Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Hello,

Is there any plans for porting the main talk.maemo.org site using something similar to StackOverflow

Although the forum has many nice features still it is much easier to communicate through SO like interfaces. While StackExchange is going open somebody on board could take advantage of this process for the benefit of the community.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

The above link has a misspelling that takes you to a typo-squatting site.

I too find that the talk.maemo forum interface is pretty poor. Active topics and new posts get buried too quickly off the main page, so a lot of interesting stuff never gets discussed because most people never have a chance to see it.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Thanks for the catch. I fixed the typo. I agree with your observations.

Maemo.org pages (talk, wiki, etc) usually overloaded with information. For a beginner to the community it is hard to locate useful information easily. I usually end up reading multiple entries or many time irrelevant/old information either on wiki or talk.

Stackoverflow interface mixes all Wikis, Blogs, Forums, and Digg/Reddit in one-place simplying the access and interraction of information very much easier than the exisiting alternatives. See SO about section for more info. (It's annoying that one cannot try to post a link or image and browse another tab at the same time.)

http://sstatic.net/so/Img/stackoverf...nn-diagram.png

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Yes, we want in-place commenting. Come on guys let's make some noise :)

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Here comes two OSS alternatives to StackOverflow:

http://array-shift.com/
http://www.osqa.net/

Let's build one for the Maemo community...

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

One more link:

http://linuxexchange.org/

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

StackExchange (using the same code-base as Stack Overflow) is pretty much free now.
We could just propose a Maemo-based site on their new staging area (Area51) and if enough people signed up they would host it.

Edit: Proposed on StackExchange.
I'm not sure if it will gain the inertia it would need to be successful - but we lose nothing by trying.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Can't we just do the same thing under maemo.org domain?

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Possibly - but it seems like it would be a lot of work to implement, plus get it through the bureaucracy.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

How does this maemo.org bureaucracy works? Via proposals or by making lots of noises in the forum pages (aka whoever gets the highest reply count?)

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Via proposals on Brainstorm usually. People vote there on ideas for changes, which may or may not get picked up.

Noise in the forum itself usually doesn't get very far unless someone in the community picks up on an idea and runs with it themselves.

I may be wrong here, but for a proposed change to the whole structure of the site, or a new part of the site, it would need to go through Nokia/Reggie/The Community Council.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Any votes for the new interface?

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Haha, no - absolutely no interest it seems.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

This is a very good idea, but I doubt that it will get implemented.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

At *.meego.com maybe...

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

I proposed this idea @ Proposed Talk forum improvements for 2010 brainstorm. It is solution #18

Please vote it up. Making some buzz might grab some attention.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

When I look at stackoverflow.com I see a website filled to the roof with almost nothing but tags. Really. Tags. What have they done for me lately? Maybe the odd chuckle at a small bit of creative sarcasm every other week or so, but otherwise, nothing. That's right. Nothing. : )

Seriously, why would I want to learn how to drive yet another needlessly complex amalgamation of reddit, digg, yahoo answers, eharmony, and slashdot all rolled in to one very unattractive interface. (That last bit about attractiveness is perhaps a small bit subjective)

Karma, badges, points - Meh. Who cares. It's not a popularity contest, it's real life.

I like talk.maemo.org just the way it is. I don't like the whole brown thing, but the site is easy to navigate, fairly logical, with tons of useful information.

You feel the Stack Overflow interface makes communication easier? That is about as subjective as me calling their site ugly : ) I disagree good sir. It is cold and clinical. It assigns more importance to page views and ranking than it does to actual content. It assumes a "Question" and "Answer" format rather than a "Community" discussion arena. I prefer the latter.

Anyway, that ends my small soapbox rant for today.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

The killer feature of this interface is that you do not need to digg through 2000+ posts in a thread to find the useful ones, because they are right there at the top of the first page. Most voted answers or marked as answers by OT are displayed first.


People answering questions care. And it's the popularity contest for them.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

I don't think the StackOverflow interface works for a forum. But for a Q&A area it would work. The point of a forum is a linear conversation organized by time. StackOverflow and its cousins usually are for Q&A.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Plus you don't quote a reply and make it stick to the end of that 2000th message in SO. Conversations are more organized. Replies get their own replying space. Ranting feature is so useful to reach the most useful information.

ask.maemo.org could be a great domain to start an interface.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Excellent point. So what kinds of questions would be ideal for this theoretical Maemo Q&A page? I think it would basically be:

"How do I do X on Maemo device Y?"

Right? Nothing more? Well, people could, I suppose, ask more nebulous questions like

"When is Adobe Flash Player 10.1 coming to the N900?"

In that case, the top answer would presumably be the one with the most current & authoritative statement from Nokia (or, if none exists, the closest thing to that). The top answer should NOT, in theory, be the most popular flaming criticism of Nokia. ;)

One challenge with a Q&A is that the knowledge base isn't static. For example, consider a question like "How do I install NITDroid on my N900?" The best answer would have changed dramatically over the past several months. The more vaguely worded the question, the harder it will be to tell if the answer is out of date. Although if the questions are dated, that will help. And if questions can be marked as outdated, that would also help.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

I think this is exactly the proposal.
Not to replace forum, but supplement it.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

Yes, I'd definitely agree on an "in addition to" rather than "instead of" sort of deal. StackOverflow and the like don't encourage discussion or meta questions - the only things being asked there should be things that have answers.

There is a proposal for a Maemo-based site on the stack overflow engine at Area51. If people want both, we just need more people to ask and answer questions in this format.

Re: Stackoverflow interface for talk.maemo
 

@codeMonkey

We might test these two questions in addition to yours...

Why Maemo is better than (list your favorite OS)
What is your favorite Maemo trick?