Traffic What does the Future hold for forums.openvpn.net ? With reference to: looking for additional moderators Moderators Needed: Forums at Risk Creating a separate forum board for Windows questions ? This thread is in reply to this post (as it seems like a different topic): https://forums.openvpn.net/topic20240.html#p56419 Copied here - Samuli's Reply to Traffic: Traffic wrotesamuli wrote Anything related to tap-windows6, openvpn-build or openvpn-gui would immediate go there. Questions about OpenVPN might go thereAnd therein lies the problem .. If people see a Windows specific board I think they will simply use it regardless .. In a sense you are creating more work for little return.This type of behavior is exactly why we created a honeypot email address for OpenVPN, and it is actually working. So people were spamming various @openvpn.net email addresses with silly pleas for help (e.g "Subject: plz hlp!!!", "Body: sent from my iPhone"). After creating a fake "support" email address the silly email count dropped to zero basically. The email address description clearly mentions that the person will only get an automated response with list of help options, yet the INBOX is filling slowly. It's slightly amusing to watch, really. Traffic wroteThis means that maybe 80% of new posts require classification by a mod. With almost no active mods, the forum is left to fester. Is the problem that there are no potential new moderators, or that people are not granted moderator rights? Traffic wroteThe rest of the boards are really up to the imagination of the mods .. eg: Server Administration vs Configuration .. Very hard to tell the difference. And while the names of other boards are clear, the way people choose to use them is not.Well, perhaps the dictionary definition of the names is clear, but what posts should go into which is probably not. I'm sure a significant percentage of people would like to do the "Right Thing", but they don't know what their issue is exactly. And as you say, it might be hard to tell what the issue is at first. Traffic wroteScripting: waste our time debugging somebody's bash/batch file when we have no idea of their setup ? Installation: How different is this to configuration .. should this include Win-TAP driver installation problems ? Testing Branch: I have never seen a thread related to testing .. it would be waste of time.The "Testing branch" board is probably a leftover from remote past when we had a separate testing branch in OpenVPN Git repository. A better name would be "Git master branch" or "Development version" or something. <snip .. Windows stuff> maybe we should arrange a meeting with forum maintainers, moderators, active forum contributors, with the goal or reorganizing the forums as a whole (policies, boards, board descriptions, stickies, etc.) so that they make more sense. Thoughts? Traffic's reply to Samuli: samuli wroteThis type of behavior is exactly why we created a honeypot email address for OpenVPN, and it is actually workingWorks for an unmanned email account .. On the Forum I generally ignore them. eg. "HELP ME" in "Forum and Website Support" [**] Although, I am surprised there are not more complaints about Mod approval on that board 😉 samuli wroteTraffic wroteThis means that maybe 80% of new posts require classification by a mod. With almost no active mods, the forum is left to fester.Is the problem that there are no potential new moderators, or that people are not granted moderator rights?Your question sounds loaded .. I am only giving my reasoned feedback .. and as you know: Feedback is a Two-way street .. especially when questionably lead by example ..... I see 12 possible moderators (plus one Admin) Here. But I see only one regularly active Mod .. I do recall how reclassifying post to the correct boards was of apparent importance and todays 100+ mod approved new posts is clear evidence that more Mods are desperately required! with the current objectives [**] Objectives [**] can change - This is why the future of this Forum is in question: There is a fairly comprehensive and up to date manual There is an excellent HOWTO There is Trac Why repeatedly waste time with the same problems, considering "Search" is effectively broken: Why accept questions for OpenWRT et al: Possible new Board Why accept questions for VPN Service providers (vpnbook etc): Possible new Board Why accept questions from people who should be asking their network administrator: Delete There are other examples but they would be better discussed than stated out-right. This is the content that has lead to the apparent abandoning of proper moderation on this Forum Alternatively, or in the short term .. perhaps some partial mods with approve/move-post rights would help .. I guess that is (or is not) a function of the Forum software in use. Or, perhaps, the current Mods could help a little more .. samuli wroteThe "Testing branch" board is probably a leftover from remote past when we had a separate testing branch in OpenVPN Git repository. A better name would be "Git master branch" or "Development version" or something."probably a leftover" Indeed [**] and one that indicates how long this Forum has been left without consideration .. However, as so few people who use the Forum are building GIT (plus it is very transitory), I would leave it all to the developer mailing list .. where it may be useful and people with knowledge would see it. samuli wrotemaybe we should arrange a meetingIn #openvpn / -windows or the mailing list .. this is not a dev subject. samuli wrotewith forum maintainers, moderators, active forum contributors, with the goal or reorganizing the forums as a wholeIt is a big task .. I can imagine the *groans and heads-in-hands* at the thought of it .. But in the long run (with such a popular product) I think it would make sense to try. Regards 8-)
Traffic Further considerations include: Announcement continuity Forum Team Involvement Moderation (as above) EasyRSA ... Split FOSS from NON-FOSS - Permanently and Incontrovertibly. Start as you mean to go on ... *cynical laugh*
Traffic One Final point: Quality Control would go a long way .. I will just add examples to this thread as I see fit.
