Rebranding LUSP

[luxaritas]

I started this site in mid-2018 to provide a unified front for the many active, but fractured, server projects at the time, and as a way to consolidate information that would be useful for both perspective developers and the community at large. A lot has changed in the last few years. Effort has consolidated into DLU and Uchu. DLU is going open source with a near-complete server emulator. Clients sharing and public servers are not viable in the forseeable future. The LUCH is left as the only sizable LU community platform. Focus will be shifting from development of emulators to supporting the community as they play on local servers, including an expanded focus on modding.

@Xiphoseer has registered https://lu-dev.net to host websites around various utilities, with the front page being a great potential landing point for much of the information LUSP holds. At the same time, it is becoming apparent that there would be a substantial benefit to the LUCH hosting its own website focusing on the community. That said, I'd like to propose that we "split" the LUSP into two websites, one focusing on development information (hosted on https://lu-dev.net) and one for the community (which will be branded as the LUCH website).

Some open items to discuss:

• What GitHub organization(s) should be used for both of these websites? I think the name "LU Server Projects" has outlived its usefulness - we are no longer nor need to be a project which represents all other server projects, nor server projects specifically. We could use two organizations, one being "LUDevNet"/"LU Developer Network" and the other being "LU Community"/"LU Community Hub"/etc. However, being that these are liable to be sister sites run/maintained by the same people, this may be unnecessary. That said, I see the LUCH as an organization itself so having it be held under LUDevNet seems a bit odd. Putting it under an LUCH org may make more sense, though that means it will be specifically run/provided by the LUCH, not an independent project.
• Assuming we will no longer use the lusprojects domain/org name, how should we handle retiring this repo? We could rename it, however that likely means links to lusprojects.github.io will break (or at least have a nontrivial probability of being able to break). I'd probably propose moving this repo to the new org, and then creating a new lusprojects.github.io repository redirecting to the new website (probably the LUCH website, given that this site has often been used to point community members to information).
• How should the LUSP website be reworked when it becomes the lu-dev.net landing page? At the least, the name should be changed and the FAQs should be removed. Is there other things we should include? Is there a better way to organize things to make it more useful? Should we use different theming (in order to have appropriate contrast with the current theme, we have to play a lot of games, per #36, and the stylization may be overkill)?
• What domain should the LUCH use? I was thinking lu-community.net to match with lu-dev.net. Is this presumptuous in calling ourselves "the LU community"? :P Probably fine, but I'm open for ideas.
• There is a number of things to be worked out WRT the technical and content details of the LUCH website. I'm considering them out of scope for this issue, and will be in particular coordinating with @Jettford who has volunteered to help.

[ArkShocer]

• What GitHub organization(s) should be used for both of these websites? Before thinking about an GitHub organization name, it would be better to firstly decide which domain should be used and then after that is set in stone decide the GitHub organization name.

• How should we handle retiring this repo? Refer to the new GitHub organization in the README as well as the current luch GitHub page (force a redirect to the new site <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0; url=https://newdomain.we" />), since it's possible that people could have added the website to their browser favorites and or other websites could've made links that forward to this site. After the new site is established (at least one or two years) you could then think about removing/archiving this site.

• How should the LUSP website be reworked when it becomes the lu-dev.net landing page? Yes, the site should definitely be reworked in terms of UX, accessibility etc..., but I also do think that this topic would go beyond the scope of this issue request or at least it should not be handled over this way.

• What domain should the LUCH use? This is probably the most important part since it does represent the site on the internet. Having a 16 letter domain (lu-community.net) is definitely too long and it would be much more professional to keep it short. Also, having everything regarding lu web representation under the same TLD (including things for lu-dev.net) gives a much better brand value/recognition. Separating it with different subdomains (https://forum.newdomain.we) would be ideal. I do have some domain names you could use and it should also be discussed but not in an open GitHub issue.

[Xiphoseer]

Having a 16 letter domain (lu-community.net) is definitely too long and it would be much more professional to keep it short.

For that we need to keep in mind that short domain names (such as lu.ch, lu.community, luch.net) are often expensive, in use, squatted or otherwise unavailable. And in a lot of other cases (e.g. lu-hub dot something) the associated GH name is taken.

Also for consideration: Having LU as part of the name isn't ideal, as that means LEGO is technically (even if not actually) part of the domain name.

[luxaritas]

I highly doubt TLG would care about the acronym, given my understanding of their brand policies - of course I can't say for absolutely certain. I'm more concerned about ensuring we choose a domain that is clearly associated with the "LU Community Hub" (which we are unlikely to rebrand). Personally I don't think lu-community.net is problematically long (especially since it's a two letter acronym + a common word, so I don't see it as being perceived as long).

The most recent discussion Xiphoseer and I had was that most likely, the LUCH website would be maintained by the LU Developer Network (LUDevNet), given that it's more likely individuals in that community would be contributing vs LUCH staff. Also not concerned about "brand recognition" between the LUCH site and LUDevNet - while they're closely related, they're really two different things (one being a coalition of/central resource for developers, the other being a more generic LU community)