From: James Britt <james_b@...>
Date: 2006-06-07T03:36:54+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby-forum.com

Matthew Smillie wrote:
...

> That said, I'm also of the view that the quality and tone of the  
> questions from ruby-forum often leave something to be desired.
> 
> I have a hunch this is because google groups and mailing lists tend  to 
> be used by people who already know what they're looking for, and  
> already know where the docs live.  I'd bet that a number of the  people 
> posting from the forum are probably not aware of all the  resources 
> available to them.

I read an article on someone's site that critiqued Ruby form the view of 
a PHP developer, and I got the strong sense that this person thought 
Ruby and Rails were one and the same, and that Ruby Forum was the only 
public forum.

People come to Ruby by a variety of vectors, but not all of them 
encourage the Big Picture.  So we end up with various subcultures and 
communities, with assorted friction.


> 
> I think that it might be a better improvement to add links to  standard 
> Ruby documentation (ruby-lang.org, online Pickaxe, ruby- doc.org, 
> Poignant Guide, et alia) on the forum pages - currently they  only link 
> to other forums.  I'm pretty firm in my belief that this  would benefit 
> everyone involved.  And I mean, really, what good is a  'ruby forum' 
> that lacks even a link to the ruby homepage?

Agreed.  It might give people a fuller sense of the Ruby community and 
available resources.

-- 
James Britt

"I often work by avoidance."
- Brian Eno