[Systems] [IAEP] Social Help [was Re: New Discourse version, update available]

[James Cameron]

G'day Bernie,

I agree, Mailman3 would be a useful upgrade.

I'm sorry, I can't suggest any mobile friendly web IRC clients, but
I've heard from others they do exist, just a matter of selecting one.

Cross-linking IRC and Slack via Matrix seems all the rage on the
conference circuit, but that seems mostly a way to avoid having to
change clients.  ;-)

On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 09:09:08PM -0400, Bernie Innocenti wrote:
> Thankyou James for the summary and thankyou Sam for the quick response.
> 
> As for Slack: I think it's used only by Samuel to mentor some new sysadmins. I have to admit I'm rarely on IRC these days due to lack of a good Android client, but I'd also recommend against adding new public communication channels for the project.
> 
> Would someone volunteer to update chat.sugarlabs.org? Perhaps see if there are web IRC clients that are more mobile friendly than qwebirc?
> 
> And Mailman3 with Hyperkitty would also be a big help for non-technical users (forum like interface for posting to lists).
> 
> 
> On September 29, 2017 6:36:19 PM EDT, Sam Parkinson <sam at sam.today> wrote:
> >Thanks for replying James.  Your pretty spot - that is a pretty good
> >summary of the thing.
> >I didn't get the email alerting about the 1-click upgrade.  I'm
> >clicking to apply it now.
> >I've granted admin to quozl.  If any sysadmin would like admin on the
> >service, please send your username and I can add you via the web
> >interface.  If you admin, I think that will let you do 1 click
> >upgrades.
> >Sorry for dropping the ball on this one.
> >On Sat, 2017-09-30 at 06:46 +1000, James Cameron wrote:
> >> G'day Bernie,
> >> 
> >> No, and no.
> >> 
> >> Thanks for raising this.  It is a risk to have a public service
> >> unmaintained, as it can lead to it being exploited.
> >> 
> >> Discourse is integrated with Sugar through the Social Help feature
> >> [0], using the alt-shift-h shortcut or the frame icon.  The feature
> >> was added [1, 2] in GSoC 2014 and merged in May 2015 for Sugar 0.106,
> >> with some good fixes since.
> >> 
> >> Social Help is an underutilised feature.  Rate of new posts is
> >> minimal, at about two per year, and I think I'm the only person
> >> responding [3].
> >> 
> >> Despite designed technical advantages [1] Social Help has not had the
> >> popularity or numerical success of Sugar Network, and with the
> >> board's
> >> decision [4] to remediate Sugar Network my guess is that the Social
> >> Help feature could be removed from Sugar.
> >> 
> >> My guesses for why Social Help has not been used are;
> >> 
> >> (a) the feature is undiscoverable,
> >> 
> >> (b) deployments have set up their own forums,
> >> 
> >> (c) independent users of Sugar 0.106 and later are minimal,
> >> 
> >> (d) failed to gain critical mass.
> >> 
> >> To answer your questions;
> >> 
> >> 1.  I'm not handling updates to Discourse; I've no access keys and
> >> don't know how to do it [5].  Sam Parkinson was handling updates at
> >> one stage.
> >> 
> >> 2.  I'm not using it for project communications, and I've asked those
> >> who try that to use mailing lists [6].
> >> 
> >> You mention Slack.  I don't believe we have Slack.  Slack isn't
> >> referenced in the Wiki, and hasn't been mentioned on mailing lists.
> >> If Slack is being used, it is a private group, and the knowledge
> >> hasn't been widely distributed yet.  Please do that?
> >> 
> >> We do have too many project communication options for the size of the
> >> project at the moment.  I'd like to see some options close.
> >> 
> >> +CC sugar-devel@ and iaep@ since I've raised several issues that may
> >> benefit from wider discussion.  ;-)
> >> 
> >> References:
> >> 
> >> 0.  https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Social_Help
> >> 1.  https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Summer_of_Code/2014/AnaBalica/Socia
> >> l_Help#Comparison_between_Discourse_and_Sugar_Network
> >> 2.  https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Summer_of_Code/2014/Prasoon2211/Soc
> >> ial_Help
> >> 3.  https://socialhelp.sugarlabs.org/
> >> 4.  https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions#2017-04-2
> >> 1_2
> >> 5.  https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Service/Social_Help#Todo
> >> 6.  https://socialhelp.sugarlabs.org/t/sugar-collaboration-xsce-iiab-
> >> xmpp-jabber-ejabberd/226/5
> >> 
> >> On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 01:31:46PM -0400, Bernie Innocenti wrote:
> >> > Is anyone handling updates for discourse?
> >> > 
> >> > Is it being used for project communication? I ask because we also
> >> > have
> >> > IRC, Slack and mailing lists.
> >> > 
> >> > On 29/09/17 07:57, socialhelp at sugarlabs.org wrote:
> >> > > Hooray, a new version of Discourse <http://www.discourse.org> is
> >> > > available!
> >> > > 
> >> > > Your version: 1.6.8
> >> > > New version: *1.8.8*
> >> > > 
> >> > >   *
> >> > > 
> >> > >     Upgrade using our easy *one-click browser upgrade [...]
> >> > > 
> >> > >   *
> >> > > 
> >> > >     See what's new in the GitHub changelog
> >> > >     <https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commits/master>
> >> > > 
> >> > >   *
> >> > > 
> >> > >     Visit meta.discourse.org <https://meta.discourse.org> for
> >> > > news,
> >> > >     discussion, and support for Discourse
> >> > > 
> >> > > 
> >> > > 
> >> > > _______________________________________________
> >> > > Systems mailing list
> >> > > Systems at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/systems
> >> > > 
> >> > 
> >> > 
> >> > -- 
> >> >  _ // Bernie Innocenti
> >> >  \X/  http://codewiz.org
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Systems mailing list
> >> > Systems at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/systems
> 
> -- 
> ベルニー
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/