[geomoose-psc] Fwd: Starting conversation about linking GeoMOOSE.org to GeoMOOSE.com

Thu Jan 25 11:56:02 PST 2018

On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 10:54 AM, Jim Klassen <klassen.js at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 01/25/2018 12:48 PM, Eli Adam wrote:
>
>> Despite the long delay to get to the discussion, can we hold off on
>> voting and discuss?
> Yes.  Either by us just discussing (my preferred alternative) or you
> could force it by formally voting -1.

Agreed, I'll get to discussing.  Hopefully others will join in.

> All,
>
> This has been brought up a couple of times in the recent past, and I’m
> moving on it again to get a concensus about putting it into place.
>
> There now exists a GeoMOOSE.com website in all it’s glory, which has been
> put together for what I think are obvious reasons,  and with the new OSGeo

This site looks great!  Nice work.  I like the site a lot, it's got
lots of information too.

> site coming online in the near future (5days!), now seems like a good time
> to move on setting up a linking system, and I’m proposing that we officially
> link to it from the GeoMOOSE,org site, and in a prominent location.   This

On this simple matter, link to the site, I'm in favor.  Before voting,
I'd like to discuss some more.  I specifically wanted to hear from
Brian and Brent so called them after no responses on this email
thread.  I'll let them speak for themselves if they have anything to
say.  The below is me.

> doesn’t need to be a permanent thing by any means, but the idea of
> supporting, handling outreach and marketing tasks can be handled better in
> an independent way in this companion website.

I'm interested to see and eager to let that happen.

>
> Please take a look at the .com site and vote yes or no on adding a link to
> the GeoMOOSE.org site.  My initial thought is to set up a “Support” or
> “Commercial” link in the top banner tool bar that goes to the .com site.  We

I've not had any great ideas of where to put the link myself.
Hopefully someone else will work that out.  On the current site the
only place to find this information is home-->FAQ-->Can I get support
for GeoMoose?-->Commercial Support  It is more or less impossible.

> can talk about how to list valid(ated) support organizations as well.  My
> first thought is that a list will end up on the .com side, but this is just
> a starting point idea from myself.  Let the rest of the PSC know your

Although the discussion is about adding the link, I can't really
discuss that without discussing the content of the site.  So here goes
my list of (mostly very minor but also long) commentary.

https://geomoose.com/training/ has "Upcoming training" and "Upcoming
workshops." These probably won't be current so I'm not entirely in
favor of them.  If there are upcoming things, it seems they should be
on the front page until they happen and are removed.

Somewhere (I've lost where) links to nabble.  This should link to
https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geomoose-users

https://geomoose.com/features/gis-manager-view/ lists QGIS under web,
not desktop.  I think of QGIS as more desktop than web, although it
does both.

In the FAQ, "I see this website is hosted by SharedGeo.  Who are
they?" "...For more information, please visit the SharedGeo website."
which links to http://www.sharedgeo.org/  I think that linking to a
page more specifically about SharedGeo and GeoMoose not the generic
home page would be more useful.  Something about the history.  If it
is a simple hosting credit (which is mostly lacking on this page),
then the generic home page is appropriate.  Instead of the simple
hosting credit, there is a footer for contact us.  So that probably
covers it.

Also in the FAQ, "I'm a developer, where can I get more information?
Head over to geomoose.org."  This should link to
https://www.geomoose.org/developer/index.html perhaps change the link
name to "GeoMoose" or "GeoMoose developer documentation" or something.

More FAQ, "Where can I get help and support for GeoMOOSE? Please see
the Install page for that information."  This seems to not answer the
question.  "Install" is not "Support."  To find the support requires
scrolling down the page.  In fact, the whole support bit might need to
be more prominent.  As a casual user of the website, it is unlikely
that I would find it.  The straight forward answer to, "Where can I
get help and support for GeoMOOSE?" is "Beyond the traditional open
source methods of email lists and documentation, there are four
consultants providing commercial support for GeoMoose.
[Links1,2,3,4.]"

> thoughts.  This site was created is being managed by SharedGeo currently,
> and was put together to facilitate better outreach and marketing.

>
>
> Thanks
>
> bobb
>
>
>
>
> Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when
> there is nothing left to take away.
> —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Since you quote this, I will mention that the site has lots and lots
of information.  I would rate finding commercial support on this page
as "not easy" or at least "not obvious."  It is easy and obvious to
find:

Contact Us

    Email
    info at sharedgeo.org
    Phone
    1-888-877-SGEO (7436)
    Address
    SharedGeo
    1360 University Ave. West, Suite 455
    St. Paul, MN 55104-4086

on each page but I might not contact if I don't know why or that
commercial support is an option.  If you want to track the
effectiveness of the website, you could also use another email address
geomoose at sharedgeo.org (or something)

Since I've raise a lot of (minor) issues, I'll come back to my initial
comments and impressions: "This site looks great!  Nice work.  I like
the site a lot, it's got lots of information too.  On this simple
matter, link to the site, I'm in favor."

Best regards, Eli