Forum Plugins vs. Developer Forum

fredo6

I think this is a good idea to split the forum in two sections, but I wanted to give my feedback, based on how I understand it should work:

The Plugins forum is dedicated to Plugin users, who may have no knowledge of Ruby, but are actually interested in using plugins. In this section, we would find Plugins publishing as well as any questons related to Plugins from the user standpoint. So, many posts could be related to questions from users about plugins, suggestions, etc...
The Developers forum is restricted to contributors having questions related to Ruby development, basically scripts writers, at any level of the learning curve. It is true that we have more and more posts related to writing scripts and exploring Ruby capabilities.

Personally, I don't think the Plugin forum should only include posts for script publishing. There are sticky links to script publishers (this could be enhanced), and we should allow extra discussion topics, if they are stated from the user standpoint.

So, for me, the split is based on user vs. developer, for whatever contribution.

What do you think?

Fredo

thomthom

hmm

the idea was that the Plugins section was purely an index of plugins - and everything else was in the "Developer" section. I was yesterday wondering if it should be "Developers and Plugin Support".

I had in mind that questions regarding specific plugins was made in the thread for that plugin.
And requests are one in the developer section - requests to the developers.

Though it'd be interesting to hear people's more thoughts on this topic.

P.S. I'm moving this thread into Developers for the time being, as the currently we've been saying that the Plugin section is an index list only.

remus

personally, i quite like the idea of having the plugins forum devoted to plugins alone. To be completely honest i doubt a lot of people actually use the extensions index or any of the stickies in the plugins forum (or even the forum search), so having them all in one place will hopefully make them a bit more accessible.

I can see where your coming from with regards to having separate forums for requests/support and developers, but at the moment i dont think theres enough demand for either. Again, just my opinion.

Gaieus

I understand what and why Fredo thinks it would be better this way. In fact, splitting the forums still left much more topics in the developer forum than the plugin forum. So, to be honest, me as a non programmer, would probably also feel more comfortable in the Plugins forum than in the developers forum when asking questions (making requests, searching for a script) than in the developers' forum which should (maybe) remain "professional" - if you want to put that way and the plugins forum be for the end users.

But again, guys, you are the gears of these forums so whatever you all feel more convenient for you can be (and will be) the solution. I think ATM (especially if we "name" those topics logically and consequently), we can keep a nice order in the plugins section even if there are other, plugin-related discussions by end-users.

Pixero

I too feel that Plugins forum should be for any plugin question, request, announcement.
If its for Plugin announcements only maybe the name should be changed to: "Plugin annoncements" or something similar.
Then the developer forum might be called "Plugin discussions".

As it is now there is doubt where to post what.

thomthom

@pixero said:

I too feel that Plugins forum should be for any plugin question, request, announcement.
If its for Plugin announcements only maybe the name should be changed to: "Plugin annoncements" or something similar.
Then the developer forum might be called "Plugin discussions".

As it is now there is doubt where to post what.

Interesting

"Plugin Announcements" or "Plugin Index"
and
"Plugin Discussions"

?

TIG

My thoughts...

The Plugins Forum should be where anyone can find or publish plugins - both general-users and developers - and where they can also raise and discuss issues and ideas relating to specific plugins that are found there. It could also be where anyone raises questions: such as, 'does a plugin exist to do xxx?', or where they can make suggestions for the invention of new tools and so on [this could also go in the Developers' Forum but that would blur the boundaries ?]. Developers and the more experienced general-users must have meaningful input into this forum to make it effective.

The Developers' Forum should be where plugin developers can find or publish code ideas, and raise or discuss related issues, and otherwise generally help each other out. Much of this might not necessarily be of relevance to any specific plugin, nor be of much interest to general-users - who will usually use the Plugins Forum for their needs. The Developers' Forum would be a melting-pot of ideas and a nesting-ground for new tools - to mix a couple of metaphors . Any spin-off tools forged or honed in the Developers' Forum will end up in the Plugins Forum in due course, when they are fully-fledged: indeed, alpha & beta version of new or updated tools could be published in the Developers' Forum for peer-review before they were unleashed upon the unsuspecting world. Separating the two parts of the 'Ruby' forum this way means that the general-users have less 'clutter' to wade through to find what they want, and the developers have somewhere specific to use too. It's not just about Ruby coding any more as Webdialogs [and even DCs] are now getting more and more exposure...

MartinRinehart

@unknownuser said:

Developers forum is restricted to contributors having questions related to Ruby development

Almost totally agree. You did mean to include HTML/JavaScript/ ... when you said Ruby development?

Pixero

...or maybe three forums?
Plugin index
Plugin discussions
Developer forum

Gaieus

@pixero said:

...or maybe three forums?
Plugin index
Plugin discussions
Developer forum

We used to have that - at the very beginning - and it proved somewhat too artificial, strict and cumbersome especially for new members who could sometimes hardly use the forum system itself.

nuclearmoose

As a consumer of ruby-script goodness from all the good people here, I don't want to see ANY plugins posted into a forum. A forum is for discussion, not for distribution. I think that SCF really needs to look at a standalone repository for plugins. I've spoken before about how WordPress.org does this, and I think it's worth considering. Plugin developers get access to the WP repository for free, (they have a GPL-only rule). All previous versions of their work can be archived so that folks who may be on older software versions can still use an earlier plugin. Also, developers get statistics of how many downloads they are getting for each of their plugins.

I know it's a pain to have two setups, the forum and a repository, but in terms of value to both SCF users/members and the ruby developers, it's a worthwhile investment. Just from my short experience into SU, I've found myself that hunting down scripts can be a headache, and I've seen many comments from users as well.

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute my comments.
Craig.

Chris Fullmer

And we're so close to a great repository as it is right now. It just needs the ability for authors to log into it and manage their own scripts, and to have it well integrated with the forum (not just the SCF main page, but here in the forum too!).

I would love that.

Chris

haynesc

@unknownuser said:

The Plugins forum is dedicated to Plugin users, who may have no knowledge of Ruby, but are actually interested in using plugins. In this section, we would find Plugins publishing as well as any questons related to Plugins from the user standpoint. So, many posts could be related to questions from users about plugins, suggestions, etc...

The Developers forum is restricted to contributors having questions related to Ruby development, basically scripts writers, at any level of the learning curve. It is true that we have more and more posts related to writing scripts and exploring Ruby capabilities.

Totally Agree

CadFather

has anyone mentioned tagging plugins?

not sure how possible but it could be useful to type 'cut' and have zorro.rb, sectioncutface.rb etc, appearing in the list.. (just an idea)

thomthom

@cadfather said:

has anyone mentioned tagging plugins?

not sure how possible but it could be useful to type 'cut' and have zorro.rb, sectioncutface.rb etc, appearing in the list.. (just an idea)

Not in the forum. But Jim's Extension list does this. But it's not fully up to date...

mitcorb

Here's my 2 cents strictly as a user.
I tend to agree with TIG's view.

But I think there may always be some overlap, because strict division of function or content requires discipline, and in the heat of the moment to express an issue, maybe the discipline takes back burner.

I do peruse the dialogue in Developer's Forum when I see it in New Posts. I even scroll through the coding when it is displayed, in a vague hope that I can make sense out of the language conventions, or simply to marvel at how bizarre and foreign it is to conversational language.