FreeLists / haiku-web / [haiku-web] Re: Trac (reevaluated)

["Jorge G. Mare (a.k.a. Koki)" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nice discussion. Thanks for all the replies.

I will leave the Bugzilla vs. Trac discussion for the others; my only
point (that migrating is a waste of resources) has already been made,
and I don't want to become a nagger. :-)

With regards to the CMS, it looks like you guys are adamant about
waiting for RailFrog. In doing so, I think the goals/benefit of another
project are being put before those of Haiku, but no more nagging here
either.

I think all the best intentions are there, but I feel there is a lot of
wasted energy, mainly due to communication problems. I think the root of
the problem is also organizational. Take the site renewal project: this
started on the haiku-web mailing list (one that very few people know
about), and took shape there; later, bits and pieces leaked (through the
forums and IRC?), but nobody was certain who is doing what, what is
needed, who they should talk to if they wanted to help; in the meantime,
no official announcement either. And since there is no "official voice",
people ask the same question 100 times, and you have to repeat yourself
as many times. This simply becomes unmanageable, not matter how much
effort you put into it.

If you want to resolve this, you need to communicate better. This takes
better tools, even if those tools are not ideal (concentrate a bit more
on the goals, and not so much on the means). While I understand the new
website is meant to address this problems, I am concerned that the fact
that you are relying on an unproven and unfinished solution (RailFrog)
leaves too many open questions; will it work? when will it be ready?

Better communication also takes coordinate among the various functions
of the project, so that there is some coherence. When approaching any
project/event/news, there has to be a bit of planning (with the admin
team?) on how to communicate it best, so that there is an unequivocal
"official voice" that everyone will go by. So, it is not just the tools,
but the project members need to develop some habits too.

With specific regards to the website, also things considered, I am
thinking that it may be better to go back to the drawing board and
compromise on a temporary solution using a CMS package that can be
implemented now. This could allow Haiku overcome the problems of the
existing website and provide the tools to better communicate within the
organization and with the community sooner rather than later. It would
also give RailFrog plenty of time to mature, so that in the long run you
can create the "ideal site" with a RailFrog-based CMS that you guys so
much want.

Koki


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
haiku-web@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Haiku Web & Developer Support Discussion List