Stefan wrote:

Alex Bishop wrote:Don't really want to create any new forums either (we've got 20!).

I'm not arguing for or against making more forums in this specific case, but I don't understand that argument.

I mod other forums of which one has 70+ subsections, and that works just fine. So I don't see 20 forums as exceptional in any way.
10, 20 or 30 makes no difference to me.
The judgment IMO should rather be if there is a need / desired target for a specific forum, then how many other forums there are already.

Or is there some other reason behind it, like database preformance or something?

It's more of a we-don't-really-want-to-create-loads-of-forums-on-a-whim reason. That doesn't mean there won't ever be new forums. It's just that the current set have only been up for a fortnight and we don't really want to rush in and create loads more right now.

I'm sure lots of sites have 70+ forums but remember that MozillaZine is actually a rather small site. Plus, I wouldn't want to read 70+ forums worth of posts every day.

I think a resource site with beginner-guides / tutorials / things like that would be more usefull than just another discussion forum. I think people who are unexperienced and shy won't post / ask in the newsgroups and in the discussion forums as well.

Alex Bishop wrote:Don't really want to create any new forums either (we've got 20!).

I'm not arguing for or against making more forums in this specific case, but I don't understand that argument.

I mod other forums of which one has 70+ subsections, and that works just fine. So I don't see 20 forums as exceptional in any way.
10, 20 or 30 makes no difference to me.
The judgment IMO should rather be if there is a need / desired target for a specific forum, then how many other forums there are already.

Or is there some other reason behind it, like database preformance or something?

Johann_P wrote:So any development question which is *not* about themes or extension would still be off-topic there and I guess not many would be motivated to post something related to general Mozilla development in there. I am not sure myself how many people would really *want* to discuss Mozilla development here at Mozillazine, but IMO anything that would motivate people to get into contributing (instead of just whining) would be good.

I think the best place for general development questions is the netscape.public.mozilla.* newsgroups. They were created for developer discussion and, in theroy, the developers should hang out there.

Johann_P wrote:I was therefore thinking of something more in the direction of "Mozilla Extensions and Development" (or vice versa) as the title and "...extension and general Mozilla development" in the description. Having these two combinded could also provide a forum to help people decide whether they want to go for a patch or implement it in an extension first, whether something can be take from an extension into the Mozilla tree and so on.

Don't really want to change the purpose of the Extensions forums. Don't really want to create any new forums either (we've got 20!). We'll just see how it all pans out for the moment. Everything will be reviewed in good time.

Thank you for changing this!
However, what I suggested was a *Mozilla* development newbie forum, the descriptions just indicate theme or extension development. So any development question which is *not* about themes or extension would still be off-topic there and I guess not many would be motivated to post something related to general Mozilla development in there. I am not sure myself how many people would really *want* to discuss Mozilla development here at Mozillazine, but IMO anything that would motivate people to get into contributing (instead of just whining) would be good.
So, if somebody is looking for the right place to do that, I still doubt if "Mozilla extension development" sounds as the right topic and inviting enough.

I was therefore thinking of something more in the direction of "Mozilla Extensions and Development" (or vice versa) as the title and "...extension and general Mozilla development" in the description. Having these two combinded could also provide a forum to help people decide whether they want to go for a patch or implement it in an extension first, whether something can be take from an extension into the Mozilla tree and so on.

I am sorry if my tone was harsh or impolite - i am very impressed about what the owners of Mozillazine and the forums did and still do - this site is not just great, it *is* still getting better all the time.

Johann_P wrote:Seems it is asking too much to actually tell the people that the extensions forum should be used for any development discussions by slightly changing the name and description of that forum. Or is it that the forum administrators simply do not want any development related discussion to get going in here?

Calm down. The descriptions of the themes and extensions forums have been updated to refelct the fact that relevant development questions are welcome there.

Stefan wrote:I didn't post here for the simple reason I had nothing to add to discussion that had not already been said

A more general development discussion might be beneficial to both attract and keep coders around
Or at least renaming "extensions" to "extensions and development".

I agree with Stefan. I'd like to know more about making skins (especially for Phoenix) but I'm having trouble starting...

RAF

Seems it is asking too much to actually tell the people that the extensions forum should be used for any development discussions by slightly changing the name and description of that forum. Or is it that the forum administrators simply do not want any development related discussion to get going in here?

Stefan wrote:I didn't post here for the simple reason I had nothing to add to discussion that had not already been said

A more general development discussion might be beneficial to both attract and keep coders around
Or at least renaming "extensions" to "extensions and development".

Any chance then to get the extensions forum renamed and maybe the description changed accordingly? I'd really want to give it a try again and see what happens

I didn't post here for the simple reason I had nothing to add to discussion that had not already been said

A more general development discussion might be beneficial to both attract and keep coders around
Or at least renaming "extensions" to "extensions and development".

asa wrote:We have forums for Mozilla and Phoenix Themes and Extensions. Maybe if those prove insufficient to house development discussion then the mozillazine staff could add an additional forum.

So would it maybe be possible to add a blurb to the name/description of the extension forum that this is the right place for development discussions too and see what happens? The thing is that I would have been reluctant to post development stuff anywhere because I did not feel that there is a "right" place for it.

From the small number of views/posts this topic has received I must admit that my believe that there are many people interested in starting/discussing development here is probably really wishful thinking ...

Yeah, we're done making new forums for now, let's see how it goes before adding more.

jason

We have forums for Mozilla and Phoenix Themes and Extensions. Maybe if those prove insufficient to house development discussion then the mozillazine staff could add an additional forum.

--Asa

Shark Daddy wrote:See that's the problem. In my experience, they usually don't.

Dont you think that this is a bit too harsh? I am not talking about Mozilla newbies here ("how do I bookmark") but about developer newbies ("where is the code for X" etc). Sure, some of them will ask silly questions, some will ask questions that have been asked before, but if there is a community reading this, we do not need the big gurus like you to answer the simple questions over and over again - other newbies will do it for you. I think there will be quite a few good programmers in the group of mozillazine readers who just shied away from creating some patch because the initial effort is quite high. Helping here could get one or two bugs more fixed, and wouldnt that be also in the interest of the big gurus?
I dont think that an attitude that from the beginning qualifies all newbies as senseless trolls is apropiate. If you are tired of answering questions, just dont do it - others will do it in your place. Then maybe I am wrong and there are not that many people interested in this ... how about a poll?

See that's the problem. In my experience, they usually don't.