Re: A Forum for Guix Users

[Ahmed Khanzada <me@enzu.ru>]

I like this forum idea.

In fact, I really think a forum / presence for GNU more generally would
be excellent.

Yes, you can find dedicated spaces for Emacs, Guix, etc, and there is
#gnu on Libera and some mailing lists.

But I think we are sorely missing a central point where users can go and
see how they might use Guix, Emacs, etc in conjunction. As well as join
a community centered on GNU as an OS.

I document using Guix, Emacs, exwm and etc together on various
proprietary online spaces like GitHub, Medium, and Reddit. This is
because there is good foot traffic in these spaces. Both old and new
hackers are present in these spaces. But their proprietary nature is
unfortunate. It would be more ideal to document how to use GNU on an
official GNU platform.

As of right now, if you approach the GNU community, it just feels like a
disconnected set of packages. I spend a lot of time explaining to people
how GNU is a unique libre operating system which you can extend using
Lisp. I show them examples of how I have a "fullstack" Lisp workstation
with Guix, Emacs, and exwm. After seeing such an example, the concept of
GNU really "clicks" for them.

I make my living deploying and monitoring applications on servers, so
let me know if I can help setup a social GNU presence.

Distopico <distopico@riseup.net> writes:

> I have been using and participating in other GNU distributions such as
> Trisquel and Parabola, but mostly as beholder/viewer.
>
> After more than 10 year the forum of Trisquel still active, not like 8
> years ago before social media, but is active, and more important is used
> mostly for new user, and non-technical user, also the Trisquel forum is
> well indexed and when you try to find something related with Trisquel
> the forums is the solutions for those issues usuall.y 
>
> Trisquel also have mailing list but used mostly for dev/contributor and
> the Irc for also for dev/contributors or more advanced users.
>
> Parabola as well have a forum/Irc/mailing, but in this case the forum is
> not quite active, maybe because the focus of parabola is more advanced
> users, also as Parabola user as well I also check Archlinux
> documentation to try to fix my issues or Archlinux forums because are
> more complete.
>
> So I don't think a forum crate fragmentation, and the Forum is an entry
> place for beginners and unlike Parabola that has the documentation of
> Arch, Guix need to have your own solutions and your own documentation
> and a forum is a good place to build that.
>
> So said that:
> - Forum: A good place for beginner an non-technical user (I guess all
> Guix user require some technical knowledge), also a good place for
> create history and user documentation/solutions.
>
> - Irc: For quick question, developer and contributor discussions and
>   more advanced users (bridge to Matrix would be good).
>
> - Mailing List: For contributors, developers, and more long-terms
>   questions, as well more advanced users.
>
> on the other hand I think that the mailing lists create a more conducive
> environment for debate than the forum itself, but again, for new user a
> Forum is a better place or to find quick solutions which on Irc are hard
> to find.