[wp-forums] Installing for free

Thu Jul 13 23:28:20 GMT 2006

I don't feel all that alienated myself, I was thinking more of the folks who
might be lurking around and those considering a greater level of
participation within the community than myself personally. I also agree that
there are plenty of folks who like to make forum posts for the purpose of
nothing other than creating controversy, etc. and that those opinions aren't
of much value if any at all. 

I think this is actually a good opportunity to bring up a pretty common
topic -- just due to the nature of this kind of project, none of us really
know each other very well, if at all, other than through our interactions
via either the mailing lists or forums, or what we go off and read on
someone's personal website, etc. Podz for example makes a very valid
observation on his own site, the fact that "text" is a very poor medium for
human communication, as currently there's no means for any translation or
conveyance of emotion, state of mind, etc. It's all just words. Some of us
are better than others at communicating via email/text, etc, and that has
nothing to do with what a person thinks, knows or feels. 

When I wrote the original response to Podz statement for example, I wasn't
(and am still not) all that personally upset about the whole thing,
unfortunately whether anyone actually understood the point I was trying to
make (which wasn't really to criticize Podz personally for his words/actions
or opinion, but rather illustrate my point using him and his most recent
statement as an example). 

The fact is that like I mentioned earlier, there are only 75 of us we even
received or participate in the forums mailing list. I personally do so
because of a couple of things, for one I believe strongly in the open source
software model. I think wordpress is a fantastic "best of breed"
application, and a number of other personal reasons. 

As I mentioned to the group earlier, this
http://wisdump.com/business/sixapart-abandons-their-last-fans/ is the kind
of thing which we should all be focused on, this creates a tremendous
opportunity for new WP users, and the Podz et. al. "install4free" project
can be a very powerful mechanism for converting some of those new users (a
little off the topic of Wp forums, but extremely relevant in that the
potential for new users just jumped an order of magnitude). 

sure, I like anyone else may seem too "loose my temper" from time to time,
but my "agenda" so to speak is simply to promote WP as a "world class, best
of breed application" and lend a hand along the way in terms of support,
development, whatever as time permits, in any way I can.  While I don't take
it personally, what does upset me to some extent is when the public facing
words or actions of individuals within the community have the potential to
be viewed negatively by those "outside" the community or potential users. 

The whole reason as (I stated originally) I chose to participate in this
particular discussion via the mailing list as opposed to making a forum post
is that no matter what differences we may have in our personal opinions,
etc. we need to present a unified front as far as the public can see. 

So far, I think Podz and the rest involved with the 'install4free' effort
have moved very quickly to make adjustments based on everyone's feedback
etc. and that's a good thing. The site now has a much better public "face"
in that users can see that very dedicated and active WP community members
are responsible for the project, and should feel much more comfortable as a
result. I also still believe that just nuking the original forum thread and
creating a sticky closed post under the install category would be a great
way to further promote and legitimize the effort. 

The 'sticky' post should be something short and simple, like - 

WP Installation - Read this Post First
--------------------------------------

Hello, and welcome to the wordpress forums area. Under this topic/thread
you'll find many useful existing posts covering a range of topics and
installation issues, so before making a post you might consider trying a
search (link to search box, or plop one in the post) to see if someone else
has encountered and solved the same issue you're having. 

If you're new to wordpress, here are some additional resources to help you
get your first installation up and running smoothly and quickly. 

1) - Link to Install area of codex, Here you'll find some helpful
information and documentation on wordpress installation. 
2) - If you're a non-business user, here's a link to a free service we offer
to those of you who would be more comfortable having a "Wordpress Pro" do
your initial installation for you. 
3) - etc. 
4) - etc. 

--------------------------------------

With that, and a link back from the 'install4free' site, there's no doubt
that the service is "trustworthy" and provided by legit folks as opposed to
some kind of fly by night scam or something. 

....chris

/**************************************
Christopher J. Hradil
chradil at comcast.net
http://www.hradil.us
973-809-4606
**************************************/

-----Original Message-----
From: wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com
[mailto:wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Michael D Adams
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 5:57 PM
To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
Subject: Re: [wp-forums] Installing for free

On Jul 13, 2006, at 2:16 PM, Christopher J. Hradil wrote:
> Quote:
>> "the opinions of those not on this list, and therefore not 
>> particularly bothered about improving the forums are not worth 
>> consideration"

> to piss off or alienate any of the folks who actually give a shit 
> enough to read the mailing list is, in a word, childish.

I see that you are upset, but why do you feel alienated?

Regardless of any (mis)construed elitism, Podz implies above that the
opinions of people on this list are worth consideration.  I have no doubt
that applies to critics as well as supporters.

mdawaffe

PS: Keep on rockin' in the free world, Podz.
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