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Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

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Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#401

Post by dheera »

jedberg wrote: post #70

Oh please do. This seems like the perfect time to bring this up: I had a piece of software that used Discord for support. They required that users be verified, which requires you to give you phone number to Discord. I gave them my Google Voice number, which is the only number I have, and they rejected it because they don't support VOIP numbers. I asked them if there was any other way to verify my identity. They told…

I used a VoIP number with Discord, because, f them, "I don't [need to] have a mobile phone". Also I think we should call ADA violations on any company that requires people to have a mobile phone.

It's possible to use a VoIP number. Happy to share how if you can prove to me that you don't work for them.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#402

Post by Karrot_Kream »

int_19h wrote: post #325
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has the same UI tastes _shrug_. There's no need to turn this into a bikeshed on UI tastes.

You're right. But the way to do so is to give users a choice, instead of using solutions that bundle the server side with the UX.

I can definitely agree with this.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#403

Post by sersi »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #212
errantspark wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I constantly run into this problem, I've used my google voice number for everything for years (yeah it's not a great move but very hard to migrate away from) and a frustrating number of services recently have been rejecting it for verification. I end up having to take the sim out of my laptop and put it in my PinePhone. It's such a hassle. This whole "you're not a human unless you have a phone number" thing sucks. Sa…

Just a couple of days ago, I signed in to a gmail account using the correct username and password. Gmail intercepted me and claimed to be worried that they couldn't recognize the device I was using. According to the flow, they wanted me to verify my identity in one of three ways: (1) I could verify the backup email address associated with the account; (2) if unable to do that, I could provide the 2FA code sent to tha…

There's a workaround to fix an account afflicted this way, use a yubikey to add as a security key and then add a 2fa through the google authenticator standard (which works with 1password). Once that's setup google will never ask for your phone number again.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#404

Post by smashah »

jraph wrote: post #182

Please don't ask people to run non-free software to participate in your open source community. Many open source / free software enthusiasts are reluctant to use them, or flat out boycott them. What's more, you are putting your worthy community somewhere out of your control if you do this. Slack and Discord are not cool and do not make your project cool. They make your project unreachable , now and in the future (arch…

Maintainers should do exactly what they determine is best for them and the project.

open-source puratism isn't a guiding principle for maintainers believe it or not.

Running a discord allows maintainers to foster somewhat friendly relationships with users instead of purely transactional & functional relationships.

Your comment comes off as entitled although I will concede that slack is not cool. Good day.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#406

Post by Matthias1 »

mmcclure wrote: post #19

I think "less capable moderation tools" is really underselling how purposefully useless and nonexistent Slack's moderation tools are for open communities. I cannot overstate how terrible Slack is in this regard. To be clear, I really and truly don't fault them for this: Slack's always been clear that their focus is on business communication, which is a totally different animal when it comes to moderation needs. Disco…

> Discord is nearly infinitely better in the sense that they have any tooling at all, but it's still considerably far behind

Could you expand on this a bit?

A lot of this thread seems to be coming down to opinions. Are there specific moderation features that Discord lacks?

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#407

Post by johnisgood »

mrd3v0 wrote: post #252
tester756 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Discord are not cool In fact, it is. It is unparalleled in its segment, that's why I moved from all other VoIPs to it.

Element sounded better for me and my friends than Discord but it is hard to convince people to use it when the client is incredibly buggy on desktop and Android.

I have been having a bug of having been shown a couple of past messages on the bottom. It always gets below new messages. They cannot be deleted. I had it on both Linux and Android. Now I seem to be having this only on Android.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#408

Post by smashah »

In reality the best solution is to mix all available tools in a way where individual interactions always have a specific place to be addressed effectively. For example, I encourage people to introduce issues in the discord. If it is fixable with the given context and I am available, I will fix it there and then + publish a new version of the package/patches within minutes. This way others don't even have the time to experience the problem in the first place.

If the problem seems more complex, I direct them to fill in an extensive issue template.

On boot of the library, I also log a link to an issue template with most of the context filled in.

If the issue has a few bits of information missing & there seems to be miscommunication, I direct them to message me on the discord.

Most projects are maintained by a single person, so the communication landscape of the project should be optimised for that person and how they deem effective to communicate. It's not for users/passers-by/etc.

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#409

Post by johnisgood »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #61
danr4 wrote: post #28

As discussed in a recent comment I made [0], I think the problem is that a good modern forum software simply does not exist yet. imo discourse doesn't cut it, feels almost as ephemeral as in slack/discord. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29016033

Not exactly sure what your requirements are but vanilla forums have a clean look, mobile friendly, and have pretty good customization. (Not sure if the latest version supports digest emails though) https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla

I remember Vanilla Forums! I loved the old look so much. Is it possible to still have that old look (the pink and blue one). It was really minimal!

Re: Use forums rather than Slack/Discord to support developer community

#410

Post by [deleted] »

Aeolun wrote: post #177
cmroanirgo wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly sure what your requirements are but vanilla forums have a clean look, mobile friendly, and have pretty good customization. (Not sure if the latest version supports digest emails though) https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla

It doesn’t exactly look active though? Last release was in 2019.

[deleted]
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