[mapserver-users] Re: user support

[Fawcett, David]

Brent, 

I have updated the New Users Page to reflect the new list archive link.
At the same time, I also updated the links to now point to the 5.x Demo,
and the 5.x Tutorial.  

I have neglected the New Users Page for quite a while and it is
definitely in need of some freshening up.  I hope to do so in the next
month or so.  

If anyone has corrections, suggestions, etc. for the New Users Page,
please sent them to me in the next few weeks and I will incorporate
them.  

David.

-----Original Message-----
From: mapserver-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:mapserver-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Brent
Fraser
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:05 AM
To: Frank Warmerdam
Cc: MAPSERVER-USERS
Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] Re: user support


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
>
> _______________________________________________
> mapserver-users mailing list
> mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org 
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users

_______________________________________________
mapserver-users mailing list
mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users