[mapserver-users] Re: user support

[Brent Fraser]

Frank,

Now that the mailing list has migrated, is the archive
searchable?  The New Users page
(http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/new_users/index_html#list-arch
ives)on the Mapserver site still links:
http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mapserver-users.html
Is it still valid?

I think the email archives hold great value.  The challange
is to enable access.  Here are some ideas (by doing one test
search):

1. A better seach page
    - ability to use AND and OR with seach terms
2. Record the top ten seaches by month (or some other stat)
so we can improve the FAQ.
3. A better results page
    - show me hits by all my seach term combos
    - allow me to sort by score, Lines, subject , etc
4. Somehow identify an email containing a question/problem,
and a solution
5. ...

Hmmm, an automatic FAQ extractor. Sounds painful.

Let's learn from Google (a search tool is beats an organized
portal).

Brent Fraser
GeoAnalytic Inc.
Calgary, Alberta
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Warmerdam" <warmerdam at pobox.com>
To: "Milo van der Linden" <mlinden at zeelandnet.nl>
Cc: "MAPSERVER-USERS" <mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:36 PM
Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] Re: user support


> Milo van der Linden wrote:
> > Frank Warmerdam schreef:
> >> I think it would be very valuable if some people were
willing to comb
> >> the mailing list for frequently asked questions and
answers and turn
> >> some of them into FAQ entries on the plone site.
> > If this would be done in a divide and conquer manner, I
would be
> > interested. It would be a good thing if one could take a
seat in some
> > sort of board and cover a certain aspect. I would be
particulary
> > interested in contributing to WMS and WFS sections, as
well as postGIS
> > integration since this is the area I am trying to make
my business in.
> > Would it be possible that in return the person
maintaining a certain
> > area of the documentation could offer commercial support
and consultancy
> > on his particular field of expertise? Just a taught and
trying to
> > discover if there is business value in signing up for
this. Because in
> > the long run, we all need to make at least enough money
to live.
>
> Milo,
>
> In Plone you can have a profile, and FAQ entries list
their author.
> So you can use your full name for your account and make
sure your
> author profile page describes you as a consultant, and
your expertise
> with a link page to your own web page.  This should have
at least a
> modest advertising effect.
>
> I think FAQs mostly digested from mailing list responses
should also
> try to give some credit to the original author.
>
> I'm not sure that specific divide and conquer rules will
be easy to
> manage.  I would suggest you just attack your area of
interest.
> Duplication of effort is the least of our problems now.
:-)
>
> > I hereby offer my couple of hours. Would it be an idea
to set up a group
> > of say 100 people and then divide the list in blocks of
say a month?
>
> Well, I'm not sure about how that would work.  Again, I
would suggest
> you get a plone account from Howard, and just skim the
email archives
> for the last month or two looking for threads in your area
of interest
> and digest a few down into FAQs.  I'm sure there is also
room for
> additional categories in the FAQ if you think it would be
helpful.
>
> It may just be me, but I think any process that starts
with "get a group
> together and split up a task" is likely to get stalled and
frustrated.
> Better to just dig in and do a part of the task that you
like, perhaps
> with some notification / interaction as you find you need.
>
> Best regards,
> -- 
> ---------------------------------------+------------------
--------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam,
warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows |
http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo,
http://osgeo.org
>
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