Section Reorganization

B

BlueCoder

I'm not complaining, just offering my feedback.

I think "Porting new software" should be in development.

"Installation and Management" should be divided into two sections. They should also be put in the base section I feel rather than being treated as separate. I think application installation is critical to OS function. While the applications may not be a part of FreeBSD, the ports tree and it's ability to install applications is.

"Server and Networking" and "Desktop Usage" should be combined into an "Applications" section. Application meaning a category of use. "Storage" should also be under this category as ports such as backup tools and management should also be of relevance; just look at all the fusefs stuff. Multimedia isn't just a desktop topic; there are command line tools to play and control sound, midi sequencers, mpd, etc... "Mobile computing" under desktop? Maybe just rename Desktop to GUI then then have X, Windows managers, KDE, GNOME, XFCE, OpenGL, SDL, ... But I would rather just see them under "Applications".

The ability for users to be able to change the section where they posted would be nice.

And a fantasy wish would be to change to a tag based forum model where topics could appear in multiple categories. Maybe even categories just being a front end for the search engine with predefined tags. Then categories become less relevant so long as proper tags are used.
 
Let's get this discussion going. :)

I like the idea of an "Applications" section, but I think it might be a bit difficult to find what you're looking for if all scenarios are placed under one section. How about "Server Application" and "Consumer Application"?

I do believe the Storage category belongs where it is right now, as it seems to be intended for threads relating to handling partitioning, file systems and that kind of thing, in the base system. I suppose all the port-related discussion is left there because it would be difficult to find what you need if there were two separate categories for storage-related stuff.

I can see how "Porting new software" fits under development, because.. it is related to development. The question is whether or not that group of categories is an overall group, or more related to the base system. In either case, it also fits where it is right now. I might be missing something, but I believe this is a matter of taste - and if that's so, I'll personally opt for the conservative route. Don't change anything unless there's a benefit to be had.

When you say "Installation and Management", do you mean "Installation and Maintenance of FreeBSD Ports or Packages"? If so, I don't think it should be put into the base section. This is because FreeBSD makes a clear distinction between the base system and third-party applications, and I really think the forums benefit from doing so as well.
I agree it may be beneficial to split the category into two as you suggest, but I can't help but think about the overlap between installation and maintenance. Upgrading software comes to mind as a common maintenance task, which also happens to involve installation. Splitting the hairs might make it difficult to find relevant threads.

Here's a counter-proposal to splitting the category:
How about encouraging the use of tags, and displaying some generic tags such as 'installation', 'runtime', 'dependency' and 'configuration' on the 'new thread' page for this category? I suppose prefixes could work too, but since you can only have one prefix per thread, you'd lose some information when a thread is marked as solved.
 
Just to reiterate. By applications I'm trying to suggest a shift in focus in how the forum is organized ever so slightly. The "Server and Networking" and "Desktop Usage" are already there. I just saying to combine them into "Applications" and move things around a bit to reorganize.

To be more exact the sub category Multimedia would be under "Applications". It would a place to talk about use of the system as a whole, base and ports together. It would be discouraged to talk about problems say compiling and getting VLC installed. But you would talk about actually using the software of that type and bugs.

I am mostly advocating not separating base and third party applications but rather talking about using the system as a whole as users do. And users think in terms of applications... I want to play a music file. I want to hook up my Casio keyboard to the computer and use it as midi synth... I don't think it's right to say, that's purely a so and so application question, so go find another forum...

And you really can't go there. The FreeBSD port can be a few versions behind and if you have a bug since the majority of them are on Linux they are telling you they can't pinpoint it since they are on Linux and your on FreeBSD. More often then not the best advice they can give you is to switch to Ubuntu or Gentoo or directly compile it yourself... Urrrrgh

A place is needed to talk about Applications and FreeBSD together. Where a user can respond... such is such is broken, this is how to get around it for now... Oh yah I had that problem so I switched to this other application... Problems and solutions in a FreeBSD context.
 
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