of the community.

Alex