Discussion Forum

[Shashank Krishnamurthy]

Hi All,

I think Google Groups does a good job of having our discussions but in my experience with Google groups is not great for us for a few reasons as there can be multiple threads for the same topic and the information is quite scattered. Google groups (GG) is definitely good for general updates but I feel that for a group like ours, GG would not fit too well for discussions.

I was thinking of having a discussion forum where all the members can actively participate, post queries and suggestions etc., and this would be a way to overcome the shortcomings of Google groups and even Github's forums.
What might be required is a Reddit kind of a discussion forum for each of our meetup.

Owning to other shortcomings of Reddit (which is not very beginner friendly) I think Discourse is good option for this.

We can setup the entire application on DigitalOcean.

The only issue is the cost now. We might need the following

1. $10(~ Rs.650) a month for running the application on DigitalOcean
2. A domain name - 650 per year.
3. Miscellaneous (around Rs. 1000) per year.

Everything would come up to around Rs. 8-9K per year. If the members can pool in some money we can have this working.

I would like to hear out the comments from you all on this.

Regards
Shashank

[Saifi]

> -------Original Message-------
> From: Shashank Krishnamurthy <skmur...@gmail.com>
> To: FOSS Cafe <foss...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [fosscafe] Discussion Forum
> Sent: Sep 04 '17 19:51
>
> Hi All,
>

> I think Google Groups does a good job of having our discussions but I my experience with Google groups is not great for a few reasons as there can be multiple threads for the same topic and the information is quite scattered. Google groups (GG) is definitely good for general updates but I feeling is that for a group like ours, GG would not fit.

>
> I was thinking of having a discussion forum where all the members can actively participate, post queries and suggestions etc., and this would be a way to overcome the shortcomings of Google groups and even Github's forums.
> What might be required is a Reddit kind of a discussion forum for each of our meetup.
>
> Owning to other shortcomings of Reddit (which is not very beginner friendly) I think Discourse is good option for this.
>
> We can setup the entire application on DigitalOcean.
>
> The only issue is the cost now. We might need the following
>
> 1. $10(~ Rs.650) a month for running the application on DigitalOcean
> 2. A domain name - 650 per year.
> 3. Miscellaneous (around Rs. 1000) per year.
>
> Everything would come up to around Rs. 8-9K per year. If the members can pool in some money we can have this working.
>
> I would like to hear out the comments from you all on this.
>
> Regards
> Shashank
>

Here is my suggestion
In the next 3-4 fosscafe meetups, how about you presenting and sharing your thoughts right in the beginning of the meetup ?
By having a face2face exchange of thoughts, it will be easy to estimate the interest level in the community members and how much you will be able to raise.

warm regards
Saifi.

[Shashank Krishnamurthy]

Sure Saifi. Seems like a good idea.

Regards
Shashank

[Saifi]

Shashank, in addition, you may also want to expedite testing the idea by creating a online poll using services like

https://www.easypolls.net/
or
http://www.strawpoll.me/
or
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/online-polls/

You gain quick response from the community members anonymously in addition to face2face discussions.

just a thought.

warm regards
Saifi.

[Shashank Krishnamurthy]

Hi Saifi,

I am little held up till 20th Sep. Will pick it up after 20th and try to have a working model by 24th Sep so that we can demo it to the community.

Regards
Shashank

[Saifi]

Shashank any initiative you take has to be sustainable and engage the community. This is for our long-term benefit.

warm regards
Saifi.