[POLL] Is this forum still relevant to you?

[Duchamp]

We at Giada love to try new toys and ideas. This forum, its essence and its underlying technology is growing old. Today we spend most of our development time on GitHub, where users can ask for help and collaborators can submit cool new ideas an bugfixes.

We'd love to hear from you what you think about this kinda old-fashioned tool we are using to provide support: is it still relevant to you? Should we get rid of it completely, or maybe just upgrade it to something more modern (e.g. Discourse)?

Any input is welcome. Thank you!

[mctom]

Indeed all development-related discussions are on GitHub, feature requests too. For me, forum is necessary to provide support to end users and let them share their works.

When Giada is released as 1.0.0, with everything ready, I guess a small promo campaign could take place (a few youtube videos showcasing the features). Then, I think some sort of forum will be necessary, just like most open source initiatives have one, to create a userbase that will self-perpetuate in helping each other out. Pretty much what I am to this project, just not so easily scared off with things not working yet.

So, to sum things up, forum might not be necessary right now, but surely will be necessary in the future. I'd say that this period before 1.0.0 release could be used to create a well-working, modern forum.

A closer look into forum boards would be a nice touch too. Features, bugs and releases should be discussed on GitHub for obvious reasons, and I wouldn't encourage anybody to discuss them here.
The boards off the top of my head would be: Announcements, General discussion, Your Sounds, Help Center, Tutorials and Resources.

[FFT]

I agree with what mctom said above especially for what concerns the userbase. We DO want to have a place where non-technical people discuss things with us and report problems. We DON'T want to force them to create a github account just to send us a message. And now the cons of this forum:

* it feels like 2004 - too difficult to use, too many options, flags, tiny buttons, ...
* it's a maintenance burden

My take: keep the forum as a concept and look into new modern platforms until giada 1.0.0 is out.

[mctom]

Well, that's not exactly what I said, but I like your point that we don't want to force people to create github accounts. So, I guess bugs could be reported in Help Center as well. Someone would eventually report the same thing on GitHub, or one of collaborators might do it, just like I did last time.

Forcing users into creating an account reminds me of a heated, internal debate in Mensa Poland, where I was a volunteer for 10 years or so. There was a popular demand for using Facebook instead of a dedicated forum for members only. One side of the debate argued that Facebook is far more popular, the other that some people deliberately avoid Facebook and cannot be forced into having an account on it just to benefit from Mensa membership. Eventually nothing was done with the issue, so numerous "unofficial" Facebook groups sprung into life, most of which include ex-members - something that some members just don't feel okay with. The forum got deserted, with mostly trolls left wrecking havoc. The communication structure has collapsed in my opinion, that's one of the reasons why I didn't feel like there is place for my volunteering anymore, or even membership.

I brought this up because I think there is a valuable lesson to take from here. Giada community is, and will be, something very different than Mensa. Communication within the userbase is not a mandatory feature. However, this is the simplest way to get feedback, give support, and let's be honest, being a part of a community is fun for some people. However, something that must be avoided is to keep more than one medium for the same purpose - otherwise some people simply won't notice a new release, a workaround for a bug etc.
I would even ask whether a Giada fanpage on Facebook is desirable, or whether it will split community into smaller chunks.

Forums are obsolete in general. People don't like forums because it's yet another medium to keep track of, new password to remember, and the mobile access is very limited.

That's why I think that a successful forum should offer the following:
- Ability to log in with Google / Facebook / Twitter account
- Compatibility with Tapatalk or preferably some free forum browsing app
- Announcements which are in sync with all media, including forum, Giada main page, Facebook account, and mailing list (?)

[FFT]

Thanks mctom for sharing the Mensa social media experience, definitely worth keeping in mind.

Speaking of Facebook et similia, we need the big three (Fb, Instagram and Twitter (+ TikTok in the near future)) to spread the news: new release, new feature, work in progress, new cool demo videos and so on. Those media are to be intended as read-only tools to increase engagement, in the sense that actual discussions would eventually take place somewhere else - on this forum for end users or on github for techies and hackers.

That's why I think that a successful forum should offer the following:
- Ability to log in with Google / Facebook / Twitter account
- Compatibility with Tapatalk or preferably some free forum browsing app
- Announcements which are in sync with all media, including forum, Giada main page, Facebook account, and mailing list (?)

I agree on the list above. Actually we DO provide Facebook registration/login, it's just not prominent as it should be. Some better design might help here. Also, never heard of Tapatalk before, its worth a look.

[mctom]

Those media are to be intended as read-only tools to increase engagement, in the sense that actual discussions would eventually take place somewhere else

Provided that you can force people to choose forum over social media.
I don't think that it is possible to keep official presence on social media as "read only". My guess is that ignoring comments under official posts is not the greatest PR strategy.
When I think about it, some well managed forums that I visit sometimes, are of the project that do not have any official Facebook outlet - for example Odroid.

We will see how it goes. All I'm saying is that the forum might get obsolete and won't get much attention after all. It's worth keeping in mind before investing too much time on it.

As a side note, I admit I often think about making a short song in Giada and turn it into promo video once MIDI gets rock solid. But first things first.