Discussion: A 'releases' Subforum / Official Release Threads


Without wanting to push the thread in the wrong direction, having a better way of keeping on top of what software is available, what is the new software out, etc. would be a great thing. If there is a new version of Mupen64 available, I just want to be able to run a piece of software/go to a website/run a package manager/etc. and be told all the software that I have installed that currently has an update available for it. That same place would ideally have all the readme information, etc. - we kind of have this with the file archive and the app store, but neither seem to really tick all boxes. I'm not really sure the right place for this stuff is on the forum, the forum can tick some of the boxes, but it's never going to be able to do the whole lot.

That said, I think Touch Arcade has a nice way of having a thread dedicated to new IPhone games, so maybe something similar could work here.

So, summary, I don't know! :)

Steve
 
Gruso said:
So a Pandora dev starts a thread for his/her release (once it's out of beta), and it becomes the official thread. It would have [official] in the title (mods can take care of this if devs don't). This official thread gets linked on the wiki.
Globally, I like the idea. But this just look like creating a new thread in the news section per package. Which make the news section the new "release" section...
 
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In other words, just the same as it is now. :) But if we did have 'official' threads, it wouldn't matter which forum they were in - as long as they were indexed somewhere (the wiki). The status quo wouldn't change for those who are happy with the current forum structure.
 
I think the wiki works well as an index, it can be pruned, sorted etc - and then provide the necessary links. I think the purpose of the news section in the forum could be made more explicit - I am seeing that it is intended for software release announcements, so we can at least point there from the wiki for new releases.
 
one way to truely ease your ailment with this situation, gruso, would be to take said in-depth conversations from the forums and move them to mailing lists... THEN you could have a separate list for each emulator/game and individual, better focused threads on the software itself... of course I wouldn't bring this up without suggesting consistant and frequent referencing of the mailing lists back here to the forum, as this is the hub of it all... but the focused threads in the variousl mailing lists would give a better flow of the more detailed information while allowing the forum to stay as is and continue to deliver the "big picture" of the information as well as specific tidbits easily referencable by linking to the web interface side of the mailing lists.

I worked up a simple, yet elaborate flow of information a while back for the Unity Linux team that consisted of 1 forum, a series of mailing lists, 2 IRC channels and a bug tracker which worked together to cover the entire flow of information... the brunt of the info (the most details and the place where most talk went on in general) would be the mailing lists... for hashing things out, essentially... the forum would be where more user questions would be based and devs could discuss between the IRC channel in real-time and the mailing list in semi-real-time and post back answers to the forum with references to the mailing lists to "flesh out" the simple answer given on the forum (keeping the forum pretty clean in this way of short answers and links vs long, drawn-out answers and threads that are pages long) it's easier to sift through a mailing list (even in web interface) for information on a specific topic than a forum because you can narrow searching down more precisely. Same goes for the tracker... issues started there, worked out (mostly) on the mailing lists and IRC (depending on dev availability), progress noted (referenced from mailing lists) in the tracker, bug fix officially closed in the tracker and announced on the Forum as news (when the bug is big enough to be news... usually). IRC is more realtime, and can be copy/pasted to the mailing list for archiving purposes and for referencing discussions... which is why I put both in the same area of the "flow" [Forum <=> Mailing Lists/IRC <=> Bug Tracker]... I think this can be altered to suit most any project or series or projects, but primarily fit to this model works well for the overall flow of information without the main faces (Forum and Tracker) getting overly cluttered. Also, people's inboxes can easily be kept uncluttered by the mailing lists with simple email filters. I have about 6 different mailing lists I am part of for Unity Linux... each has it's own filter to go to a different folder and the left column of my inbox lets me know when I have new messages in any of those folders... my inbox stays neat and I can get to those emails when I feel like it (semi-realtime or take my time). My full model has yet to be used anywhere, so I can't fully validate it as of yet, but feel free to pick it apart. :D

This is a rough rebuild off the top of my head because my original model is lost somewhere in my email and I have not looked for it in quite some time... so there was a bit more to it revolving around which types of information were best suited to stick primarily to one of the 3 areas (either end or in the middle)... I remember using a River as the basis for the model referencing the source of the river, the river itself and the body of water it flowed into... I just might sit down and rehash this model fully so I can present it better and utilize it for my own projects (when I start some :p) Maybe I should patent it first :D:D:D
 
almost forgot... the wiki fit into the grand scheme as the very end of the flow... where information was organized and categorized after flowing through the whole process... In this scenario, the wiki would be where official releases and bugfix releases were timelined and fully explained, future development ideas were noted and categorized (and when implemented moved into the timelined scheme) and either at the top or bottom had reference links to the forum, tracker and ALL mailing lists involved with the project (keeping all information completely open and allowing the observer to go as in-depth as they wanted (with the mailing lists being, by far, the most in-depth parts of the projects, the forum being the clearly explained summarization of things - to a degree, the IRC being the quick answer place (which anybody there can reference any other area via link if they don't wanna explain things in detail or at all), and the bug tracker showing the process of creating and evolution of the project "in action"... the wiki would technically show the same thing, but with more of a cataloged feel...

I'm sure that I'm over-explaining myself, but I'm also sure I've gotten the general picture across...

Not that I expect my model to be implemented here anytime soon (a lot of change would end up happening for that) but I hope it sparks some change and helps create more efficiency within the models currently used for the flow of information with these projects...
 
Gruso said:
In other words, just the same as it is now. :) But if we did have 'official' threads, it wouldn't matter which forum they were in - as long as they were indexed somewhere (the wiki). The status quo wouldn't change for those who are happy with the current forum structure.

If we have "official" threads, I think it should be required that they be localized in the News forum and nowhere else. Also, I think that any "official" threads should link to any beta threads they may previously have had in their first post. Also, I would be fine with gravedigging in those threads if they are localized in the News forum. However, I also would like for that to mean stricter mod response to gravedigging outside of these official threads.

-God Ginrai
 
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SteveM said:
My only comment would be to keep the Beta stuff separate, like it is now. I'll post any old crap to Beta, but only proper releases to the "News" forum. If they're all bundled together folk are likely to expect the same level of completeness and support from very early releases as they do for finished software.

What going to say that beta needs to remain open but SteveM has.
News to me should also remain as it is, for News. Craig falls off root, The Chinese deliver on time, ED has a hair cut. Important stuff.

I quite like your original idea, especially the index. Oh! Do we have to book for the guided tour? :p
 
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