[manjaro-dev] Fwd: Redesign

[Philip Müller]

What do you guys think about this feedback?

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
Betreff: Redesign
Datum: Thu, 21 Jul 2016 18:44:56 +0200
Von: R. W. Reese <aguador at openmailbox.org>
An: support at manjaro.org

Hi Guys,

It's good to see that the wiki is available again and that your are
redesigning the web site. I don't have a lot of input on the website
redesign other than simply updating the content. What greets one now is
fine except it is around two years out of date (RIP ManjaroOB as an
"official" flavor).

However, I will belatedly take this opportunity to comment on Manjaro
and the forum here as I refuse to sign up for it. Let me explain.

I have been with Manjaro since 0.8.10. It is my third distro and one
where I have felt very much at home. Rob, philm, AJSlye and Oberon,
above all, have been great, and the experience of using Manjaro equally
as good. Before the introduction of the new forum I was making efforts
to contribute (e.g., write up on Entrance in the wiki) that fit with my
time and skill level.

My heart sank the first day the new forum came online. I reacted so
negatively that I started reading and thinking about Arch and other
possibilities. I have since visited the forum a couple of times to see
if my initial reaction was simply an overreaction . . . confirming that,
for me, it is not. I will not use the forum as it is now configured,
which means I will not be using the primary vehicle for participating in
the Manjaro community, which inevitably leads to leaving Manjaro as I am
not prepared to be simply a leech.

What is wrong with the forum?

1) It lacks the basic user information that should be visible on every
post. Before it was possible to see what Des/WMs, video cards, and
branches a poster was using. When properly kept up to date it made it
easier to respond to questions and issues. Why this information would
have been eliminated (other than to reduce the space of posts) is beyond me.

2) The the look and feel and some of the "features" of the site are
appropriate to social media at best, and frivolous social media at that.
I did not participate in the forum to be social, but to ask and answer
questions or post news that came my way (especially about E). I did not
use "+1" and saw few of them in the old forum, so not only is the little
"heart" for "likes" is not very valuable, it is incredibly insulting.
Furthermore the suggestion is that it be used for "thanks" as well, but
"thanks” for what? – “a good post", "your comments", "helping solve my
problem", "providing the best solution to my problem" . . . you get the
point. It is, in other words, it is as vacuous – or mor so – as "+1"
while adding making the site seem "silly" (a word used in an e-mail I
received from another user).

Add to the lack of useful, serious information the "brownie points"
system related to posts and privileges, and you have a monstrous
creation in which I cannot bring myself to participate. I am sure I have
made my fair share of stupid comments on the old forum and, I would like
to think, one or two intelligent ones as well. However, the design of
the forum really makes it feel like an insult.

I have little time to do as much as I would like in increasing my
knowledge and skills with Linux, but the change in the forum came just
at a point where I was making efforts to increase that knowledge -- only
to have the community to which I intended to contribute become alien
territory.  I know that all this must seem an over reaction, and perhaps
I will become a crotchety Arch user mocking distros that don’t require
going through hell to install or a curmudgeonly Slackware user
pooh-poohing the automatic handling of dependencies (said with all due
respect to the users of those distros, the overwhelming majority of whom
are neither crotchety nor curmudgeonly).

There is no need to respond to this message as it is simply the result
of an unexpected request for input that has allowed me to comment at
length. I wish Manjaro and the whole Manjaro team well. It is a
fantastic distro that I know deserves to be and I am sure will be around
for many years to come.

Best,
Roy

-- 

Roy W. Reese
Spanish-English translator
roy at suchat.org (XMPP/Jabber)
www.babelmania.com
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