Nick Cox wrote:
> Anyway, on a web forum: some user or group of users able and willing to
> take an initiative must do something themselves to get this going.
> Otherwise, the age-old conclusion can only be that talk is cheap.
>
>
In light of this thread I took it upon myself this morning (prior to
Nicks above post) to set up a Nabble (http://n2.nabble.com) "forum".
This is NOT a web-based forum or alternative to Statalist its simply
(yet another) mirror of the archives.
>From Nabble's FAQ ( http://n2.nabble.com/help/Index.jtp )
"What is Nabble?
Nabble wants to improve public discussions on the web. This includes
forums, user groups, message boards, and mailing lists. There are many
vibrant discussions in these places, so are problems such as cluttered
UI, broken search, moderation, and cataloging. Nabble wants to be a
place where your discussion can grow and be free of these problems.
Isn't Nabble trying to copy and replace me?
Nabble wants to be useful and transparent. If you feel shocked on seeing
the Nabble mirror of your content, please relax and be assured that the
content is still yours, and you can delete it anytime. Then, before
cursing Nabble, try asking yourself:
*
Is Nabble useful?
You probably will find the archive search useful. Nabble search is
fast, and you can cross search all your lists instead of searching
each list or relying on Google's "site:archive url" search (which
is a hack because Google does not index all your posts, especially
the new ones). What's more, some of your users may want a web
interface to read and post instead of using a cluttered email box.
With Nabble, these users can talk from the web and interact with
the traditional email users seamlessly.
*
Is Nabble taking users away from my site?
We understand this concern. You put in effort to grow your users,
and we have no right to get in between. What we offer is an
"embeddable" forum <http://n2.nabble.com/help/Answer.jtp?id=36>.
It means that you can customize the Nabble mirror to "embed" it
into your website. The Nabble mirror will still be hosted at
Nabble, but you can control the look and feel so that it looks
like a part of your site, complete with your logo, style sheet,
javascript, and even your ads.
*
Is Nabble bypassing me?
No. Nabble conforms with your subscription policy
<http://n2.nabble.com/help/Answer.jtp?id=11>. This means if users
want to post to your list via Nabble, they will have to join your
list to become subscribers.
*
What's in it for Nabble?
Nabble wants to become the best place for online discussions.
That's it for now. We don't know yet how to make money.
Keep in mind that by mirroring your discussion on Nabble, you could also
expand your subscribers through Nabble users. They may join your
discussions and thus expand your membership. They could also go from the
discussion page to visit your website."
Its currently awaiting for Statalists Majordomo to approve subscription
request and has initially been set as "read-only" so only copies of
posts to Statalist appear (to avoid a potential security hole for spam,
although of the lists I'm on that are mirrored on Nabble I've never seen
any spam originating from Nabble). It is however possible to configure
it to allow registered users to post to the list. I use this
functionality with the R-help list which I receive in digest format.
When I then want to reply to something I go to Nabble, find the thread
and reply.
It will of course take time to become populated as (as far as I'm aware
or have been able to find out) there is no way to import past
discussion/threads.
It costs nothing and if it isn't used then theres no great loss (its not
taken a lot of my time to setup). If there is consensus that allowing
subscribers to post via Nabble would be useful then that can be changed
in the future (and revoked if this results in spam).
I shall announce the URL when its up and running.
Neil
--
"We should make things as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Anon (not Albert Einstein)
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