[Xerte] non coders?

[Fred Riley]

Fora are very useful as archives and 'knowledge bases', allowing you to
search for problems in case they've already been solved, though this can
lead to unfriendly RTFM-style replies to newbie queries. phpbb is a
frequently-used forum system, but I suspect that installing it on the
Nottingham Uni web server might lead to 'issues', technical (the
server's still running PHP 4.3!) and political. I'm subbed to a few
phpbb installations and it does have many good features, including a
'notify on reply' which will email you if new messages have appeared in
a particular thread. On the plus side, such fora mean that you get far
less email. On the minus side, you tend not to get the serendidity of
reading topics which diverge, as this one has done already, into new and
interesting avenues. 

The trouble with phpbb and other fora software is that it takes time to
install, configure and maintain, time which could be used for more
productive work such as development. The Uni of Nottingham uses Mailman
as its listserv, and it's easy for UoN users to set up and maintain
lists without faffing about with permissions, config files, PHP
versions, mySQL setups, and the rest. I know - I run a Mailman list
myself here, and it's wash 'n' go. So if I were in Julian's shoes (which
he'd probably not want as my feet can get smelly :*)) I'd be inclined to
stick with the easy, low-maintenance option. 

Just my 2 Euro's worth. This has turned out to be quite an interesting
thread...

Cheers 

Fred Riley
Learning Technologist
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, University of Nottingham
Vcard: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nursing/sonet/about/fr_uon.vcf  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk 
> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of RonM
> Sent: 19 February 2010 06:51
> To: Xerte discussion list
> Subject: Re: [Xerte] non coders?
> 
> Hi John
> I know what you mean about having one place but as Julian 
> said I think mailing lists are so easy to receive and respond 
> to messages and for our target group on the new list that's 
> the most important thing.
> Regards
> Ron