[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Community building

[Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

[replies set to freeciv@xxxxxxxxxxx]

On Fri, Jan 18, 2002 at 08:09:37AM -0600, Mike Kaufman wrote:

> I'm reposting this to <freeciv-dev> which is not quite as dead in my
> opinion as <freeciv>. Perhaps the list will have some suggestions for
> you.

There is no need to do that.  If the poster had just posted to freeciv
he would have gotten the same reply.  There's nothing wrong with that
list as far as I can see, response is good there.  Would it help to set
up a Web interface for it?

> I am not the "www" maintainer, but perhaps he who is would think about
> this. There _is_ an offsite online forum whose name escapes me at the
> moment.

#freeciv on irc.openprojects.net, duly listed on the website
we could offer a Java IRC client on the site, would that help?

and these is a Freeciv forum on apolyton
and civserver.freeciv.org also has a forum feature
 
> So what do people think?

I think it's already too much.  There's only so much you can follow.
Local forums exist in some places.

> -mike

I don't know why the Freeciv community seems so small.
Perhaps other games are just more popular?  We could advertise more.

> From: Yon Uriarte <ukl2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 10:24:55 +0100 (CET)
> To: <mkaufman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Community building

[...]

>  I remembered how for netrek (another online game) there were tournaments
> organized and how ppl then met in person. I feel there is no community
> feeling in freeciv, there is no forum for players to meet outside of the
> game.  [...]

Electronically, there is.  Do you mean in real life?

>  His suggestion was to have an online web forum on the freeciv.org site,
> for easy reachability with any web client.

Yes, iff it is an interface to the mailing lists.
 
>  My suggestion as a former usenet junkie was to use alt.games.freeciv,
> which, as far as i can see, is not mentioned on the website.

  http://www.google.com/search?q=alt.games.freeciv+site:www.freeciv.org

> I like usenet
> because of its asynchronous nature. You read it when you feel like it, no
> spamming involved.

Yes, me too.  Paul has suggested setting up a news.freeciv.org and
running the newsgroups there.  But I can't see much of a difference with
the mailing lists.
 
>  Ideally a mail-news and mail-web gateway could be setup for the freeciv
> mailing list. This could help develop a players community and if that
> happened, an excellent repository for game tips and strategies might
> evolve. This could ideally lead to a tighter knit community, one which
> might support in-person meetings and tournaments.

What can the web gateway offer beyond what a generic web-based mail
client can offer?

>  For the netrek community, with its extensive use of rec.games.netrek
> it lead to yearly meetings, where people would drink, play and have fun.

Do these meetings still exist now that there are so many alternatives
to netrek?

>  I guess the software to do the gatewaying is free out there. It would be
> just a matter of installing it, that is, prioritizing your (and
> others) work. Maybe a poll could be set up on the web site, to see what
> kind of interest this ideas generate. OTOH I'm not so sure many people,
> specially better (more involved) players, use the web site too often. I
> guess the metaserver is what they only use.
> 
>  What do you think about this suggestions?

 I like them, they have been discussed before, but it's unclear whether
they would be worthwhile to implement.

> TIA, HAND, HTH
>  yon

-- 
Reinier