Where should people ask Lunar related questions?

[engelsman]

As a Lunar newbie, I've registered with the mailing list, and also with the forum on the new web site. I haven't got as far as getting connected to #lunar.

From what I've seen over the past couple of weeks, things are pretty quiet on the mailing list except for developer checkin type info. The forum only has a small number of registered users, but maybe old users haven't re-registered on the new site yet. So I'm wondering whether all of the action is on IRC.

Where should people ask Lunar related questions?

(Edited by Striker: Add "All of the Above" option, A/B/C are all incorrect, a person chooses their preference, we do not choose it for you.)

[Striker]

It seems you obvioulsy have missed the point of being able to have so many ways to interact with the lunar developers.

To answer your question: All of the Above.

The only reason all of these different ways exist is to let people choose the way they would like to receive their information. There is no rule on the website that says "You MUST as for support in X manor."

There are developers that monitor all of the ways one could possibly ask for support, so the point is moot -- any way that you ask for support will get you a response -- of course, only if you have patience to wait for it sometimes (we have lives too you know).

[engelsman]

No, no, that wasn't my intention at all. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't overstepping the mark if I posted to the wrong one. It wasn't altogether clear whether the different areas (mailing list, forum, #lunar) were used for different purposes. From what I've seen so far it appears to be divided into developer announcements, user self help, and real-time community chit chat - I can only judge the last by 'meanwhile on #lunar'.

And besides, I wanted to play with the Poll option of the forum
You are right, though, I missed off the 'All of the above' option

I've been on enough mailing lists and newsgroups to know that everyone has their own lives and it's all on a voluntary basis, and I know that some of the experts put in an awful lot of their spare time into keeping things going. And I really appreciate it.

I just wish I had as much spare time.

[sofar]

Okay, this is indeed a hard question to answer so let me try to descibe the situation a bit:

first, lunar is a relatively small community and that makes it hard for us to monitor and reply on a quick basis to certain requests. This also is a problem for us ourselves (us developers) so we obviously have a preferred method of communicating.

Currently this is IRC. The reason is simple: it's the fastes way to connect and contact other developers and discuss issues, and it's also fun and builds contacts fast.

So, if you really want to have a fast answer to your question, IRC is the obvious answer. However!

As you can imagine we might be asleep, or doing homework, or even working at the time you drop in on IRC. Just ask your question and wait - nothing wrong with that. If this doesn't help you, you can always fall back and ask on the mailinglist or the forum.

The forum has the benefit that it's instantly accessible and searcheable on the internet. You can reply quickly and store the entire discussion for later. This helps especially users amongst themselves with small problems.

However, when things are a problem - you should always file a bugreport and mail to the mailinglist. Developers have a tendency not to follow the forums because after a while the amount of posts is so large, and they have no real way of sifting through the endless discussions to spot the places where their assistance is really needed.

So this is why we have the mailinglist: short to-the-point messages reporting problems, or otherwise important discussions that really need to be archived for later.

In all cases: you can ALWAYS mail the mailinglists. The forum is for those who love it, and IRC is for those nuts who can't wait to help or be helped.

so, all of the above!

[ElllisD]

but expect to be made fun of if youre a noob in the irc

[ElAngelo]

[ElllisD]

k so maybe i reached a bit too far in wanting to use lunar.
im trying to squeeze everything i can out of this machine, which is why i left ms in the first place.
so far ive found that i need my apps to be 686 to use both cpus, and if theyre compiled theyre even faster
i just cant allow a one-size-fits-all os to be in there.
a year into linux, i believe ive learned alot- however, the more i learn the more i need to learn as i find more & more to be possible.
i find an irc room ideal for support as i know no one who uses linux (few ppl i know even know what a kernel is) & my day seems to not allow enough time to get what i need.
its crossed my mind to use all my vacation time at once, lock myself up somewhere & do the LFS from the book. maybe i will, & then i might be able to appreciate the what n whys of lunars methods.
in the meantime, i'll think twice before i enter an irc, maybe ill wait till i spend a few days messing w/ things.

[engelsman]

[Striker]