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ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 02:58 PM
I'm just curious as to what other people think... Thats all I can say right now..

Edit: This poll is open to registered and unregistered users.

Edit: This has been posted to the Ubuntu-Users mailing list the post is here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2006-June/080402.html

Edit: This has been mentioned in the #ubuntu irc channel a few times.

curuxz
June 2nd, 2006, 03:05 PM
Vital

Rikostan
June 2nd, 2006, 03:06 PM
They are the backbone of what makes Ubuntu great!
There is a wealth of knowledge here that is just incredible and the fact that so many people are willing to share that knowledge is what sets Ubuntu apart from other distros I have tried. Couple that knowledge with the community feel these boards have and I think you'll see why Ubuntu is the most popular distro according to distrowatch.

meng
June 2nd, 2006, 03:11 PM
Absolutely critical: although I switched to Ubuntu not knowing of the existence of these forums, I've learned so much just by browsing and it has helped me no end in hacking my system. During my recent minor difficulties with upgrading to Dapper, I relied heavily on these forums to solve the problems. I didn't even need to post a thread, I just searched for already existing threads on the same issue.

raublekick
June 2nd, 2006, 03:12 PM
well, when i installed dapper and couldn't get a network connection, i came straight here and found an answer (but no solution unfortunately). i don't think the wiki has any info about the problem i (and many others) were having, so in this case the forums were absolutely vital.

Zdravko
June 2nd, 2006, 03:21 PM
Without these forums, I would have been lost in the Linux world. There are so many questions - and I find their answers here. All this - free of charge.

Rackerz
June 2nd, 2006, 03:21 PM
They are Vital (Critical). They espicially were for me, anything I had problems with somebody was willing to help and it was always a pretty quick answer and put in an easy way for me to understand.

I wouldn't of started using Ubuntu without these forums, they are a main reason why I use Ubuntu in the first place. When I used SuSE I couldn't get any support from their forums and if I did it was slow and painful.

Robgould
June 2nd, 2006, 03:23 PM
Thes forums are a main factor in my choosing Ubuntu.

mostwanted
June 2nd, 2006, 03:23 PM
Absolutely vital. They're the main knowledge base of Ubuntu, just look at the many important community projects that were announced here.

Thank you very much for maintaining this great site! :)

nixt
June 2nd, 2006, 03:24 PM
Without the forums I wouldn't be able to get stuff working optimally (or at all)

ubuntu_demon
June 2nd, 2006, 03:25 PM
I voted : critical.

hobbit1983
June 2nd, 2006, 03:25 PM
Due to my contract I cannot contribute to the community through code (development nor bug fixing) therefore I have to contribute through spending time on the forums and giving advice where I can.

When I have needed help the forums are always the first call. Often I have posted a request for help and within mins (not hours) had a fix.

Software needs a community to survive. The forums keep the community going. They are very important to ubuntu

Klaidas
June 2nd, 2006, 03:26 PM
I vote for critical.
These forums is one of the reasons I chose Ubuntu - fast answers, nice community.
Besides, I'm addicted to these forums, they are opened on my browser almost all the time. :)

wylie348
June 2nd, 2006, 03:29 PM
Critical... nuff said.
;)

Toby
June 2nd, 2006, 03:29 PM
Considering the veritable wealth of knowledge to be found here, I voted critical.

christhemonkey
June 2nd, 2006, 03:29 PM
One of the best things about ubuntu, these forums are in my opinion.


Without which i would still be stuck at a non-booting computer with no way of installing windows and not knowing of any alternatives.

Super King
June 2nd, 2006, 03:30 PM
Vital. Never underestimate the factor of knowledgeable, helpful community support.

Jucato
June 2nd, 2006, 03:30 PM
For Ubuntu, this forum is vital, to the point that, even though it is not directly run or funded by Canonical, it is listed in the Ubuntu webpage as one of the sources for (free) support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/free

For me, this community/forum is what keeps me here with Ubuntu. It's a great community where everyone is welcome, from newbie to nerd. Everyone is willing to lend a helping hand. And that attitude is "viral". People who have been helped also tend to help others in need.

JSchwage
June 2nd, 2006, 03:33 PM
Well, seeing as this community is one of the reasons I switched to Ubuntu ... I'd have to say it's vital.

Simian
June 2nd, 2006, 03:34 PM
For me the one of the greatest things about Linux is the community and within that comunity is the Ubuntu community which has been the most helpful and vibrant of them all.

Turgon
June 2nd, 2006, 03:38 PM
Without the ubuntuforums I would most likely still have used windows.

I vote critical!

GQed76
June 2nd, 2006, 03:40 PM
The fourms ARE Ubuntu

jdong
June 2nd, 2006, 03:43 PM
Absolutely critical. The community we have here is what distinguished Ubuntu from so many other distributions that are virtually identical on the technical aspect.

isotonic
June 2nd, 2006, 03:47 PM
i feel ashamed to have voted the "other" way now...<hangs head in shame> :(

btw, i would of made this vote non-public...not because i voted no without checking what the majority were voting, but the naysayers now can be identified...<puts on his bullet-proof vest and jumps for cover>

CurlyChris
June 2nd, 2006, 03:48 PM
I agree with everyone above!!

When I installed Hoary, these forums helped me to make the change from my previous distro pretty easily. :)

When I dist-upgraded to Breezy, these forums helped me to troubleshoot the hang during the upgrade and then to tweak it to my liking. :D

I upgraded to Dapper last night via the update-manager, and today have been loitering on these forums to find out how to get MPlayer working again, how to get Shutdown & Reboot buttons on the logout box, what my sources.list file should look like, and where to start with getting 3D acceleration up & running again. :-k

These forums are an essential part of the Ubuntu experience. :cool:

(And they're my home page, too!! :p )

Chris

Teroedni
June 2nd, 2006, 03:52 PM
Critical

This is the best forums ever!! , nothing beats it:)

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 03:53 PM
i feel ashamed to have voted the "other" way now...<hangs head in shame> :(

btw, i would of made this vote non-public...not because i voted no without checking what the majority were voting, but the naysayers now can be identified...<puts on his bullet-proof vest and jumps for cover>
You voted how you felt. Thats what I want in this poll.

Piggah
June 2nd, 2006, 03:55 PM
Ubuntu forums are the backbone of the community. I knew Ubuntu had a community like I'd never seen before the first time I came here.

Without the forums, Ubuntu loses a lot of what it's all about.

I don't even know if I would continue to use Ubuntu without these forums. I probably would, but I wouldn't be as happy as I was.

John.Michael.Kane
June 2nd, 2006, 03:58 PM
Absolutely critical. The community we have here is what distinguished Ubuntu from so many other distributions that are virtually identical on the technical aspect.
I agree with jdong


ubuntu-geek If this forum was to shut down you might as well write ubuntu into the linux history books as there would be no real place to get help.

Just my thoughts..

henriquemaia
June 2nd, 2006, 04:01 PM
How important are these forums to Ubuntu?

When you access www.ubuntu.com (http://www.ubuntu.com) looking for support, you have 2 options:

Commercial (http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid)
http://www.ubuntu.com/htdocs/uweb/menu/arrow.pngCommunity (http://www.ubuntu.com/support/free)Under Community, which is free support, you have severall options, one of them is:

Web Forums

User that prefer a web-forum to a mailing list, especially for support related issues, can also use or search the Ubuntu Forums (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/).




These forums are important enough to Ubuntu to be mentioned as a viable support for those who are looking for it.




As for me, they are critical. It's the place where I find the answers I come across on my computer. It makes Ubuntu very human.

tincbtrar
June 2nd, 2006, 04:06 PM
These forums are imperative to most Ubuntu users. I, for one, rely on 75% of my troubleshooting here.

Ubuntuud
June 2nd, 2006, 04:12 PM
It's the nr. 1 reason why I'm not switching to another distro. When you ask a question here which has already been asked you just get an answer. On other forums like gentoo's you get... well... you get a lot but no answers.

Compucore
June 2nd, 2006, 04:16 PM
I rtely on the forums as well over here even to just get an opinion abut something with finding out on things that are related to ubuntu and a particular system that I am having problems with and hash out idea's on how toget around the problem. Or get a work through that can be used for the next critical update to the next generation of Ubuntu. And still being able to used the next release of their operating system.

For me giving feedback to Ubuntu is always a top priority on this. So they as well as I do when it comes to something that may not have been addressed to can be resolved. Not everymachine is built the same. All the components can change while still in prodution run too whether if it is a clone machine or a particular machine that is a brand name. There are so many things that can happen that could be relayed back to companied like Ubuntu that will take advantages of the changes.

Compucore

graabein
June 2nd, 2006, 04:23 PM
An active and helpful community is critical to any Linux distro I would think. Maybe the poll result would be more interesting if you could rate it from 0 to 5 or something. But hey, I voted yes.

TeeAhr1
June 2nd, 2006, 04:25 PM
Without these forums, no way would I still be using Linux. No way. The people here are so patient, so helpful, and just generally awesome.

In the beginning I just needed a fish, and they gave me fish because that was all I could handle. Now I want to fish for myself, and they're here to show me the way. I certainly hope at least one or two people feel the same way about me.

kingmonkey
June 2nd, 2006, 04:28 PM
Thats all I can say right now..

Are they going to be closed down?

racoq
June 2nd, 2006, 04:35 PM
I voted Critical

However i have something to add here.

I think that further financial effort should be made (since millions were spent in shipit), for enhancing server capabilities, and more servers should be buyed for hosting the forum (resulting in better load balancing), so that we don't experience the traffic load and low speed when using these forums, that we've experienced these last days.

In that way, we can help and be helped, more efficently, since the ubuntu comunity is growing very fast, servers should also grow in size.

bearbigears
June 2nd, 2006, 04:35 PM
it was because of this forum that i started to understand ubuntu/linux software. without this i would have been frustrated as in the past with other distro's and afraid to post my questions. here i was embraced and helped every step of the way.

babumuchhala
June 2nd, 2006, 04:37 PM
The forum should be termed as one of the most important lifelines of Ubuntu & its users.

I have been here since Feb 22 and have only made 1 post but god knows how many times I must have accessed the forum to troubleshoot.

bluevoodoo1
June 2nd, 2006, 04:40 PM
It's one of the main reasons why I started using Ubuntu. Without it, I'd probably switch distros.

Rumor
June 2nd, 2006, 04:47 PM
These forums are absolutely vital. Every single "hurdle" in my path to being free of Windows has been successfully passed due solely to these forums.

beercz
June 2nd, 2006, 04:48 PM
Simply essential!

jlhughes
June 2nd, 2006, 04:58 PM
I want to put in a special plug for the "Absolute Beginners" forum. The ability for newbies to feel welcome to ask for help is especially important. It also reflects very well on the Ubuntu community that it welcomes "Absolute Beginners."

ashrack
June 2nd, 2006, 04:58 PM
I would have voted SUPERB CRITICAL but theres no such an option! Without these forums I would never have stick to UBUNTU!!!

tseliot
June 2nd, 2006, 05:00 PM
Ubuntu's strenght lies in its community. Without the forums there would be only:
1) commercial support (which I wouldn't be inclined to pay)
2) the "standard" documentation (from the Official Wiki)

There might be less projects (e.g. Automatix, BUMPS, etc.) for Ubuntu (also as a consequence of the lack of communication between Ubuntu users) and we couldn't share our knowledge, our problems with Ubuntu, help each other, etc.

IMO killing the forums would mean making Ubuntu die of a slow death, as many of its users (as far as the desktop version is concerned) might switch to another distro (also out of frustration).

And of course newbies would be the first to leave Ubuntu. Hardware detection is not perfect in Linux (I'm not blaming Ubuntu or Torvalds for that) and sometimes some tweaking is needed. People coming from Windows usually can't manage all those tweakings by themselves and they need to ask questions (and that's one of the reasons for which we are here).

In other words please keep the forums (and in so doing also Ubuntu) alive.

chadk
June 2nd, 2006, 05:03 PM
Without the forums I wouldn't be able to get stuff working optimally (or at all)
Same here. No forums? I'd still be on windows.

matthew
June 2nd, 2006, 05:04 PM
These forums are the reason I am using Linux, and specifically Ubuntu. I could probably go it alone now, but when i first started just over a year ago I would have been lost without these forums to help me. No other distro's community comes close when it comes to welcoming beginners and teaching the intermediate as well as just being an overall great group of people to hang out with.

MenZa
June 2nd, 2006, 05:06 PM
I voted 'critical'.
Honestly, this is where suggestions are made, developers correspond with end users and ideas are shared.

meng
June 2nd, 2006, 05:07 PM
Two points:

Firstly, kudos to whoever voted no and defied the trend, this poll could have been a one-way lovefest. If there's anything that can be done to improve the value of these forums, then we should work towards that. (I voted yes though.)

Secondly, and more importantly, the reliability of this poll is even more dubious than the reliability of other polls in this place. Ubuntu Forums is heavily stacked and trafficked by folks who find it valuable; those who don't tend not to spend much time here.

GarethMB
June 2nd, 2006, 05:07 PM
I voted critical. I use these forums and the wiki as number one resources for solving any problems on my box. Even over linux specific google.

Denis
June 2nd, 2006, 05:11 PM
The forums are very importent, because there is a lot of information to find. If I want to get more information about an issue I can always find something useful with a search on the forum.

Sadly the forums also have to compensate for the lack of good documentation in Ubuntu. The help system can not provide sufficient information for the average user. I am confident that this will improve in the future.

S{yndrom}e
June 2nd, 2006, 05:12 PM
Critical End of story.

I went from knowing one command ("cd" for those who are curious)

To piping input/output, compiling from source, customizing my repositories, editing my xorg.conf, troubleshooting my hardware problems, installing xgl/compiz.

The list just goes on and on.

And all because of these forums. It is because of this forum that i think ubuntu is one of the best linux distros ever created.

ruffneck
June 2nd, 2006, 05:13 PM
Vital w/o a doubt. As others have pointed out,without these forums I wouldn't be able to completely switch from Windows. I'm 100% Ubuntu because of these forums and will stay that way for the forseeable future!

clparker
June 2nd, 2006, 05:13 PM
I've been using these forums since 2004 when I was first using warty. (ah, we've come a long way...)

Horizon
June 2nd, 2006, 05:14 PM
Well I think you've all said anything I could have said. One thing I'd like to add though. The link to the forums from http://www.ubuntu.com is TOO HARD TO FIND. The forums are so important to Ubuntu it should have it's own tab or something...right next to home. Or even better, in that sidebar on the front page which has downloads and "about ubuntu" in it.

clparker
June 2nd, 2006, 05:16 PM
Sadly the forums also have to compensate for the lack of good documentation in Ubuntu. The help system can not provide sufficient information for the average user. I am confident that this will improve in the future.

He's so right. IS THERE ANY MONEY IN THE UBUNTU BOUNTIES FUND TO PAY some kids to update this stuff? I'm sure some people would do it for some cash.

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 05:16 PM
Well I think you've all said anything I could have said. One thing I'd like to add though. The link to the forums from http://www.ubuntu.com is TOO HARD TO FIND. The forums are so important to Ubuntu it should have it's own tab or something...right next to home. Or even better, in that sidebar on the front page which has downloads and "about ubuntu" in it.
We tried to get that they shot it down ;)

ubuntu_demon
June 2nd, 2006, 05:16 PM
Well I think you've all said anything I could have said. One thing I'd like to add though. The link to the forums from http://www.ubuntu.com is TOO HARD TO FIND. The forums are so important to Ubuntu it should have it's own tab or something...right next to home. Or even better, in that sidebar on the front page which has downloads and "about ubuntu" in it.
It's already totally at the top :)

edit sorry : I didn't read well .. I thought you meant the link from ubuntuforums.org to ubuntulinux.org :-s

sudomania4
June 2nd, 2006, 05:18 PM
The community/forums were one of the main reasons i choose ubuntu. The people here are very helpful and nice, and will help newbies.

angkor
June 2nd, 2006, 05:19 PM
Critical.

Btw thanks for making it possible Ubuntu-geek. :KS

az
June 2nd, 2006, 05:25 PM
Of course the forums are important.

I was just wainting for the right moment to chime in to this thread on the sounder:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/sounder/2006-June/007146.html

Basically it speaks of the ubuntu community but does not mention the forums in any way. The forum community dwarfs the rest of the ubuntu community. There is a big disconnect between the mailling list community and the forums community.

No surprise here, they are two very different groups.

Despite not being present on the forums, Mark Shuttleworth has made it very clear that he (and the other members of the Community Council) take the forums and their users very seriously.

I was going to chime in and suggest some soft of connection between forum happenings and either ubuntu traffic or the fridge.

How many ubuntu project are found on the forums (Easy Ubuntu, Ubuntu Center, Ubuntu women, several others...) but have never been mentioned on the fridge? Probably because no one in charge of the fridge thought of asking? I think this is a big reason why there is so little crosstalk between the two groups. They remain distinct.

It is not a critticism - I don't think either group hates the other. I think some people need to lead the way.

Here is the full text of the first message:

"from john levin

Here's my wish for Edgy. It's not technical, cody or full of bling, but
it's my personal itch.

After 4 releases, Ubuntu has not just taken off, but stayed in orbit.
Constantly improving, branching out (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, etc),
ever more useable (on a whole range of criteria - hey even the brown is
a nicer shade!) it has a large and growing community.

And there's the problem. It hasn't scaled in terms of community.

Example 1: The demise of Ubuntu Traffic; proliferation of random
newsletters.
Ubuntu Traffic just couldn't keep up with the growing number of posts,
or even the number of mailing lists. It was, for a while, the best
overview of the ubuntu-world, and did a very good job of it. In its
place, there have been a number of newsletters, each covering one small
area of Ubuntu. There's been 2 Ubuntu Doc Team newsletters (last issue
at the beginning of March); Ubuntu Desktop news (last issue Feb), and
just recently, a Kubuntu and Edubuntu newsletter have popped up on
ubuntu-news. By combining these resources, something regular could be
produced.

!!Late breaking news!!
From a post to ubuntu-docs:

Jerome Gotangco, Jonathan Riddell and myself [Matt Galvin] have started
up a weekly Ubuntu newsletter to consolidate our efforts and create a
one-stop article about each weeks events including developments and any
other news in and around the Ubuntu community. This is just a heads up
to the Doc Team and an invitation to anyone who would like to help out.
Check it out at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

Great minds etc.

Example 2: Mailing list problems.
The mailing lists are facing a number of problems. The main ubuntu-users
is just such heavy traffic, that it's impossible to keep up. The same
questions get asked over and over (especially: upgrading from Breezy to
Dapper); sometimes questions don't get answered. The developers list is
suffering a bad noise/signal ratio, with bug reports being filed there,
and telling people to report bugs elsewhere is adding to the noise.
There's been a rapid expansion of mailing lists, so that important
ideas/info/debate can easily be missed.

On the plus side here, the number of local community lists has grown and
is very much to be welcomed. Aside from letting people speak their own
language/s, it takes some of the pressure off the main ubuntu-users list.

Example 3: The Fridge.
The Fridge just doesn't have much news, and entries made irregularly.
Only three during May, 7 in April, and a poll that hasn't changed for
months. I feel it lacks focus, and also maintainers (the ubuntu-traffic
list is closed, so I don't know how many people are involved. The
entries made are from just two people: jdub and jorge.)

What the Fridge gets right: The meetings guide is really useful, and
keeping these scheduled events in our conciousness is really important.

Example 4: The Ubuntu Hardware Database.
The application menu for this seems to have disappeared with Dapper, and
the webpage itself is (still) interim, not giving out any stats and
digested information. Great idea, that gets people involved, without
drudgery, but really needs some love.
(Launchpad is buggy and user-unfriendly as well. I get the shakes every
time I try to report a bug; I would have filed many more if it wasn't so
daunting an experience.)

Solutions:
Just as free software projects leverages users to improve the code, so
can Ubuntu get its many users to improve its social life and
communications. At the moment, users can, unfortunately, impede the
process - by something as simple as posting to the wrong mailing list
(i.e. ubuntu-dev). But people don't deliberately do this, to impede; in
fact, it should be taken as a sign of wanting to be involved.

So I propose:
1: Sort the fridge. Open up the fridge mailing list. Get people
involved. It doesn't have to be a free-for-all; just a team taking and
sifting submissions.

2: Enhance the automatic feedback from installations. Pop-con, hardware
database, automated bug reports. Display this data: when people can see
what they're doing actually gets registered, they take it more seriously.

3: Revive Ubuntu Traffic / have one ubuntu newsletter. A regular
weekly bulletin is really important for keeping people up to speed with
what's going on. Debian can do it, so can we.
*Note: see above, this is already under way.

4: Introduce people to bug reporting, and make it easier and more
useful. Whilst the documentation for Ubuntu-the-linux-distro has come on
in leaps and bounds, the docs for Ubuntu-the-infrastructure need to be
written. Give instruction in how to use launchpad, rosetta etc, and
improve those apps.

5: Make it easier for people to drop in for a casual cup of tea.
Not everyone wants or is able to devote hours to Ubuntu. But they are
very much involved, simply by using Ubuntu, and do want to help out and
see bug #1 squashed.

Finally, just to say that I will be running an ubuntu-users-uk BOF at
Lug Radio Live, where I hope to try out some of these ideas and get
face-to-face feedback.

The floor is now open .....

John"

byen
June 2nd, 2006, 05:29 PM
The first thing that people refer to when they talk about Ubuntu is this forum. This forum was my only hope when I ran into trouble during my early days when I was just testing waters in the world of linux and to be honest... even today, it still remains to be my primary lifeline! I cannot possibly know if I would be using linux if not for this forum and its awesome members (Staff included) but I sure as hell would not be using Ubuntu.
No matter how dumb, silly or complicated my questions were... I knew there was one place they were/would be answered and that would be Ubuntuforums! So if asked how important these forums are to me as an Ubuntu user? I would say Very Very Important!

I vote CRITICAL!
~byen

ronmarley1
June 2nd, 2006, 05:36 PM
As a high school teacher in Ohio, I give the disks to my students and tell them to head her first, with the Wiki as a secondary resource. This is truly a learning community, as is the backbone of the Ubuntu distro!

ricnmar
June 2nd, 2006, 05:38 PM
The Ubuntu and the Kubuntu forums are AWESOME! It looks like nothing I have ever seen! The people who are regular posters are so helpful and friendly. It is possible to find help here, unlike some other forums, and the evironment is so favorable to people of every level of computing experience.

Keep up the GREAT work!!!

Thank you!!!!

ricnmar

lolocaust
June 2nd, 2006, 05:38 PM
Many people mention this forum as one of the plus points compared to other distros.

fuscia
June 2nd, 2006, 05:41 PM
i wouldn't be able to use linux without them.

tonyr
June 2nd, 2006, 05:46 PM
Secondly, and more importantly, the reliability of this poll is even more dubious than the reliability of other polls in this place. Ubuntu Forums is heavily stacked and trafficked by folks who find it valuable; those who don't tend not to spend much time here.

I agree (and as anecdotal evidence, I voted yes, too). Did anybody think
of trying the same thing on the ubuntu-users mailing list, if such a thing were
even possible, or any of the other channels? (with all due respect to azz's
earlier comments)

ubuntu_demon
June 2nd, 2006, 05:46 PM
also if the forums weren't there we couldn't have such important discussions as :

Cheese Lovers thread: list your favorite cheese with links & pics if you have
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=186569

:-P
:-P
totally joking ofcourse. Like I said before : I voted critical.

One of Ubuntu's greatest strengths is its community.

siorai
June 2nd, 2006, 05:49 PM
When I first tried to get into Linux, I had installed Suse. I found the forums at that time to be terrible and offered very little in the way of constructive help. Consequently I nuked Suse and reinstalled Windows. I think, no, actually I know that if the Ubuntu forums were anything like those old Suse forums, I wouldn't be running Linux as my OS at home. The people here are just so incredibly helpful that any problems I've run across are quickly solved and the whole experience of changing over to Linux is changed from being completely frustrating and aggravating to a slight annoyance from time to time.

cleentrax
June 2nd, 2006, 05:51 PM
Ubuntu's community makes it superior to all other distros. Fedora, or Suse might be as good as Ubuntu, with regard to the actual product on a disc, but I'll never know, because they didn't have the community in place to treat newbs with respect.

If it wasn't for these forums, I'd still be using Windows exclusively.

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 05:53 PM
So far its made it to digg.com already.. this is going to get interesting..

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Just_how_important_are_the_Ubuntu_Forums_to_Ubuntu _Linux_

xenmax
June 2nd, 2006, 05:56 PM
i guess 414/423 says it all!!
i voted critical btw.

thanks ubuntu-geek for these forums! i would probably not have stuck with ubuntu for long without this forum.

kassetra
June 2nd, 2006, 05:56 PM
I know everyone is asking "why" about this poll, and my response to that is that we wanted to get a feel for the thoughts of the community we serve. :)

aysiu
June 2nd, 2006, 05:57 PM
If these forums ever close, I'm using Mepis again.
I'm not kidding.

pedwards
June 2nd, 2006, 06:03 PM
i think that these forums are useless. they are only usefull for nubcakes who cant hakzor anything and want to try linux for the first, personally i think that you should have to take an intelegence test to make sure your not a retarded nubblet befor you are allowed to install linux.
oh and also they should do away with ubuntu desktop, colors and a mouse are for nubs who r dumb. bai

imhdd
June 2nd, 2006, 06:09 PM
I had given up on learning Linux about two years ago. Then I found Ubuntu and this FORUM. This forum has provided me with more understandable, practical information than I got from my several "Learning Linux" books. Now I'm at least 90% a Ubuntu user and will soon be 100% and rid of Windows forever.

Thanks to all who extend help to us noobs. I voted CRITICAL.

bluevoodoo1
June 2nd, 2006, 06:09 PM
i think that these forums are useless. they are only usefull for nubcakes who cant hakzor anything and want to try linux for the first, personally i think that you should have to take an intelegence test to make sure your not a retarded nubblet befor you are allowed to install linux.
oh and also they should do away with ubuntu desktop, colors and a mouse are for nubs who r dumb. bai

You mean intelligence?

tseliot
June 2nd, 2006, 06:11 PM
I know everyone is asking "why" about this poll, and my response to that is that we wanted to get a feel for the thoughts of the community we serve. :)
I was afraid that Mr. Shuttleworth wanted to kill the forums (but I could see no reason whatsoever for him to do such a thing).

Thanks for the explanation.

PPower
June 2nd, 2006, 06:13 PM
This is just as essencial as the cpu is in your pc. Apart from this there is only one more help channel and thats IRC without having to shell out to canonical. If they were not vital then the traffic wouldnt be this high.

prizrak
June 2nd, 2006, 06:20 PM
Those forums are extremely important, many users choose Ubuntu because of them. I'm actually quite spoiled by them nowadays, I expect the same from all other forums :)

Gtaylor
June 2nd, 2006, 06:22 PM
Although the early months were plagued with some serious differences of opinion amongst the community as to the role of these forums, I would agree that they are an absolutely critical part of the greater whole. This is why those past disagreements were so intense, there were arguments because people cared and thought it was important enough to spend time trying to communicate and argue their points.

But looking at things now, I see that things have worked themselves out and by all appearances look to be running well. Regardless of any past, present, or future problems, there must be Forums such as these for Ubuntu to thrive.

Rinzwind
June 2nd, 2006, 06:23 PM
We got more lifelines in case something goes wrong but this forum is THE lifeline.

Maybe not critical but it can't be too far off from it *voted critical*

tseliot
June 2nd, 2006, 06:23 PM
i think that these forums are useless. they are only usefull for nubcakes who cant hakzor anything and want to try linux for the first, personally i think that you should have to take an intelegence test to make sure your not a retarded nubblet befor you are allowed to install linux.
oh and also they should do away with ubuntu desktop, colors and a mouse are for nubs who r dumb. bai
Everybody is welcome here. Ubuntu is "for human beings".

Not being an expert is not a guilt. If you want to use Ubuntu you don't (necessarily) need to know what a kernel is and how to recompile it, etc. And if you need to know it we are here to answer and we'll try to make things as easy as possible for you to understand.

That's just my opinion though.

ubnoobie
June 2nd, 2006, 06:28 PM
absolutely vital.

the forums are the support lifeline for desktop users. a specific server area would be a worthwhile addition.

Frank Golden
June 2nd, 2006, 06:29 PM
Hi All,
You guys are great but I also lean heavilly on Scot Finnie's Everything Linux Forum
http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showforum=14

and even Computer Haven http://computerhaven.info/forum/ which is Windows oriented. This is a huge community with lots of knowledge.
Thanks

kolohan
June 2nd, 2006, 06:34 PM
I would never have been able to get everything on my Ubuntu box running correctly without these wonderful forums and all of you wonderful people.

Keep it up!

purrdeta
June 2nd, 2006, 06:36 PM
Looks like most everyone thinks they are vital. I agree. I enjoy reading them even though I dont post a ton.

costoa
June 2nd, 2006, 06:37 PM
Well it seems 96% of the voters agreed with me that it's critical which begs the question: how much is the Dapper rollout going to cost the forums? I have to imagine it could be a lot.

Now since the forums have a lot of money in reserves you should fine, right. =)

Moral of the story: the forums work for many since it's accessable, very up to date, mostly very solid info and watched closely by the admins for crap posts (BTW, thanks for that). IMO the SNR here is much better than most other places. (Ubuntuites) Please consider pitching in to help with the costs if you get something worthwhile out of it. I think next to Ubuntu's main site UF is the most important site for ubuntu infomation and the most important for self-service support.

Speaking of money, Amazon has a "fundraising" thing similar to their affiliate program except that it covers any purchase, not just the recommended one. The prices are the same, just the group gets a cut of a few points so long people start their shopping sessions with a clickthough. The NPR station WBUR (http://www.wbur.org/) (not an ad for them since they're already rolling in the green) is doing it with I think good success. Nothing like donating money and not even realizing it. BTW, while I haven't heard of any problems if anyone has heard of any please post.

frodon
June 2nd, 2006, 06:39 PM
Vital

i learn every day there and i solved all my issues thanks to this forum.

BWF89
June 2nd, 2006, 06:42 PM
Without these forums I'd probably use Fedora Core.

orev
June 2nd, 2006, 06:43 PM
muy importante

Princey
June 2nd, 2006, 06:47 PM
I don't want to repeat what's been said but the forum is absolutely vital to the smooth functioning and adoption of Ubuntu Linux and it's brothers (Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu). It's been a tremendous help to me and certainly one of the most critical reasons why Ubuntu has attracted so much attention. I can safely say that this forum is the best out there in the linux world. I'm not just saying so, I've scurried through numerous forums and none tops this. Even the outsiders rate this forum as #1. Keep up the good work folks.

GoalieCa
June 2nd, 2006, 06:48 PM
Let's put it this way, windows would suck without forums and people to help, same goes for mac and linux. This is a vital resource. Just check out the over 500 pages for dapper and the massive amount of new posts. I'd go back like 7 or 8 pages and it would still only be hours old.

az
June 2nd, 2006, 06:49 PM
I was afraid that Mr. Shuttleworth wanted to kill the forums



That's quite opposite from the truth by a long shot. I can dig up the quotes where he mentions the importance of the forums.

Zelut
June 2nd, 2006, 06:57 PM
When I first started out the forums solved the few issues I had and kept me going. This is one of the KEY differences vs other distros. It's always been so difficult to find support for previous installs of RH9/FC4, etc. Forums are integral!

zyiro
June 2nd, 2006, 06:57 PM
well i think the numbers on the poll speak for themselves quite well

grsing
June 2nd, 2006, 06:58 PM
Absolutely necessary. Without them, I would have quit after a day or two (if I even bothered trying); now, I've been running Ubuntu for almost a year.

mattheweast
June 2nd, 2006, 07:00 PM
Very important. I wouldn't go as far as "critical" so I have voted "not critical".

Note: a vote on the forums about the forums is likely to produce distorted results.

GreyFox503
June 2nd, 2006, 07:14 PM
Sorry, but this poll doesn't show anything. I did vote 'critical', but only because this poll about forums is on the forums.

Try going to an MLS game and polling the audience on whether soccer is the best sport or not.

dralaroc
June 2nd, 2006, 07:18 PM
For this first time linux user, these forums and those who contributed made my transition a pretty smooth one (looking back). Yeah, I had some initial headaches but the almighty search feature and the willingness of the numerous forum members to lend a hand to a noobie in distress has been awesome!

Melvil
June 2nd, 2006, 07:24 PM
A bit offtopic: Is there a way to disable that extra column where it shows stuff like "[general] Ubuntu 6.06". It really annoys me :(

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 07:25 PM
Very important. I wouldn't go as far as "critical" so I have voted "not critical".

Note: a vote on the forums about the forums is likely to produce distorted results.
It's been submited to the users mailing list and irc in #ubuntu. I want to conduct the best possible poll I can to get the data I need.

roger6106
June 2nd, 2006, 07:29 PM
A bit offtopic: Is there a way to disable that extra column where it shows stuff like "[general] Ubuntu 6.06". It really annoys me :(

I would like to know that too. I wish it just showed a little icon that is different for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 07:31 PM
A bit offtopic: Is there a way to disable that extra column where it shows stuff like "[general] Ubuntu 6.06". It really annoys me :(
Please post in the forum discussion area I don't want this to get off topic.

jimcooncat
June 2nd, 2006, 07:33 PM
I'm a convert from Gentoo, who was spoiled on the great documentation, forums, and community support they offered. I might go as far as to say that it was only those factors that allowed me to successfully install and maintain my Gentoo server.

I got tired of tweaking and wanted plain usability -- I mean I wanted to use the OS, not play with it anymore. So I looked around for another popular distro with outstanding community support. Fedora, nope. Slackware, nope. Debian, looked interesting but I couldn't figure how to install it. (And that was after doing several Gentoo installs with custom kernels!) I went on IRC for support and was called a stupid noob. So much for that -- I'd been using computers since CP/M. I just couldn't find the blasted FM in order to RTFM.

So I found Warty Warthog. The documentation wasn't that great, and neither was the wiki (remember, Gentoo spoiled me). But the forums caught me. Not so much the content, but the willingness of the posters to really help the new guy.

Now the docs are getting much better, and I've downloaded four versions of Dapper. Upgrading my four computers, and evangelizing to do more installs to any acquaintance that wants it. I've waited for the final release, and there seems to be some new stuff I'm not familiar with. So I'll be leaning on you folks again.

Thanks Ubuntu-geek and all the others that help others help themselves.

Harold P
June 2nd, 2006, 07:36 PM
lol @ the results. Dang. Without the forums I wouldn't be where I am today. :)

Kapre
June 2nd, 2006, 07:40 PM
Forum is very important. If the people in this forum is the same as the other distro's forum - Ubuntu wouldn't be this popular. Great help. Great people. Great Disto.

K

bonzodog
June 2nd, 2006, 07:44 PM
I would say absolutely vital, these forums have become a core source of help to new users.

arnieboy
June 2nd, 2006, 07:50 PM
Note: a vote on the forums about the forums is likely to produce distorted results.
and why is that? AFAIK, voters do not lose their user priviledges on the forums if they vote in the negative.

In fact, it will be distorted if published in some other place where many folks do not use the forum, do not know how it works or just do not care at best.

We want input from users who really use the forums and the best place for that would be the forum itself.

Lord Illidan
June 2nd, 2006, 07:54 PM
Absolutely critical. I love em, and without em, I wouldn't be using Ubuntu, nuff said.

jhorner
June 2nd, 2006, 07:58 PM
where I get all my Ubuntu information. Any problems and I can almost always find the answer here. A vital resource for me personally.

fxer
June 2nd, 2006, 08:03 PM
This is the definitive Ubuntu knowledge base, I come here before anywhere else.

fuscia
June 2nd, 2006, 08:04 PM
and why is that? AFAIK, voters do not lose their user priviledges on the forums if they vote in the negative.

In fact, it will be distorted if published in some other place where many folks do not use the forum, do not know how it works or just do not care at best.

We want input from users who really use the forums and the best place for that would be the forum itself.


i think the point was that if someone doesn't find it useful, they wouldn't be here any longer to vote.

Haegin
June 2nd, 2006, 08:05 PM
Ubuntu is a good distro on its own but the forums make it a great distro. The support and knowledge available on these forums are absolutely essential and no wiki will replace it (though it is very important to complement it with the wiki).
Without the forums I would probably have moved to another distro out of curiosity but the ubuntu forums have kept me here.

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 08:07 PM
i think the point was that if someone doesn't find it useful, they wouldn't be here any longer to vote.
So are you saying we would ban a user for voting agaisnt it? Thats thats plan stupid.

AndyCooll
June 2nd, 2006, 08:08 PM
I must add my vote to the "absolutely vital" camp.

I wouldn't describe myself as a techie but I've often said that I've learnt more about my computer in the last twelve months than I'd learnt with years of using M$ OS's. And large chunk of that learning has come through the help, advice and HOWTO's on these forums, and the people who participate in them.

:cool:

aysiu
June 2nd, 2006, 08:10 PM
So are you saying we would ban a user for voting agaisnt it? Thats thats plan stupid. No. I think Fuscia's saying that the user herself would just leave and not come back instead of staying around just to vote "it's not vital."

I think the real question, though, is whether it's vital or not, not useful or not.
People can think the forums are useful and use them--that doesn't mean they have to think the forums are vital.

arnieboy
June 2nd, 2006, 08:11 PM
i think the point was that if someone doesn't find it useful, they wouldn't be here any longer to vote.

I would not worry too much about that. We as a forum are important and big enough (possibly the biggest of all linux forums, I do not believe the linspire forum numbers) for everyone to know within a considerably short span of time that a poll of this kind is running.

They are then welcome to come and vote here if they sincerely feel that they found the forums non-critical to the success of Ubuntu.

We do not have the time and resources to go knocking on every door for an opinion or a vote.

infoseeker
June 2nd, 2006, 08:14 PM
Where I live there aren't many people who can help me out, therefore these forums are critical, and I would not be where I am with Linux if it wasn't for these forums.

Polygon
June 2nd, 2006, 08:16 PM
do you even need to ask that! i came here as a complete linux newbie and with a combinations of stickies showing me links how to use terminal, what programs are equivalent to their windows versions, and how to solve the numerous problems i have. these forums are CRITICAL hands down. i would not of survived if it was not for these forums!!

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 08:20 PM
No. I think Fuscia's saying that the user herself would just leave and not come back instead of staying around just to vote "it's not vital."

I think the real question, though, is whether it's vital or not, not useful or not.
People can think the forums are useful and use them--that doesn't mean they have to think the forums are vital.
Gotch.. sorry fuscia :)

RavenOfOdin
June 2nd, 2006, 08:21 PM
I think they perform a very good service.

Irony
June 2nd, 2006, 08:22 PM
Ubuntu's a great distro, for me its the best distro - what puts it above every other distro is the forums.

r4ik
June 2nd, 2006, 08:24 PM
To answer the question the forums are vital to Ubuntu.
Period.

bobpur
June 2nd, 2006, 08:24 PM
I read through the forums long before I ever installed Hoary into a computer. Without the forums, I would've palmed the Distro off on someone else and stayed with Windows.
I think the forums are the reason a lot of people convert. Especially to those that tried other distros "by themselves." The task doesn't seem as daunting when you look around and see the help that's available.

tribaal
June 2nd, 2006, 08:30 PM
The kind of help one can find in theses forums is vital for any linux user.

Yes, that means I believe the forums are more important that the distro itself.
Granted, this kind of gathering wouldn't exist without the distro... but it could exist with another one (like the gentoo forums for example).

Great, great job everybody. You all make my day, every day. :)

- trib'

fuscia
June 2nd, 2006, 08:38 PM
No. I think Fuscia's saying that the user herself would just leave and not come back instead of staying around just to vote "it's not vital."

exactly! no one is going to say "this forum sucks. i'm leaving, but do notify me when the vote comes around."

jeremy
June 2nd, 2006, 08:40 PM
I don't know how far I would have got without these forums, I was the 58th person to register, in October (I think) 2004. And had just, having flirted with various flavours of Linux previously, taken the plunge. I used Mandrake for a bit, tried redhat, suse, and a couple more, and was impressed by all of them but never quite content.

I then stumbled across the warty beta, and tried that, got further with it than any other distro I had tried, but still had a couple of problems. These forums were then started (phpbb it was), and I registered, posted, and got answers to my queries. I soon felt confident enough to ditch that darn windows thing.
I have used Ubuntu, then Kubuntu, ever since; upgrading every six months, and my experience has been not far from perfect.

I am certain that without these forums, I wouldn't have been able to migrate my small business to Linux.

warpforge
June 2nd, 2006, 08:42 PM
Methinks the sample for the survey is a bit biased.

dakine
June 2nd, 2006, 08:43 PM
I know it has been said before, but I had to put my two cents in...This forum is the reason I use Ubuntu as a desktop and as my MythTV box. Without the community support and general willingness to help this distro would be like a million others.

Anyway keep up the good work and Mahalo Nui Loa,

Dakine

K.Mandla
June 2nd, 2006, 08:53 PM
I think it's safe to say that if it were not for this forum, I would still be trapped in Windows.

Cheers, and thanks.

Rikostan
June 2nd, 2006, 09:03 PM
i think that these forums are useless. they are only usefull for nubcakes who cant hakzor anything and want to try linux for the first, personally i think that you should have to take an intelegence test to make sure your not a retarded nubblet befor you are allowed to install linux.
oh and also they should do away with ubuntu desktop, colors and a mouse are for nubs who r dumb. bai

AHAHAHA and the irony award of the year goes to....

KiwiNZ
June 2nd, 2006, 09:04 PM
I have ben here from the begining.The incredible growth rate of this forum answers the question.
I beleive that if not for the forum we would not have Dapper .Ubuntu light would have extinguished with Hoary

harisund
June 2nd, 2006, 09:07 PM
Are you insane, to even think of this question?

Forgive me for sounding rude, but really, these forums have been the life and blood of Ubuntu. Inspite of 99% of 'things' working right out of the box, knowing that you have users around the world who are willing to help you out is really something amazing and comforting.

dragonflyFZX
June 2nd, 2006, 09:13 PM
everybody would agree that the ubuntu community is what makes ubuntu the top distro these days. And this formum is the community, so why do you ask?

adam.tropics
June 2nd, 2006, 09:14 PM
Surely the stats on the forums home page speak for themselves? So whether the survey is valid or not, we have the numbers. Personaly I view the forums and Ubuntu as both being part of the product, and reliant on each other.

BobSongs
June 2nd, 2006, 09:14 PM
Well; less than 3% feel these forums aren't critical. Who needs to really keep filling this thread? The stats speak for themselves.

:)

KarmaKing
June 2nd, 2006, 09:19 PM
it was this forum that made me make Ubuntu as my first Linux and I love it so much I am not sure I need another...or want to try.

Ubuntu community is the best thing going for Ubuntu. Without the help of the good hearted people here I would have struggled and may have frustratingly given up.

p.s. if this is a poll to get a guage as to who will be willing to pay for the forums I would be greatly disappointed.

openmind
June 2nd, 2006, 09:29 PM
Many of the reviews for Ubuntu mention the outstanding and helpful community, if the tech press think we're a vital part of The Ubuntu Experience who are we to argue?

Skye
June 2nd, 2006, 09:34 PM
These forums are essential, ciritcal, vital, and crucial, as well as important, informative, and enjoyable.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 10 times where I needed help and couldn't find it anywhere else, and these forums have come through for me every time I've needed them. Not only that, but everyone here on these forums are, as a whole, dedicated not only to the Ubuntu project, but to the spirit in which Ubuntu was created- the spirit of helping others and treating everyone as an equal.

There's no question in my mind that without these forums, not only would I still be using windows, (or another linux that's not ubuntu,) but so would the many, many, many other people who have found answers to their questions here. Ubuntu's reputation relies on ease of use and friendliness to the user, and without the forums, this reputation would not be nearly as good as it is now.

user1397
June 2nd, 2006, 09:36 PM
Definitely critical to the life of Ububtu. I've got to say that i would've never switched to ubuntu, no, not even to linux, if it wasn't for these forums. The people are always helpful and somehow exaggeratingly patient. Just think about aysiu or azz or sef or any of the other kind minds that are always willing to help, not for money, not for anything but pure enjoyment of helping others. This is the spirit of ubuntu, and i'm very glad to be part of it.

And people are so friendly here too! There's almost no talk of "Wow you're the biggest noob ever! Why don't you just give up linux and go back to windows!" sorta-comments that exist in some other distro's forums.

az
June 2nd, 2006, 09:37 PM
I have ben here from the begining.The incredible growth rate of this forum answers the question.
I beleive that if not for the forum we would not have Dapper .Ubuntu light would have extinguished with Hoary
I really doubt that.

I think it's the other way around. It is inconceivable to not have a forum. There are just too many users who will want to get together. I don't think you would be able to create and distribute Ubuntu and *prevent* a forum from happening.

Has the presence and the quality of service from this forum increased ubuntu's marketshare? Absolutely.

Is ubuntu's marketshare dependant on the forums. No. For starters, these forums only support english speakers and some of the greatest uptake of free-libre software is in non-english speaking counties (Brazil, India, China, ...)

I won't go into the list of why I dissagree with you, for sake of not appearing to bash the forums. They are what they are, and they are great, but they are not the single most important reason why Ubuntu is great. If that's what is implied by the positive answer on the poll, then I will have to change my answer.

xtacocorex
June 2nd, 2006, 09:37 PM
I voted earlier, but am finally able to respond.

Not only are forums a place to ask questions, but a place to interact with other users.

I've said this before in another thread, but I trust most of the people here with the help they provide and I'm sure they do the same for the help I provide. I think the forums are a great place for help, even though some of my questions aren't answered, but that's because I'm too technical of a person and ask insanely difficult questions.

It's amazing to see how many people respond so a new users questions. I've seen many posts to a thread with the classic 'I wasn't fast enough' response edited after the user submits a reply. The fact that a lot of people want to help a single user is awesome.

I will say that I would probably still use Ubuntu even if I hadn't found the forums.

[begin bad metaphor]
The community makes this distro and if you take it's main portal away, you've lost the keystone holding up the arch.
[/end bad metaphor]

learning
June 2nd, 2006, 09:40 PM
The forums did it for me! I started using open office a couple months ago to try to get away from MS, and was planning on purchasing a Mac. Through OOo I stumbled into linux and eventually wound up here.

I reviewed several forums, and this one seemed the friendliest and most willing to help new people without making them feel stupid.

That is why I chose Ubuntu, and have since made it my main OS at home and at work.

Of course, my response assumes you want new users around here...

kassetra
June 2nd, 2006, 09:44 PM
If that's what is implied by the positive answer on the poll, then I will have to change my answer.
The question is simply how important are the forums to Ubuntu, not, "are the forums the single most important reason why ubuntu is great."

Other people may *feel* that way, but that is not what the poll is asking, at all.

RudolfMDLT
June 2nd, 2006, 09:44 PM
This forum is whats keeps people with Ubuntu. Hundreds of new users would have been discouraged and would have returned to where they came from: the operating systems that they knew well, OS X or Windows rather than keep on learning how to use Ubuntu. If you are in any doubt about how vital this forum is, take some time and hang around the newbie section! You will pick up phrases like "Thank you....I was about to give up...". Coming form a MS environment, Ubuntu was very new and very frustrating; having people who have already been where you are now, talk you through a problem, not because there paid to do so, but because they actually care is what makes a "community" and what Ubuntu really popular! Without this personal touch Ubuntu would not be "Linux for Human beings". This forum is vital.

xtacocorex says it the best - And it's a great metaphor!:)



[begin bad metaphor]
The community makes this distro and if you take it's main portal away, you've lost the keystone holding up the arch.
[/end bad metaphor]

isaacf
June 2nd, 2006, 09:46 PM
These are the best support forums I've seen. I even use the Howtos and distroinspecific stuff when I have problems with other distributions.

RudolfMDLT
June 2nd, 2006, 09:46 PM
The question is simply how important are the forums to Ubuntu.


Very important! Very Very Important!

user1397
June 2nd, 2006, 09:47 PM
That is why I chose Ubuntu, and have since made it my main OS at home and at work. Not trying to bash ubuntu or anything, but how exactly do you find ubuntu sufficient with your work needs. I mean, if your job only requires office applications, you're good with ubuntu (well, OOo really), although format errors when opening a document in windows that was written with OOo, or vice versa, can be really annoying sometimes. But what about for windows-native applications? Sure you can use wine or cedega or crossover office, but they have a high probability of not working and you have to pay money for cedega/crossover office, thereby destroying the free-libre philosophy behind ubuntu. So what's your case, is OOo good enough, or do you run wine or something else for windows native apps?

az
June 2nd, 2006, 09:53 PM
The question is simply how important are the forums to Ubuntu, not, "are the forums the single most important reason why ubuntu is great."

Other people may *feel* that way, but that is not what the poll is asking, at all.
So critical means "very very important". Great. That's what I though.

I just suddenly thought "critical" was meant in the same sense of "life-support" or "oxygen". I don't agree with that and thought my vote could be misinterpreted.

nemesa
June 2nd, 2006, 09:55 PM
It's the heart of Ubuntu.

learning
June 2nd, 2006, 10:00 PM
Erik1397 asked: So what's your case, is OOo good enough, or do you run wine or something else for windows native apps?


OOo handles all my word processing needs, which takes care of 99% of my job. I use Evolution in place of outlook.

I haven't had too many formatting problems when I use my old .docs
I did get some weird output once opening up a .doc that had been edit with the comment feature thing though.

user1397
June 2nd, 2006, 10:02 PM
OOo handles all my word processing needs, which takes care of 99% of my job. I use Evolution in place of outlook.

I haven't had too many formatting problems when I use my old .docs
I did get some weird output once opening up a .doc that had been edit with the comment feature thing though.oh ok, well that makes sense. sometimes people want to switch to ubuntu really bad, but they don't understand that their job-dependent apps don't work someimes in linux!!!

curuxz
June 2nd, 2006, 10:04 PM
Linux is its community, ubuntu is linux and its the community of ubuntu that makes it, IMHO, the best linux distro out there. You cant have a distro without a community since we take the place of the tech support, marketing and testing teams in almost all matters. If something happens with ubuntu you can bet your *** it happens here or at least is discussed here. Without the forums ubuntu would die as would any other community driven peice of software if its main lines of communication were cut.

I stand by my first post...just wanted to expand a bit. These forums are vital to the sucess of Ubuntu, even Shuttleworth said so him self that he is amazed the speed and proffesionalism of the Ubuntu community.

learning
June 2nd, 2006, 10:06 PM
I can understand that. My job doesn't rely on much other than word processing and being able to access some internet sources though.

I started my father on OOo last week. Going to convert his office to Ubuntu once he is comfortable with it. MS was just getting too expensive. Have to have Windows, Antivirus, Antispyware, Office, buy a plug in to create pdfs. All just to type some documents and get on the net? Not to mention the possible security problems inherent with Windows. And don't get me started on the EULAs.

psychicdragon
June 2nd, 2006, 10:09 PM
I wouldn't go as far as to call the forums critical, but they are important.

For users who've never used IRC or mailing lists before (a lot), the forums are the only place to look for support.

dotdot
June 2nd, 2006, 10:11 PM
I can understand peoples concerns about slowness etc.
... I can also understand people who can't do without it.

I fall into the latter box simply because without people to talk
to about getting this and that working......
well folks here can help you.
(i dont care how slow etc..)


Isn't that the whole point of trying something new .. people ?

never mind the adverts heres the internet :) - you can't get a bigger advert for ubuntu ...

..cheers

..

adam.tropics
June 2nd, 2006, 10:14 PM
Interesting slightly ot side note is that in the last week or so (last time I checked) we have overtaken Gentoo in registered forum users! Like I said, I think the stats speak loudly enough!

RAV TUX
June 2nd, 2006, 10:17 PM
I'm just curious as to what other people think... Thats all I can say right now..

Edit: This poll is open to registered and unregistered users.

Edit: This has been posted to the Ubuntu-Users mailing list the post is here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2006-June/080402.html

Edit: This has been mentioned in the #ubuntu irc channel a few times.

The ubuntu forums ARE the essence and actualization of Ubuntu.

without the Ubuntu forum, Ubuntu would just be another Linux distro.

nickle
June 2nd, 2006, 10:21 PM
It is the only reason I use Ubuntu instead of other distros...

vertigo
June 2nd, 2006, 10:21 PM
Theses forums are vital, they are the life blood of Ubuntu, and without them I would probably still be another faceless windows user. This forum has helped me so much in over comming the obstacles that I had when I tried other distros.

kassetra
June 2nd, 2006, 10:23 PM
I just suddenly thought "critical" was meant in the same sense of "life-support" or "oxygen".

You and your high fallutin' medical-like thinking.
We don't need no stinkin' oxygen!
:p:p:p

KiwiNZ
June 2nd, 2006, 10:30 PM
I really doubt that.



You may doubt it , but I believe it. With out this forum so many users would not have recieved the support they needed.
Not just the registered members but the untold numbers of guests who have found the answers.
Where else does Ubuntu offer this level of service? And dont say the IRC :rolleyes:

detyabozhye
June 2nd, 2006, 10:39 PM
I learned like 90% of all I know about Linux, GNU, whatever here.

houseshadow
June 2nd, 2006, 10:44 PM
Absolutely critical. No question about it. I suspect I would not still be using Ubuntu if it weren't for these forums.

timeoff
June 2nd, 2006, 10:44 PM
Just out of curiosity and not being awkward but...... what is the point of this poll? Is it going to be used as evidence for something, or is it just an exercise in mutual backslapping? :)

T

yager
June 2nd, 2006, 10:48 PM
I love this forum. I found Ubuntu after reading an article on building a low cost PC. Never built the PC but did do some research on Ubuntu. I found the forum and was impressed by the spirit I found. I thought the spirit expressed at the main Ubuntu site was all just a bunch of squishy corporate talk until I looked at how everyone here treated each other. I was in and wanted to try out this Ubuntu thing.

I came here with my first questions and was so floored by the quality and tone of the answer that I received, I just had to give back to the community.

I love this place so much it is my home page on Ubuntu.

chrismyers
June 2nd, 2006, 10:55 PM
I have the Ubuntu forums as my home page. I've never seen such a friendly bunch on any other forums.

I've even seen someone happily respond to a Windows question on these forums! It's just a great community.

user1397
June 2nd, 2006, 10:58 PM
For starters, these forums only support english speakers and some of the greatest uptake of free-libre software is in non-english speaking counties (Brazil, India, China, ...)this is not entirely accurate. Yes of course you'll get the most help in the english-speaking forums, since (and i'm guessing here) most people that go to web forums are english-speaking. (don't bash on me for this! it is just an opinion; english is not even my first language!!!) But there are non-english-speaking forums. Just take a look at this: http://www.ubuntu.com/community/forums

23meg
June 2nd, 2006, 11:02 PM
Never has a forum site been so critical for a distro. It just has to be accepted that this place is the central hub for everything related to Ubuntu for most users; more so than the rest of Ubuntu's internet presence.

RudolfMDLT
June 2nd, 2006, 11:07 PM
Is the forum THAT vital? Well, lets pull the plug for a day or two and see what happens!? You would get some serious answers to you poll!;)

Oceola
June 2nd, 2006, 11:08 PM
Not having these forums would make Ubuntu fairly ineffective since it's the help which comes from them and the visible community which makes Ubuntu a success.
Just reading has helped me on occasion and even if some of the answers have been more like a "Bum's Rush" there were others which were without arrogance or effitism. I hear folks say all sorts of things about Ubuntu Linux but none have shown me anything better at this point with the same sense of community.

ubuntu-geek
June 2nd, 2006, 11:08 PM
Just out of curiosity and not being awkward but...... what is the point of this poll? Is it going to be used as evidence for something, or is it just an exercise in mutual backslapping? :)

T
It has a purpose :)

matthew
June 2nd, 2006, 11:16 PM
If these forums ever close, I'm using Mepis again.
I'm not kidding.I would probably go to either Debian (because of my familiarity with the system) or Gentoo (because of the quality of their forums).

henriquemaia
June 2nd, 2006, 11:17 PM
Never has a forum site been so critical for a distro. It just has to be accepted that this place is the central hub for everything related to Ubuntu for most users; more so than the rest of Ubuntu's internet presence.

I agree. I have severall years of experience with Linux and almost none with distro forums. This was the first one were I really came across with a genuine community feeling. This really makes lots of difference on what Ubuntu is.

fog
June 2nd, 2006, 11:17 PM
It 's "THE place" for every ubuntu user

fuscia
June 2nd, 2006, 11:19 PM
if these forums ever close, i'll be ****ed!

jwh400
June 2nd, 2006, 11:20 PM
This forum has saved the day for me on more than one occasion. I installed Ubuntu with only a little experience with Linux (Vector) but Ubuntu is really as easy for me as Windows XP or 2000 in terms of usability. As far as problem solving it isn't any more difficult than Window's, just the methods are different and require learning. It was here that I learned about the issues that exist with Nvidia's graphic cards and the solutions. It was here that I was able to learn more about installing Ubuntu on an AMD Athlon 64 computer. I think this site is so critical that a link should be provided in the Ubuntu user's manual.
:)

Denim
June 2nd, 2006, 11:22 PM
I began my Ubuntu experience without knowing about this forum, but found it on day 2. This forum sets Ubuntu apart from every other distro out there. I don't know any of you, and I still love you! :D

n0ah420
June 2nd, 2006, 11:22 PM
Without these forums Ubuntu ceases to be Ubuntu and becomes just another distro...plus I would be sitting next to a burning heap that used to be called a laptop while I hand wrote this response and snail-mailed it to "the ether".

cka
June 2nd, 2006, 11:24 PM
I don't know about critical, but they're definitely beneficial. It's practically a one-stop-shop for any problems/issues/suggestions you might have regarding an Ubuntu installation, without wading through thousands of google hits of poorly-navigated mailing list posts or crappy angelfire pages.

For example, if I were to install Ubuntu on a laptop with a Intel 915GM video chip, and I wanted to get XGL working on it, it's little more than a visit to the forums and dropping "XGL 915GM INSTALL" into the search box instead of googling it and following a whole lot of dead-ended wiki pages, mailing lists, and other forum posts made by people having the exact same issues as you.

And that's why I think these forums are beneficial to the Ubuntu experience.

EDIT: Plus that whole "human" thing kind of works when you've got a central discussion hub where people can give you help and advice instead of reading some random guys "HOWTO" page.

greghill
June 2nd, 2006, 11:27 PM
These forums are absolutely vital to those who need answers (i.e. help) with Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular. If it weren't for the help provided here, I probably would have given up....(did I say that out loud?):D

benplaut
June 2nd, 2006, 11:30 PM
the forums are the only reason i still use ubuntu

jimbo2150
June 2nd, 2006, 11:30 PM
Absolutely vital. This provides the community with a way to communicate and generally chat about Ubuntu, provides community-user support for those not in the know, and provides developers with another communication channel.
Ubuntu Forums are awsome, please keep!

matthew
June 2nd, 2006, 11:34 PM
Definitely critical to the life of Ubuntu. I've got to say that i would've never switched to ubuntu, no, not even to linux, if it wasn't for these forums. The people are always helpful and somehow exaggeratingly patient. Just think about aysiu or azz or sef or any of the other kind minds that are always willing to help, not for money, not for anything but pure enjoyment of helping others. This is the spirit of ubuntu, and i'm very glad to be part of it.

And people are so friendly here too! There's almost no talk of "Wow you're the biggest noob ever! Why don't you just give up linux and go back to windows!" sorta-comments that exist in some other distro's forums.There is a sense of welcome and community present in these forums that is absent from just about every other tech-support location I have seen on the net...and I'm no newcomer. I had my first Unix vax account in 1987, my first internet/email account in 1994 and I've been active in newsgroups, mailing-lists and other web forums over the years. The family-like atmosphere found here is truly unique as is the patient and kind manner of dealing with newcomers who ask questions that have been asked a hundred times previously. I can't recall ever ONCE hearing/seeing a reply like "Read the FAQ, n00b!" or "RTFM" that was tolerated here. That alone makes this place worth having and I believe is a (the?) major reason for the success of Ubuntu so far (that and the great work being done by the development team, etc...I'm certainly not trying to discount that, but other distros have excellent teams as well and haven't seen the response that Ubuntu has had...well, Mark's personality makes a huge difference as well.)


I really doubt that.

I think it's the other way around. It is inconceivable to not have a forum. There are just too many users who will want to get together. I don't think you would be able to create and distribute Ubuntu and *prevent* a forum from happening.I believe that is directly attributable to Mark's personality and the philosophy behind this distro. There are other distros out there with great technological minds and fabulous documentation, but they have little to no forum-type community (i.e. Debian) or are often a little impatient with or too difficult for the newcomer (i.e. Gentoo). I think it's inconcievable for Ubuntu to exist without a community, but this really becomes a chicken-and-the-egg question for me. Did these forums help create, or at a minimum contribute greatly to the propagation of the Ubuntu philosophy and popularity or are they merely a reflection of those things? Honestly, I think it's a little of both.


I agree. I have several years of experience with Linux and almost none with distro forums. This was the first one were I really came across with a genuine community feeling. This really makes lots of difference on what Ubuntu is.Precisely what I think...I like how you said it and thought it should be repeated.

codepoetmc
June 2nd, 2006, 11:35 PM
The ability to at least be pointed in the right direction via the forums when a problem occurs is priceless (literally and figuratively). All though I do occasionally run into issues with finding a valid post when searching. A wiki is cooler in that respect, but moving all of this existing knowledge to that format would be daunting.

az
June 2nd, 2006, 11:36 PM
You may doubt it , but I believe it. With out this forum so many users would not have recieved the support they needed.
Not just the registered members but the untold numbers of guests who have found the answers.
Where else does Ubuntu offer this level of service? And dont say the IRC :rolleyes:

Yes, but untold numbers of people have also gotten help from the official documentation, the wiki, third-party sources, not to mention the mailing lists.

There's a lot that goes on here on the forums, but there is a whole lot more that happens elsewhere, too. You should subscribe to a few of the mailling lists, like ubuntu-doc or the sounder to gain a better perspective. (maybe you do but never post).

Now don't get me wrong. A few releases ago, the forums probably did not account for a great number of bugs filed. Now, every day, I see more and more people talking about their bugs, and helping others file their bugs.

It would be interesting to see some numbers of what percentage of bugs filed are due to the forums's help. That number does not exist, since people do not authentificate in the same way on both sites. I think the number would be pretty high, but I doubt it would come close to being the majority of bugs filed, for example.

But I don't have any numbers to back this up, of course, this is just my guesstimation based on then number of development-specific topics versus user-specific topics I see on the forums.

brallan
June 2nd, 2006, 11:37 PM
the forums are amazing. If the question is what can we change, I wouldn't change a thing. Its an amazing success...

But we should learn from failure as well. the ubuntu wiki is hardly very useful or frequented or well-linked and we should recognize that fact. Its software sucks. We need to get the software that wikipedia uses. We should also open it up so anyone (or at least any forum member) can post without having it be seperate from the wikiforums. Lets learn from their success.

A good wiki would be even MORE useful than ubuntuforums.

az
June 2nd, 2006, 11:47 PM
But we should learn from failure as well. the ubuntu wiki is hardly very useful or frequented or well-linked and we should recognize that fact. Its software sucks. We need to get the software that wikipedia uses. We should also open it up so anyone (or at least any forum member) can post without having it be seperate from the wikiforums. Lets learn from their success.
.

You should look into the docteam's unified documentation project. That would be their issue to tackle, and not the forums'.

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/better-wiki-docs



A good wiki would be even MORE useful than ubuntuforums.

So the forums serve no purpose for discussion and community-building?

therunnyman
June 2nd, 2006, 11:47 PM
The reason I use Ubuntu is the community, and the community tends to congregate here. I'll therefore vote critical, even though Dapper AMB (I'm sure it'll be fine in a couple weeks).

therunnyman

Sgood1971
June 2nd, 2006, 11:47 PM
These forums are in the top 3 of my list of 12 gazillion reasons I love Ubuntu.

de4th
June 2nd, 2006, 11:55 PM
Best support forums! Very important from ubuntu!

ubuntu r0ckz

hyg53
June 2nd, 2006, 11:58 PM
I would have liked to say it's not critical, but I have to admit I couldn't have managed to do my computer to work without such a forum

cjm5229
June 3rd, 2006, 12:00 AM
Without these forums I'd have given up and gone back to Windows a long tme ago, I have the Forums as my homepage. Three of the four computers in the house are now Linux only, simply because I have learned enough from these forums to be able to set them up so everyone in the house can use them.

KingBahamut
June 3rd, 2006, 12:12 AM
I stand as testimonial. The UDSF (http://doc.gwos.org) and the UGA (http://gaming.gows.org) could not have been possible without the Ubuntu forums. These forums are the life blood of the Ubuntu Community.

Biltong (Dee)
June 3rd, 2006, 12:19 AM
Yes, this poll is biased because the people who don't think the forum is important are elsewhere on the internet.
Having said that (and agreed with others, all of whom have noted this earlier in the thread) there is no harm in mutual back-slapping!

To me the forum is vital. We have all been there - staring at the screen and grinding our teeth and wondering what in the HELL we did wrong?...

Help is found quickly here, and in this fast-paced world quick is good.

hermesrules
June 3rd, 2006, 12:28 AM
The forums are one of Ubuntu's greatest treasures. They are an indispensable source of learning for users like me (linux hobbyists), and I found myself quickly addicted to them once I started posting. Now I check them everyday in search for something new and interesting that I can try myself.

However, this poll needs more options!!! Who can define what "critical" means? I personally think they are not "critical", but they are expressive of the Ubuntu philosophy and perhaps contribute a great deal to Ubuntu's popularity. On the other hand, I think "critical" is closer to how I view these forums than "not critical" so hence my choice.

joshrobinson
June 3rd, 2006, 12:30 AM
these forums are a must have, i feel good helping people, and when i need help people are there to fix my problems

paritybit
June 3rd, 2006, 01:07 AM
Does it just seem silly to me asking the users of this forum whether it is vial to them... Chances are if it isn't they wouldn't be here....

23meg
June 3rd, 2006, 01:10 AM
Does it just seem silly to me asking the users of this forum whether it is vial to them... Chances are if it isn't they wouldn't be here....
I suggest you read the question again.

mhancoc7
June 3rd, 2006, 01:11 AM
Absolutely CRITICAL!!!

I am not sure if I would have stuck with it if it were not for the wonderful support of this forum.

Thanks to all, Jereme

Rhapsody
June 3rd, 2006, 01:18 AM
Absolutely crucial. I would've quit by now if not for these forums. The uptime leaves something to be desired, but that just speaks to the growing popularity of Ubuntu. I'll probably be needing these more than ever once I attempt to upgrade to Dapper Drake. It should be painless, but I've had that thought a lot. Usually just before running into a brand-new problem...

jnuts
June 3rd, 2006, 01:20 AM
I don't post much - but I am often here to search on questions or to find solutions to problems.

These forums have made the Ubuntu experience *MUCH* easier.

It would be painful to not have them.

linkunderscore
June 3rd, 2006, 02:25 AM
Let's just say, if it wasn't for these forums I wouldn't be using linux right now. Thanks to these forums I have been able to do anything and everything I ever wanted to do with a computer. These forums taught me more than any man-pages would have.

Landslide
June 3rd, 2006, 02:30 AM
I voted non-critical, because I have never found any solutions to any of my problems here. I am the minority of course, but I must vote according to my experience.

oskvaz
June 3rd, 2006, 03:06 AM
I voted critical. These forums are my main source of help about Linux and Ubuntu.
Thanks guys!!!

JMO707
June 3rd, 2006, 03:09 AM
For god's sake...

This are one of the most respectful forums that I've been. They are ESSENTIAL. You should always have copies of the database, and even it would be great an integration between this and Ubuntu. I dont know, a glowing button in some place that inmediatly looks for answers here.

Definitely critical.

BoneKracker
June 3rd, 2006, 03:24 AM
This is like asking the wine drinkers whether it's critical to have wine at the Holiday party. What about the beer drinkers? Most forum vists are repeat visitors likely to choose "critical" over "not critical". So this "survey" can really serve only as a petition.

That said, personally I believe the web forums provide a good balance of structure, persistence, dyamics, and integration that other alternative support mechanisms lack. I find them critical to my experience with Ubuntu.

We could improve the degree of integration with the Wiki, the documentation pages, and the IRC channels. That integration would probably be best handled in a portal-like fashion. Also, there should be more structure to enable/encourage widespread participation in knowledge capture (evolving the useful bits from posts to stickies to How-To's to documentation).

garba
June 3rd, 2006, 03:38 AM
I hope you guys at canonical take a few minutes to read through these posts and realize what a community you managed to gather around this distro, congratulations

CyberCam
June 3rd, 2006, 03:38 AM
I say "critical". I get better support here for Ubuntu than I do from my giant employer's support system for Windows, and that's one of the reasons I use it.

However, this "survey" is flawed in its approach. It's really nothing more than a petition. The idea of a survey is to be able to present some kind of statistical result. The methodology here is akin to trying to find out whether wine tastes good by by ONLY ASKING WINE DRINKERS. What about the beer drinkers?

The vast majority of visits to the form are repeat visits, and that group of people are highly likely to say it's critical, when given only one other choice (not critical).

There are probably lots of people who are actively involved in, say, the IRC channels who wouldn't feel that the web forums are necessarily "critical".

Personally, I believe the web forums provide a more structured and persistant environment, and can be easily integratated with other web-based resources (like the Wiki, documentation pages, bug tracker, etc.). The persistence is what makes it valuable -- other people can later search and find what's been said once and reuse it.

While I know there is a structured effort to capture those elements that should be truly persistent (like the stuff that ends up in "sticky's" and get it into the documentation, I think that effort needs to be more broadly instituted or automatic, or else the documentation will remain lagging in time, inadequate in specifics, incomplete in coverage, and largely overlooked.

I say dito to what BoneKracker has written... you've taken the words right out of my mouth!

aysiu
June 3rd, 2006, 03:41 AM
I don't think the survey results are biased for a couple of reasons.

1. It doesn't matter if non-forum users find the forums vital or not (unlike the wine/beer comparison).

2. The survey doesn't ask if you find the forums useful (obviously, anyone who's hanging out in the Ubuntu Cafe of these forums will probably find the forum useful)--it asks if the forums are vital.

You can find something useful but not vital. I, for example, find the Wiki useful. Sometimes I link to it to help people. If the Wiki disappeared, I really wouldn't care. I don't think the Wiki is vital to Ubuntu. It's helpful. It's useful. The forums, however, are vital to Ubuntu's health and growth. Many users would leave Ubuntu if the forums disappeared. I know I would.

BoneKracker
June 3rd, 2006, 04:09 AM
I don't think the survey results are biased for a couple of reasons.
1. It doesn't matter if non-forum users find the forums vital or not (unlike the wine/beer comparison).


First of all I agree they are critical.

But you are missing my point. The unstated here is that we live in a world of limited resources. We can find anything we want useful, but we need to concentrate resources on what is MOST useful. The question of whether there's wine or not at the party means that money can be used for something more people want than wine (like soft drinks, say, or more beer, or vodka). And the semantic implication of the word "critical" is, "must we have it, or not". And the post said this has been discussed in the IRC channels.

So it becomes a question of preferences. Now, before you jump to conclusions -- when I refer to "resources" in the context of support mechanisms, I'm NOT talking about money, or hardware, or Canonical labor. These are community support and knowledge management mechanisms -- the valuable resource is KNOWLEDGE. It needs to be extracted, captured, and propagated for reuse. If you spread all our knowledgeable people out across multiple systems, little sub-communities, then there is less synergy. (Duplication of effort, lost information, ideas that could have been tied together, stuff that doesn't get captured at all, and so on.)

So given the criticality of knowledge capture and reuse, the forums, Wiki, and documentation pages offer value that IRC does not. They are also much more integrable and therefore synergistic. IRC, on the other hand, offers dynamic and real-time community interaction that these things do not.

What I'm getting at is that the "question" is not whether the forums are critical, it is whether any given element of the community infrastructure is NOT critical and how those various elements can be better knit together into a synergistic whole.

kassetra
June 3rd, 2006, 04:14 AM
Please note, if you would like to debate the merits of your analysis of the simple poll we created, start a thread elsewhere - this one is simply about an answer to the question.

This is the question we asked, this is the only question we'd like answered, as much as possible.

Thank you for your input!

BoneKracker
June 3rd, 2006, 04:17 AM
Edit

We are discussing the question you asked. Yes, they are critical, and my reasons for saying so are explained above. I am also making the point that this question (that you asked and which is the subject of this thread) needs to be explored in more depth, as noted.

angrykeyboarder
June 3rd, 2006, 05:23 AM
Given the choices I selected "critical". However, I don't really think they are critical. But the opposite isn't true either.

They are valuable and helpful and I'm glad they are here. But critical? Naah.

kassetra
June 3rd, 2006, 05:26 AM
Edit

We are discussing the question you asked. Yes, they are critical, and my reasons for saying so are explained above. I am also making the point that this question (that you asked and which is the subject of this thread) needs to be explored in more depth, as noted.

point made - and please feel free to discuss it more in depth in a different thread.

detyabozhye
June 3rd, 2006, 06:06 AM
The question isn't if the forums are vital to you personally, but to Ubuntu.

Seeing as how many people wouldn't be using Ubuntu right now if these forums didn't exist, I don't see any reason why one would claim they aren't vital to Ubuntu.

curuxz
June 3rd, 2006, 09:10 AM
Erm mods, is there a reason behind this thread? or do you guys just want some love? ;)

I mean you must have guessed you would get mass support it seems kinda like the pope asking rome "who actauly believes in all this £%"$"?" ofcorse 99% will say yes.

KiwiNZ
June 3rd, 2006, 12:02 PM
Erm mods, is there a reason behind this thread? or do you guys just want some love? ;)

I mean you must have guessed you would get mass support it seems kinda like the pope asking rome "who actauly believes in all this £%"$"?" ofcorse 99% will say yes.

Yes there is a very important point to this poll.Ubuntu-Geek reveal when the time is right.

So please keep voting.And to those who have taken the time ,thankyou heaps.

angkor
June 3rd, 2006, 01:17 PM
Ubuntu-Geek reveal when the time is right.

Hm, you've sparked my curiosity...:)

curuxz
June 3rd, 2006, 01:44 PM
hmmmm I always get scared when people ask you, how much do you think this is worth? I can only suspect that this is part of a drive to get offical certification from conical or possibly funding. As I have said I think the community makes this distro and I will wait for the time when we can be informed of your master plans ;)

Haegin
June 3rd, 2006, 02:11 PM
The forums are vital to ubuntu as I said earlier but (and I don't think this is what they are planning) if they are planning to start charging membership for all or part of the forum then I for one will certainly be gone before you can refresh the homepage.

The forums are vital just because they are free to everybody. If more money is needed then just whack a donations button up on the homepage. It has been done before (I seem to remember the forums needed to pay for more bandwidth one month) and I'm sure if people appreciate the forums they will donate.

etc
June 3rd, 2006, 04:04 PM
Personally, probably the main reason I stuck with Ubuntu was because of this community.

XQC
June 3rd, 2006, 04:09 PM
Without these forums I would have given up on Linux alltogether long time ago.

ebonflame
June 3rd, 2006, 04:34 PM
While I do see a few questions that seem to never be answered, I've found all my answers here, and have posted a few myself. I do think that the mailing lists seem to get quicker and seemingly more educated answers to questions posed.

That being said, this is the most friendly and helpful community that I've dealt with in my years of dabbling with Linux.

manicka
June 4th, 2006, 12:44 PM
You only have to look at the problems so far with the Dapper release and the way the community has rallied to solve them, to know that these forums are the key to Ubuntu's success.

Ubuntu would be sunk without these Forums. To believe that it could exist without them or be better controlled than the current way they are run, is a fallacy.

MLX
June 4th, 2006, 02:06 PM
These forums are THE reason why I use Ubuntu and not another operating system. I am not an IT person or a programmer so a computer to me is just a tool to get work done. Because of these forums I was able to install maintain and find great applications for myself and my father who is in his seventies. It shows that even non-geeks with the help of these forums can use and learn this great operating system. I just do a search of the information that I need and 95% of the time the question has already been answered. Thanks to all of the people that work hard to maintain this site and help us out!

neoflight
June 4th, 2006, 03:45 PM
I'm just curious as to what other people think... Thats all I can say right now..

Edit: This poll is open to registered and unregistered users.

Edit: This has been posted to the Ubuntu-Users mailing list the post is here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2006-June/080402.html

Edit: This has been mentioned in the #ubuntu irc channel a few times.

i wonder who voted for not-critical !!!!:mad:

christhemonkey
June 4th, 2006, 04:52 PM
You can click on the number (49 atm) and find out.....

manicka
June 5th, 2006, 12:38 PM
You can click on the number (49 atm) and find out.....

very interesting...

slimb
June 5th, 2006, 02:52 PM
ive voted.

these forums are indeed insanely critical. one has to remember, we're trying to reach out to the mainstream PC users and get them to try ubuntu. most users are used to using message boards for help. not mailing lists, not IRC chat, but message boards.

tons of help to be found here.

ubuntu-geek
June 5th, 2006, 02:52 PM
Thanks everyone. I'm going to close this poll/thread down now.