Open mhulse opened 5 years ago
toyg
commented
5 years ago I think if you go ahead and set up something, nobody will stop you :) The maintainers seem to be a bit busy at the moment, so it's up to the community to cover that sort of thing. If you do, give me a shout, I'd be happy to join.
mhulse
commented
5 years ago Good point and thanks for the reply @toyg. I really appreciate it. :)
Personally, I like listservs, but email does seem to be not as popular these days …
With that said, here are some options that could work well:
| service | pros | cons |
|---|---|---|
| Slack | Popular; sleek; easy to setup; free plan has a searchable limit of last 10000 messages | Overkill features; not free |
| Google Groups | Free; email-oriented help | Web interface not that great; email listservs not popular these days; if not locked down, spammers could ruin it; requires moderation |
| Discourse | Contemporary and intuitive interface; forum-like discussions | Large system overhead, may require moderators; OSS, but not free (free only if self-hosted) |
| IRC | Focused chat; no frills | Very geeky (in a good way, I suppose); hard to access and navigate for noobs |
What else am I missing? Anyone feel like any one wins out over the others?
Note that I am Leaving Stack Overflow off the list, as I personally don't consider that to be a good place to have conversations. Great place for specific questions, but not open-ended and/or philosophical discussions.
Thoughts?
perwendel
commented
5 years ago Thanks, it's a relevant discussion to have.
mhulse
commented
5 years ago So, just yesterday I stumbled across this repo:
https://github.com/nodejs/help
I think doing the same as above would be the perfect solution for Spark!
Let's create a GitHub Organization for Spark!
Here's what Node.js is doing as an example:
From there, we could officially add repos to the org that are specific/related/built-for Spark, like utilities, ORM layers, examples, starter templates, etc.
We could start out with Spark (this repo) and then add a new repo called "help" (like the Nodejs example above).
Starting small with the goal of it growing in future.
I'm not sure about the rest of you, but this seems like the most obvious/best solution!
I also think that an organization would help to give Spark even more positive exposure as a player in the Java framework arena.
Note: Seems like the obvious org GitHub url slug would be "https://github.com/spark-java" as that's how Spark has branded itself for Google searches and Stack Overflow. (Unfortunately, it looks like https://github.com/spark is already taken).
Thoughts anyone?
(@perwendel, I've help setup orgs for companies I've worked for, and would not mind helping setup Spark org, if you think you need the help).
tipsy
commented
5 years ago I'm pro using GitHub issues for questions and discussions.
@mhulse we have https://github.com/sparkjava, which corresponds to the website URL. Maybe we should grab spark-java too though 🤔
mhulse
commented
5 years ago I'm pro using GitHub issues for questions and discussions.
Yah, it just makes sense. I am not sure how I didn't think of this in my earlier comments! 😆
@mhulse we have https://github.com/sparkjava, which corresponds to the website URL. Maybe we should grab spark-java too though 🤔
Oooh, awesome! So, we're already there! Nice!
Because I'm weird, I'd opt for spark-java and migrate the two repos from sparkjava. From there, we could have a note on the old org that points to the new?
Or, do the reverse, and point to sparkjava?
The good news is, there's already an org with repos.
Well, I would hate to -1 from @perwendel's repo list, but it seems like Spark (this repo) should get moved into the org?
Also, looking at @perwendel's repo lists, looks like there's a few other repos that might help to bolster the org's presence on GitHub. 👍
With all that said, I think we should copy what Nodejs is doing for a help repo!
mhulse
commented
5 years ago My last post reminded me that Jekyll had a "help" repo (last time I checked):
https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-help
Looks like they moved their discussions to a Discourse forum.
Well, I still think GitHub "help" repo is the way to go for Spark. The nice thing about a specific repo for help is that it moves all the question noise from bug reports. We could have an issue template (and update README) to let people know "if this is a support question, pleas visit https://github.com/sparkjava/help" (or, something to that effect).
Just curious if there are any other outlets for getting help/discussing Spark with other users?
I love Stack Overflow, but I don't think it's the best tool for users to ask questions and have discussions around the framework.
Has anyone considered starting up a Discourse forum?
Not my fav UI, but a Google group (listservs are nice, right)?
Again, I love Stack Overflow, but it doesn't really lend itself to the type of communication that I think would best serve this community in terms of free flow of questions and ideas. With SO, you have to be very cautious with how you word things; not that I don't believe in doing research before asking questions, I just think that SO has a specific type of purpose that is not friendly to new users, philosophical discussions, meets and greets, etc. It just feels cold and uninviting.
Thoughts?