With the possible implosition of Reddit...

mbevks

...is anyone interested in creating/running something on kbin or lemmy? I used to get a fair amount of my Solus news on Reddit but that might not happen in the future if RIF is no longer an option.

Brucehankins

mbevks the mastodon instance has been seeing more frequent updates with the team reengaged, you might want to check that out. Don't know if it's comparable to reddit as I rarely use reddit, but at least it's something.

Staudey

It's really Matrix > Twitter/Fosstodon > Forums > Reddit > Facebook in order of where to best get Solus news/developments from. With the current goings-on at Reddit it might soon move into the same graveyard as Facebook (just my opinion).

brent

Staudey It's really Matrix > Twitter/Fosstodon > Forums > Reddit > Facebook in order of where to best get Solus news/developments from.

It's good you clarified that. Didn't think Twitter was that important since it was mostly dormant this year and I haven't checked it since Solus came back up.
Wish Forums was higher in the information hierarchy but I'm ok letting the world pass me by on that one.

TraceyC

I have personal accounts on Mastadon and Kbin, and have been getting used to them. They are certainly viable as alternatives.

That said, the Solus team have not yet even discussed what to do about about Reddit. We've been focusing most of our attention on getting the 4.4 ISO out the door. There needs to be a balance between enough outlets to let the Solus community get news in a way they prefer, without it being too much for our small team to keep up with.

Currently, we have the outlets Staudey listed, which are working for us right now.
In the coming weeks, we'll see what happens with Reddit. If we need to move off of it, we will. Of course we will keep folks informed.

elfprince

brent Wish Forums was higher in the information hierarchy

Most defiinitely! Sad to see forum placed pretty much at the last place. Matrix is not suitable for group support. Nor is twitter.

Staudey

elfprince Matrix is not suitable for group support.

I also don't quite understand what this means. Matrix not lending itself to support would be a pretty bad thing, seeing as our Support channel is there.

Staudey

@brent @elfprince The forums just don't lend themselves to quick-fire posts about less important topics. I'm stating things as they are, not an official policy or anything like that.

Matrix will always be unbeatable as an information source because that is where talk about the current goings-on happens. Forums could be brought to the same level as Twitter/Fosstodon, but it's more of an effort to create a forum post than a simple tweet/toot.

brent

Staudey I guessed as much, and it's OK. I may warm up to the format (element) or I may not. Wouldn't be the first time I dragged my feet 'getting with the times' and it won't be the last. At this point in life, the only way I'd part with Solus is when the meteors finally come so there's that🙂.

I know a post takes some effort, and @elfprince has mentioned before: some kind of volunteer position(s?) where whatever important is telegraphed in Element makes its way to Forums in a timely manner. A creating-an-instant-info-tunnel type thing. Down the road maybe. All good. edit/spell

Brucehankins

brent Staudey it would be great if there were some type of tool that would allow the team to cross-post the message to multiple platforms with a single click. Then it wouldn't really matter where you went to get the information.
This wouldn't work for the general goings-on in matrix, but for the updates and such that are typically posted to the social platforms it could be helpful.

elfprince

Staudey Sorry that it wasn't clear enough. Look at it this way: Imagine interesting things being discussed (and they are!) on Matrix, on all three channels. One would need to sit at the screen 24 hours a day, in order not to miss anything, while the posts are scrolling up fast on all three channels, at the same time.
So, potentially valuable information gets lost every day, without most users being aware.
On the forum however, I can read, and re-read!, all posts at any time of the day, and benefit from them, and possibly even participate in them.
"All that glitters is not gold". Flashy new techs are not necessarily best, or "what ain't broken, do not fix!". 😅

And that is why I prefer awk and perl programming. 😛

brent

Axios Getting the feeling thats the issue but maybe its not.

I've never considered that but now that you mention it, possibly. Great post.

: Brucehankins you too

Axios

I think it doesnt really matter what venue is used as long as they are treated with the same respect.
Getting the feeling thats the issue but maybe its not.
The people that post in forum usually are not expecting an instant answer and the ones in matrix usually want
an answer quick.
So their is a need for different venues. I personally like forum because I can go back and look for stuff and usually
find an answer but from hanging around forum lots of people cant or dont want do that.

I spent time on irc but never on matrix or the newer formats so am familiar with them and understand
the need for it both support and developers using it.

Its a hard balance to work out but I think major announcements should always be posted in forum
no matter what.
(Just my 2 cents)

EbonJaeger

Axios Its a hard balance to work out but I think major announcements should always be posted in forum
no matter what.

I guess the main question is what is considered a "major announcement." To me, the usual repo sync wouldn't really qualify as one that needs a forum post, but is nice to put on social media to show we're not dead. That's just me, though. Do other people feel differently?

[deleted]

Axios

Its a hard balance to work out but I think major announcements should always be posted in forum
no matter what.

I think they should be posted in the blog. It seems people gauge the distro's activity a lot based on that.

brent

EbonJaeger I'd love to see a sync thing weekly because word of mouth (element-to-forum) doesn't always reach. Moss/Serpent news, architecture changes/announcements, current direction/blueprint of immutable plans, maybe a Buddies of Budgie link for Budgie updates and for Budgie lovers. Agenda items maybe (this is sort of done at dev tracker).
I like the Big Picture stuff but I know you have a main site.
I'll stop🙂!
two cents

WetGeek

EbonJaeger To me, the usual repo sync wouldn't really qualify as one that needs a forum post

I respectfully see it diffently. The forum is where Solus users gather to communicate with each other. It's the most logical place to contact us.

Another issue is, how much work is it to send a message saying, "Today's sync has completed"? I think it's a very small favor to ask, and it would mean a lot to a lot of us.

Axios

EbonJaeger After thinking about it some that was a pretty broad statement on my part.
I read the announcements my opinion half those are not needed posts content wise.

Harvey put it about right on what I was trying to convey about that.
(Forum/Blog posts are for more concrete, important decisions.)

TraceyC Put it about right
We've been focusing most of our attention on getting the 4.4 ISO out the door. There needs to be a balance between enough outlets to let the Solus community get news in a way they prefer, without it being too much for our small team to keep up with. (This is most important in my book at the moment)

This is not meant at any disrespect for any you people its just an observation.
There seems to be a disconnect with the forum and thats what users are trying to voice and thats something
to be aware of.
I dont have an answer to as of why or what is needed.
(Kinda in response to harvey's Rant post totally understand it been there done it thing)

But I am glad this forum can talk about these things and not have a bunch of hurt feelings,and try to better things.

elfprince

To me, Matrix is a glorified messaging platform or app, great for interpersonal communication. Two or three users may be able to communicate at any one time, except for scheduled meets.
Say an important or useful topic is being discussed at 2:30pm. By the time I look at the thread at 2:35pm, it is all gone, without my knowledge even that it existed. Good bye, So long, Farewell.
That is why forum should be at the top of the list, because it is for ALL users - FROM users and dev team.

Harvey

I do agree that if a sync delay is going to be announced the forums should be part of the announcement. Matrix will likely hear about it first, have more detail and up to the minute information as that is where we talk to each other to see if a delay is required in the first place.

Rant incoming...

People want every single bit of detail but do not want to go to where these discussions happen. When it was on IRC the complaint was that it is too complicted, an antiquated system with no chat persistence that just needs to die! Ok, IRC is deprecated we have switched to a modern open source alternative with chat persistence.... Yeah but i prefer carrier pigeon!

No matter what you do, people will always expect more. We were even told we needed to write a blog post about why we did multiple syncs this week, the silence on the matter is not good! Let me get this straight, us working is not a good look?

Matrix chat doesn't disappear you just scroll up, you can read months of activity if you wish (thats chat persistence) you do not need to be there 24/7. 99.99% of what is discussed there is only important to the people talking. There is not a massive amount of detail about future plans there. Some plans/ideas might be thrown around more loosely due to the nature of instant messaging. Ooo a team member mentioned the release name for Solus 4.4. Big whoop.

Forum/Blog posts are for more concrete, important decisions.

WetGeek Another issue is, how much work is it to send a message saying, "Today's sync has completed"? I think it's a very small favor to ask, and it would mean a lot to a lot of us.

We don't always sync only once a week. An as I have said before, the system alerts you to pending updates being available. You don't need to manually check.

elfprince

Harvey Like I said, Matrix is great for interpersonal messaging and stuff. Do not consider it great for communicating news to ALL Solus users. For that, Forum is the right channel, imo.

Harvey

elfprince

What information needed to be communicated exactly outside of what I already agreed with?

elfprince

Harvey Do you expect the users to spend ages scrolling up the 3 matrix channels, in the hope, or fear, of missing out on something important? Or, instead just beeline to the appropriate forum heading? 😆