[TYPO3-english] Is there any need for an English TYPO3 discussion forum?

[Andreas Becker]

Hi Thomas

This discussion comes up nearly every 3 months and always with the same
result - NO

First I thought also Forum would be much better but since years now I
follow the mailing lists and it is far more professional, much much faster
in response and I am happy also to answer beginner questions. Actually they
help even those you do jobs in TYPO3 since years to recognize perhaps some
elementary stuff again and again - thats good and it is actually the best
way of Learning.

We meanwhile hat a request for another great open source system called
OpenTaps - well Forum - great but not great was the time until we actually
have got an answer on our request. As OpenTaps is build of OfBiz we had a
look here. Here same like with TYPO3 no Forum but mailing lists. And
the response time went often down to really no time. The people at OfBiz
often seem to be even faster responding than those at TYPO3 and they are
already very fast.

Like in TYPO3 also on the OfBiz Mailing Lists you are really welcome as a
beginner. Great! No need for a Forum but perphaps a need of a better "Tone"
in talking to each other, so that beginners don't get shocked when they
need to read things like:

"Read the manual" - often there is none and most likely people already
searched for it also in Google
"Google it"
"Learn to read"
etc.

Better would be IMHO:

"Hi welcome, I had the same problem ..... and present in short words the
solution"
The newby will be happy and will come back more often and you will learn
about each other much better than in a forum.

FAZIT: A Forum seems to be a static (dead) thing (your post needs to be
kissed by a prince to be awaked) which isn't as flexible as a mailing
list (where one post kan return immediately many kisses :-) which reaches
all subscribers immediately while a request on a Forum site has to wait
until somebody is interested in IT.

There are actually very very good English Support Forums for TYPO3.
Interesting that you don't know about them as they are one of the
greatest contributors to TYPO3 with their Ideas especially for TemplaVoila.

have a look here: http://webempoweredchurch.org/support/forum/

IMHO there is no need for another place in the web to search for
information. Better would be that the mailinglist articles itself get
stored and be searchable in a forum like style and on the old
typo3.orgwebsite there was one example already with a hidden link but
now its gone,
perhaps someone else can point out where this functionality is right now on
the new typo3 .org website.

Andi





On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 6:06 PM, Thomas Skierlo <pubtsk1 at pix-pro.eu> wrote:

> Hi everybody,
>
> I'm a German living in the Netherlands, who prefers to discuss technical
> matters in English forums and lists. I'm a participating on this list for
> about two month now, and I like the friendliness and quality of it very
> much.
>
> All official TYPO3 documentation is in English and the product localizes
> extremely well. I think that many people, like me before, do not subscribe
> to mailing lists, mainly because they are looking for other forms of
> information first, like discussion forums, which might be a more modern
> approach -- at least a more convenient one.
>
> One major aspect of a forum is the fact, that beginners get good hints,
> mainly from other, more advanced beginners and intermediates. A forum
> therefore could help to keep the very basic questions out of the mailing
> lists, which always will cover more advanced topics.
>
> If you use Google for some usage statistics you'll find out that TYPO3's
> acceptance is extremely good for the German (or similar) language
> countries, like Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and it's popularity
> and installation-count is decreasing outside the EU and Scandinavian
> countries. Imagine yourself a young turkish CMS developer, who wants to
> learn more about TYPO3. Besides the official documentation he or she would
> hunt for information in Turkish or English language, but definitely no in
> German.
>
> Today we have two well administrated and lively forums in German language
> and, at least after my short research, not even one in English. Other users
> and I suggested an "English" section for the most active German TYPO3 forum
> at http://www.typo3forum.net <http://www.typo3forum.net/> , and the
> makers behind it would agree to open one (or more), if it would really be
> of general interest.
>
> I was asked to discuss this matter on the mailing list -- voilà. I'm a
> plain user of the forum mentioned, and not an owner or maker of it
>
> Would you like to have an English language subsection on this popular
> forum - not as an alternative to this excellent mailing list, but as an
> addition? If yes, which structure should it have?
>
> All of you who can read German will find the active discussion under
> http://www.typo3forum.net/**forum/aenderungen/49716-typo3-**
> forum-englisch.html<http://www.typo3forum.net/forum/aenderungen/49716-typo3-forum-englisch.html>.
> Use this thread as well if you like.
>
> TIA for any feedback,
>
> Thomas Skierlo
>
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