I talked about getting help for CentOS in February 2009 and presented some Google search results comparing the number of hits between the mailing lists and the forums. That was 15 months ago and I thought I should update the results. Exactly the same search was performed yesterday (May 29, 2010).
Search term M/L Forums
============ === ======
install     0   25
installation  0   7
kernel     0   23
driver(s)Â Â Â Â Â 0Â Â Â 22
DNS Â Â Â Â Â Â 3 Â Â 37
postfix    19   24
sendmail    5   30
selinux     0   23
apache     0   23
httpd         0   40
xen       3   33
kickstart    5   25
crash      2   21
panic      2   27
Google’s tendency to pick up forum posts rather than mailing list posts is much more obvious now than it was last year. It looks as if Google is fond of the forums better than the mailing lists 😀 Or is it simply because there are more posts in the forums?
Regardless of the reason, what this means is that it is important to keep the quality of the forum contents high. I would say that the current status is quite good; there are a number of forum regulars providing help. Inappropriate replies, if they appear, get corrected by senior members. Still, the forums can use more helping hands. Why don’t you join in and make this CentOS help venue even better?
The forum is sooo much better quality because it is moderated.
There should be a note
help goto forum
flame wars and announcements goto ML
Keep up the amazing, brilliant, very useful work 🙂
Thank you for the encouraging words, Didi.
Keeping the friendly atmosphere in addition to offering technical help is important in the forums. So far, we seldom see unhappy users there.