SDL is popular and will be even more popular with iPhone and iPad support. This will bring many new programmers needing help and sharing opinions in many different fields of interest. That is why I propose new forum structure. Currently there is none, SDL Devel and Game Devel is simply to broad. From top of my head (and other please add to this):
dedicated section for beginners with a FAQ maybe so there would be no endless answering like “link to sdlmain.lib”
development forum could be split into sub forums for different platforms
I am no forum expert but SDL deserves much more then this.
SDL is popular and will be even more popular with iPhone and iPad
support. This will bring many new programmers needing help and sharing
opinions in many different fields of interest. That is why I propose
new forum structure. Currently there is none, SDL Devel and Game Devel
is simply to broad.
By your logic, there should be a dedicated mailing list for each
platform that SDL supports. Given that it supports several different
platforms (including most of the current and all of the last-generation
gaming consoles), that will give us a huge amount of mailing lists.
SDL itself doesn’t require you to write a large amount of platform
specific code, so I think that there aren’t a lot of issues with SDL
development that are exclusive to the iPhone.
Devil’s advocate though, I’m sick to death of all the iPhone related
threads that keep popping up (because they are of no interest to me - I
hate the iP*). In the end, I just created a mail filter in my email
client to move them all to another folder.
Despite this, I think that creating a set of iPhone mailing lists will
simply fracture the community into two parts - those with iPhones, and
those without.
I think that better use of the SDL Wiki could go a long way towards
eliminating the same questions being asked again and again on the
mailing list.
I am no forum expert but SDL deserves much more then this.
By the way, SDL has a mailing list. The “forums” are an archive of what
is on the mailing list.
It was a bit confusing for me at first, because I signed up for them
before signing up for the mailing list after I realised I couldn’t post
there. I really think the “forums” site should just be abolished and
replaced with a standard mailing list archive page (or link to an
external archive like GMANE) to eliminate the confusion.On Wed, 2010-04-21 at 03:37 -0700, hardcoder wrote:
I have to admit that I was not thinking about mailing list at all. In fact I never used it. If forum is as you say nothing more than list archive then I guess this makes no sense. But I am still in favor of creating a real SDL forum, as many libraries do.
With mailing lists, I can filter and track discussions on an automatic way.
With Forum I always have to research what is happening in every single
folder.
I am voting to keep things as they are.On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 1:31 PM, hardcoder wrote:
I have to admit that I was not thinking about mailing list at all. In
fact I never used it. If forum is as you say nothing more than list archive
then I guess this makes no sense. But I am still in favor of creating a real
SDL forum, as many libraries do.
I think it’d be fine to have multiple subforums. To keep things consistent,
though, they should all relay their messages to the “One True Mailing List”.
When the mailing list receives an email from a list member, then it should
be sent to one particular forum (as it is now). My only problem with how it
is set up currently is that the forum posts take way too long (usually days)
to be forwarded to the mailing list.
Jonny DOn Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 4:58 AM, Paulo Pinto wrote:
Please no forum!
With mailing lists, I can filter and track discussions on an automatic way.
With Forum I always have to research what is happening in every single
folder.
I am voting to keep things as they are.
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 1:31 PM, hardcoder wrote:
I have to admit that I was not thinking about mailing list at all. In
fact I never used it. If forum is as you say nothing more than list archive
then I guess this makes no sense. But I am still in favor of creating a real
SDL forum, as many libraries do.
*Oh yeah, email replies to forum posts should go to that forum, if this can
be done unambiguously.
Jonny DOn Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 6:01 AM, Jonathan Dearborn <@Jonathan_Dearborn>wrote:
I think it’d be fine to have multiple subforums. To keep things
consistent, though, they should all relay their messages to the “One True
Mailing List”. When the mailing list receives an email from a list member,
then it should be sent to one particular forum (as it is now). My only
problem with how it is set up currently is that the forum posts take way too
long (usually days) to be forwarded to the mailing list.
Jonny D
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 4:58 AM, Paulo Pinto wrote:
Please no forum!
With mailing lists, I can filter and track discussions on an automatic
way.
With Forum I always have to research what is happening in every single
folder.
I am voting to keep things as they are.
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 1:31 PM, hardcoder wrote:
I have to admit that I was not thinking about mailing list at all. In
fact I never used it. If forum is as you say nothing more than list archive
then I guess this makes no sense. But I am still in favor of creating a real
SDL forum, as many libraries do.
Agreed. Who needs sub-forums? There’s only one topic right?>
It was a bit confusing for me at first, because I signed up for them
before signing up for the mailing list after I realised I couldn’t post
there. ?I really think the “forums” site should just be abolished and
replaced with a standard mailing list archive page (or link to an
external archive like GMANE) to eliminate the confusion.
One more vote for keeping the list as it is. I don’t browse the net all
the time but I read my email. I can read my email with a remote login
console, if I have to. I don’t need spiffy formatting, animated icons
and whatnot - I read text, and email is perfect for that.
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
On the other hand, a Wiki would be advantageous, as it could become a
huge treasure chest of information, aggregating the specialised knowledge
of various aspects of SDL from individuals who are experts of some SDL
things but never touched others.
So, create a forum if you like but please, please, please keep the
mailing list.
Well, while I can see why separating the iPhone/iPad discussions from game development and general PC SDL development would be a good idea, I don’t think it’s very practical with the way the forums and mailing list are set up right now.
If somehow it were modified to include a tag at the beginning of the title to indicate it belongs in the iPhone/iPad forum on the forums, but still have it sent to the normal SDL mailing list, that would be the only way to do it well.------------------------
EM3 Nathaniel Fries, U.S. Navy
With mailing lists, I can filter and track discussions on an automatic way.
With Forum I always have to research what is happening in every single
folder.
I am voting to keep things as they are.
+1
I prefer the mailing list model which gives me the advantage of list
aggregation, content format, information retention, automation, speed
and simplicity.
The “forums” are an archive of what is on the mailing list.
Not just that. You can also post through them, you know. I always do (only to post, though), because I can’t post through the newsgroups (or if I can, with a massive delay, but it only worked once) thanks to not using the e-mail address I signed up with. I get little spam as it is, and I don’t want to change that.
By the way, what’s up with people who don’t want what they call a “forum”? There’s been a message board for about a year already.
There seem to be quite a confusion here. If you only use mailing list and see no reason for forum to even exist then there is no real reason to share your thoughts here. I for one, am only using a forum and not only SDL forum for that matter. Forum is useful especially for new users, who can browse categorized topics and search for the answers for their questions. Believe it or not it often works. I never said mailing list should go, only that SDL forum as it is, is really bad. Every question is asked under the same category, beginners question asked just below OSX-specific renderer patch post. With proper structure and ideally additional moderators, forum could be real knowledge base. Keep in mind that I proposed this with myself and -others- in mind. If forum <-> ML sync is really needed for some reason then maybe there should be a dedicated forum section for the PROs to exchange their thoughts and ideas. Anyway, just saying that from my POV, being only a forum user, mixin
g posts about SDL library development and questions about its usage is a real mess, questions are often duplicated or answers are spread across multiple posts. In fact it looks like it has no moderation at all. Once again: this topic was never not about mailing list.
By the way, what’s up with people who don’t want what they call a
"forum"? There’s been a message board for about a year already.
I think those people (including me) have nothing against the 'forum’
per se. In my case my only worry is if the forum is in lieu of the
mailing list. I can’t speak for others, but I don’t care about forums
and whatever else, as long as the mailing list remains.
Same thing here.On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 2:31 PM, Zolt?n K?csi wrote:
By the way, what’s up with people who don’t want what they call a
"forum"? There’s been a message board for about a year already.
I think those people (including me) have nothing against the 'forum’
per se. In my case my only worry is if the forum is in lieu of the
mailing list. I can’t speak for others, but I don’t care about forums
and whatever else, as long as the mailing list remains.