The Future of the Forum

[1fallen]

That is not the case Canonical is being very helpful and my understanding the discussions are on going and are between the Community Council, Community team and Canonical but in my opinion everyone's being very helpful in this process and to say that Canonical is not being supportive is not accurate and it is an unfair statement, the whole process has been positive so far to my knowledge so I really do not know where you are seeing that Admin/Staff say that Canonical has a lack of interest in this particular matter.

+1
I honestly have never had the pleasure of finding a better al-round Staff than we currently have...

Dang I nearly got wrapped around the Axel on that. (going to my quiet place now)

[werewulf75]

That is not the case Canonical is being very helpful and my understanding the discussions are on going and are between the Community Council, Community team and Canonical but in my opinion everyone's being very helpful in this process and to say that Canonical is not being supportive is not accurate and it is an unfair statement, the whole process has been positive so far to my knowledge so I really do not know where you are seeing that Admin/Staff say that Canonical has a lack of interest in this particular matter.

+1 here.

To say that admins/staff might have said that Canonical has a lack of interest in this matter seems completely illogical and lacking credibility - this forum surely has to be of utmost interest and indeed value to Canonical not only as a incredible resource but also as an invaluable asset furthering the cause and success of Ubuntu.

[QIII]

In this matter, Canonical is fully engaged.

[vidtek]

That is not the case Canonical is being very helpful and my understanding the discussions are on going and are between the Community Council, Community team and Canonical but in my opinion everyone's being very helpful in this process and to say that Canonical is not being supportive is not accurate and it is an unfair statement, the whole process has been positive so far to my knowledge so I really do not know where you are seeing that Admin/Staff say that Canonical has a lack of interest in this particular matter.

@wildmanne39
I'm really glad to hear this. I have read the entire thread and it is a distinct impression gained from many of the forum administrators when they refer to the talks they have had with Canonical. It surely is in Canonical's interests to be helpful to the forum's administrators and I sincerely hope for a positive outcome.

Tony

[Paddy Landau]

It surely is in Canonical's interests…

Definitely. The more that Canonical helps people with Ubuntu, the more that their reputation increases, and the more likely it is that an organisation will be tempted to try out Ubuntu as an alternative to Windows.

I have little doubt that this forum has played a significant role in Ubuntu's adoption in many organisations.

[werewulf75]

Definitely. The more that Canonical helps people with Ubuntu, the more that their reputation increases, and the more likely it is that an organisation will be tempted to try out Ubuntu as an alternative to Windows.

I have little doubt that this forum has played a significant role in Ubuntu's adoption in many organisations.

+1

I always get a number of people - mostly via friends and acquaintances that I 'converted' to Linux - who are interested in moving to Linux. As a first step, I ask them to have a good look at a few forums, usually giving them the links to UF, Mint, Debian, and Fedora forums. They are generally absolutely amazed in general but especially with UF, wrt the level of help available, and the friendliness of UF in particular also. This results in most wanting to have me demonstrate mostly Ubuntu, and they're usually thrilled and want to install there and then. So the forum also plays a huge part I think in attracting ordinary desktop users to Ubuntu. And surely growing the desktop user base has to be very much in Canonical's interest, too.

[caterhamfan]

16.04, when I began studying towards a master's degree. That was when I installed Ubuntu on my laptop and simultaneously discovered how valuable Ubuntu forums were.

I have used these forums for questions on and off over the years, and it would be an incredible shame if they were to go. They have been an invaluable source of information when I have broken things and just for general information surrounding Ubuntu.

I know how difficult running and upgrading forums is. I have done this in the past. vBulletin, phpBB and myBB. Moving between software with highly customised, large forums is a huge technical challenge.

I would be sad to see these forums go.

[oldiesmann]

I'm mostly a lurker here (I use Ubuntu on a web server with Plesk), but having been involved with a popular forum software for decades, I know a bit about forums and have seen their decline in favor of Facebook, Reddit, Discord, etc. over the years. One thing forums offer that the other services don't is organization. Go to Ask Ubuntu and you see a list of recent posts, but no categorization. You have to search to see if what you need help with has been addressed before. Reddit is similarly unorganized. Discord is a chat program and can't be indexed by search engines and anything discussed on a server can't even be viewed without the user having a Discord account and actively choosing to join that server first. IRC is terrible for support as well (especially because it's also dying due to Discord and similar services).

I realize upgrading a forum of this size, especially one using outdated software and with the Ubuntu SSO integration, would be a royal pain, but I don't think closing the forum is a good idea. There's a wealth of information here. Also, modern forum software does support mobile devices quite well (look up "responsive design" if you're not familiar with that concept - it basically uses CSS to choose what to display and how to display it based on the width of the device that the content is being displayed on, allowing things to easily adapt to a variety of screen sizes). I think it would be worth the effort to continue with the forum, and trying to work with Canonical to direct users here instead of to Ask Ubuntu would probably help drive more traffic here.

[ian-weisser]

Hi again folks,

A few weeks ago, I wrote...

Hi folks,

My suggestion to the Forums Council is a variation of #8: A new Discourse instance (not Discord, that's different) could replace UbuntuForums software (not a merge with Ubuntu Discourse).

...

Why not merge? <reasons>

Upon reflection, I'm going to change my suggestion to the Forums Council a bit:

I'm going to revert to the original #8: Merging UbuntuForums into Ubuntu Discourse. (no longer suggesting a separate Discourse instance)

I think a merge would be a boon to both communities, bringing fresh energy and perspectives to both.

There are a cultural and operational differences that must be ironed out as part of the transition. Fortunately, we have a Community Council for exactly such governance questions, and we have a long history with the Forums Council working out exactly these kinds of differences into workable policies. A merge will require some planning and thought...inexpensive and worthwhile if the alternative is oblivion.

I think it's worth a try. I think it can be made to work.

[1fallen]

I think it's worth a try. I think it can be made to work.

+1
Worth a Shot for sure.