The Future of the Forum

[linuxguy2]

I just wanted to voice my support for Ubuntu Forums. As others have noted, it would be sad if it went away. This and other independent Linux forums have been invaluable for me (though I am still going through some issues- just go see my previous post haha!). I can understand that people may want to view the forum on the go and thus it is more convenient for them to do so on a cell phone. A responsive design should work for both cell phones and desktops/laptops. If that were the only problem, I'd say let's just try to migrate to another software or upgrade. Personally, the Login here drives me crazy. It constantly logs me out to the point that I had to log in several times just to reply to this thread. This is not how it used to be before. Perhaps its a cookie issue on my end, but I haven't been able to rectify it. But it's more than that.

People are preferring data mining "walled gardens" rather than independent sites. I think this change has been really bad in many ways, especially to independent groups. Even Reddit, which can be viewed mostly without a log in covers way too much content. You can't even find as many independent pop culture fan sites anymore. Even these have centralized into one big fan Wiki site. We need more independent sites and forums like this, not less. I would be happy to help in whatever way I can in between life and work. I've worked with forum software before (mainly Vanilla forums) and MySQL, but I am not an expert. I would also be happy to contribute a little coin if it helps.

[corradoventu]

Please do not close this forum, this is the only place to discuss the development version and releasing a new version without discussing it during development increases the problems of the new version.

[sgt-mike]

Ask Ubuntu --- hmm never go there
Stack Exchange yep read some of the posts I found their methods confusing to follow i.e. Op ask a question about a certain command and ten or more folks reply about them adding differing packages to accomplish the same tasks instead of just answering the question. Never posted a question or asked for help/advice there.

Here (this Community / forum) I actually get help that
1. makes sense
2. is effective
3. and many times will offer ways to better the computer experience but just straight out answer the question. i.e. I had some questions regarding mdam commands etc, some very knowledgeable folks answered the question but phrased hey look at LVM or ZFS. But I got my question answered quickly.

So no I wouldn't want the forum shutdown. I like the SSO feature alot.
If the decision was made to choose a differing format but retain the same folks and structure
I would migrate. As there are some of ya'll I would love to pick your brains for advice. Especially once the little bit of hardware arrives to finish up the NFS/NAS server. I will have a lot of questions regarding ZFS.

[lister171254]

I find the forum very useful and it's my first place to go if I need info regarding Ubuntu.
Please keep it (or something more modern) going.

Thanks for all the contributions

[Norm24]

SimpleMachinesForum (SMF) software might make for a good option for moving away from vBulletin.

I can only comment from the perspective of an end user of several Ubuntu flavors,mostly Mate.These forums and the many knowledgeable folks here have been invaluable with any issues that I've had (mostly self-inflicted) over the years and I can't think of any other place that has or can provide that level of help to people like myself.On a few rare occasions I think I might have actually helped others resolve issues albeit very simple ones.

Would truly hate to see the UFs fall by the wayside but much like many things in life things come and go over time.

As a final thought it seems quite obvious,to me anyway, that keeping some form of forum up and running would be in Canonical's best interest?

[rebeltaz]

More than a few years ago we upgraded from vBulletin v3 to v4. It was a time-consuming nightmare - not the upgrade itself, but the way all our bespoke templates, configurations, themes, artwork, etc, etc were broken in the hinterland between v3 and v4, and had to be rebuilt from the ground up by several dedicated volunteers over a period of many weeks. This will certainly happen again. Besides, we do not have the number of people with familiarity of adminCP and, more importantly, all our “bespoke templates, configurations, themes, artwork, etc, etc” who would be needed to do this work.

Ummm... can I just point out the irony in this, since quite often, when I have come asking for help on older software, I would invariably get the standard "why don't you just upgrade to the latest and greatest" answers.


Anywho... as someone who has learned a LOT from this forum, I would hate to see this end. I've tried AskUbuntu and I hate it. It's no where near as user-friendly or organized as a forum. To me, I'd rather IRC and I don't want to do that for tech support, either. I'm sure there's nothing I can offer to be of any help to you guys, but just know that my vote is for whatever keeps the forum alive!

[mlempenau]

I just want to add my voice to this forum and thank everyone who has helped me over the years. I hope it is possible to allow it to continue. I have used Ubuntu now for quite a few years and I would be lost without it. I have to use Windows from time to time and it drives me nuts!!

[pantazi]

I posted earlier on this thread voicing support for the continuation of the forum, but I am surprised that there aren't more posts stating what people think. It may be apathy but when looking at the number of daily user statistics, surely there should be a greater number of opinions posted.

[chrismine]

Will be sorry to see the forum go. Great if it can be kept alive. Only place to get some answers when I play with Ubuntu development versions.

[Rubi1200]

I posted earlier on this thread voicing support for the continuation of the forum, but I am surprised that there aren't more posts stating what people think. It may be apathy but when looking at the number of daily user statistics, surely there should be a greater number of opinions posted.

In an earlier post, I suggested some kind of poll visible to all users to gauge sentiment about the continuation of the forum.

Sadly, no admins have responded to this idea.