The  filePro    Group  -  A  second  attempt

[fp at casabellagallery.com]

Mark posted:
[...]
> > I would very much like your opinion on this.  If this is something
> > the community in general is not interested in, then I will use
> > my spare time on something else (putt putt perhaps).
> 
> Well, I'm honestly not sure how much interest you'll have.  I think a
> knowledge base is a great idea.  I even like the idea of an article base
> and the other stuff you have planned.
> 
> That said, it's YANTKUW - Yet Another Site To Keep Up With.  I'm registered
> on the fP-Tech forum on their site and I think I check it once every couple
> months.  Seriously.  I play World of Warcraft, and as an MMO that's
> arguably a "community" thing, and I still don't read the forums unless I'm
> bored or looking for help.
> 

Well, I respect that but keep in mind, that not all of us have the same needs
nor available resources.  Perhaps, there are plenty of us with time in our
hands and board enough to give something like this a try.  :)  I hope!

> Let's look at this objectively:
> 
> Articles - No present resource available.
> Knowledge Base - No present resource available.
> Who's Who - fP Tech maintains a sort of directory of developers, resellers,
>             etc., but I don't think it's hugely thorough.
> Market Place - fP Tech kinda has this sort of covered in their Products
>                section of their forum.
> Code Snippets - No present resource available to my knowledge.
> Live Chat - John has the fP Room for voice chat with limited use of the
>             text area.  All suggestions regarding forming an IRC channel
>             or using IM groups have failed in the past.
> 
> You've also got to look at the audience.  Articles and Knowledge Base I can
> see people getting into.  Who's Who, less so.  Market Place, well...this
> community is a hard sell on anything, and given the existence of a barely
> used area on fP-Tech's official forum, I'm thinking it won't get used much.
> Code Snippets is a good idea, but the people most likely to do that aren't
> keen on web forums.  Live Chat I just cannot see taking off at this point,
> as the fP Room has communications mostly covered for realtime, and this
> list is a close second.
> 

I see it as an additional option and possibly, the ultimate option.  Not all
ideas will live long enough to realize their full potential but who knows, 
one can hope for the best and hope that the community as a whole welcomes
the concept and joins in.

> Of what you have, if I were to focus on an area, it would be a knowledge
> base, and potentially articles.  And the knowledge base really depends on
> how good a search engine you're putting on it.  I took a look at the site
> and that area not being ready for even skeleton use doesn't give me much of
> an idea how useful it will be.
> 
> Overall, I think the "social" aspects of such a site will fail miserably
> due to apathy combined with redundant functionality.  The technical areas
> may or may not succeed depending on how well implemented they are.
> 

Since it is intended to be a communal project, the overall site's success 
lies on everyone's involvement.  Each community (Group) will identify 
areas of interest which may not be of any interest to others, but that
does not mean it should not be part of the site (perhaps we can call it
project?).


> Speaking of which, I note you're rolling your own from the looks of it.
> (Your articles section is using a user number rather than name on article
> display, btw.)  I have to ask why you'd spend all that time rolling your
> own instead of going with existing software like a Wiki of some sort.
> 

What's the fun in that?  There is no pride if I simply did 'cut & paste'.
I am not intending to re-invent the wheel but to hopefully provide a 
communication gateway to filePro developers and in the process, give
everyone the chance to plug in their contribution.  There is that
chance that we have the skills to work jointly and develop an application
we can all use.  In the process of developing this application, we will
develop a stronger social and business structure.

> > Take a moment to review the site and let me know what you think.
> > I do not expect you to be gentle, so your true feelings and
> > criticism will be appreciated.
> 
> Well, I don't think it's -bad-.  It's brutal on the eyes though, at that
> font size.  I have to crank it up at least one notch in Firefox to get it
> readable on a 17" 1024x768 96dpi here.  Same in IE6.  The logo could use an
> overhaul, but hey, not everyone's a graphic artist and that's relatively
> unimportant.
> 

Noted, I guess that I can add CSS configuration within the user profile and
resolve pages accordingly.

> [snip].
>  There's too much adaptable stuff out there already to be bothered.
> 

Nothing like it dedicated to our communities.  None of them sponsored
directly by active members.

> And barring the social aspect, one element of the knowledge base and
> article sections is going to be content.  Namely, you have a catch-22 of
> starting with nothing, therefore nobody views it.  Nobody views it, so
> nobody visits, therefore nobody adds anything.  So unless there's a social
> dynamic involved that fires up a site like that, it's going to stagnate
> from the first second unless someone goes through the mailing list archives
> and starts harvesting tips, tricks, etc., and populating the area with the
> relevant information.
> 

Well, we have to start some where.  Again, it will very much rely on the
individual groups actively participating.  Notice that everyone will be able
to post to site ... it is open ... 

> The only way
> I could see one taking off is if Ken or John started it, and it's not a
> personal indictment against you, it's citing a catalysing factor where
> they're trusted names with high knowledge and have been highly visible in
> the community since before HTTP existed (I know John has, anyway), and
> people might follow where they go.  Someone like you or me coming in and
> trying to start it up without a kind of...following, per se--well that's
> just not going to fly well.  I wish that weren't the case, but so far it's
> proven very true in several communities.
> 
> Unfortunately, "If you build it, they will come," doesn't hold up in
> reality--even when it should.
> 

It is sad that any one person will think like that but what's real is real.
This project is NOT intended to draw personal following and I hope that 
everyone jumps in and get involved, if only for fun and play.  It has been
a long time dream of mine to exploit the potential of creating a business
network across the globe.  This is not exactly the rope that will thread
such thing, but it is a start.  Heck, if two or more parties meet through
this venue and develop a business or social relation, the project was
then a success.

I am counting on John and Ken being top participants.  I respect and value
both their knowledge and undeniable worth to the filePro community as a whole.

> Just as a point to note...I think it's a good idea on the whole, but still
> wouldn't visit it myself except as-needed, or as a marketing tool.  So my
> personal usage alone would be minimal even though when the need is strong,
> I'd want it to be there.  It's a case of those acute strong needs not being
> able to float a continuing endeavour that is the real killer for a project
> of this type.

This is perfectly fine.  No one is expected to be online all day and drop 
everything they do or abandon all other resources.  I hope that however 
little you choose to visit, you find it worth your while and have reasons
to come back.  Who knows, in time the project will win your heart and you'll
find yourself neck deep posting articles, tips, tricks, code to mention just
a few.  :)

> 
> Personally, I think you'd be better served doing whatever you enjoy in your
> free time than working on this.  I think you'll end up doing it for nothing
> unless you put in way more effort than any one person should have to.  But
> that doesn't make me right, nor does it mean you shouldn't do it.  Good
> luck if you decide to go with it!
> 

I enjoy learning.  I enjoy evolving.  I enjoy challenging myself.  I enjoy 
social and professional friendships.  I enjoy writing code.  I enjoy 
troubleshooting code.    Well, it sounds like this is something that offers
lots of things I enjoy ... :) :)


Thank so much for taking the time to post your views.  I truly appreciate
them and hope to have you as an active member.  

Regards,


Jose Lerebours