Python Forum

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:16:03 -0700, Pierre Quentel wrote:

> So the OP's initiative should be an incentive to think on the format of
> the interaction between all the range of Python users, from newbees to
> gurus. We are in the 2.0 era, with social networks all over the place
> using a pleasant interface, 

Really? I can't think of any 2.0 era social networks using pleasant 
interfaces. All the ones I've seen or used start with mediocre interfaces 
and get worse from there.


> while c.l.p has a rather austere look and feel, with text only, 

Thank goodness for that!


> no way to present code snippets in a different
> font / background than discussions, 

If somebody can't distinguish code from comments in a post by the 
context, they aren't cut out to be a programmer and should probably stick 
to posting "OMG LOL" on a social networking site.

> and even an unintuitive way of entering links...

Pasting or typing a URL is unintuitive?

If somebody can't take the time and effort to post a URL in a form that 
is not broken, well, that doesn't say much for their skills as a coder 
does it? If you can't handle the fact that URLs can't be broken over 
multiple lines in email and news posts, how do you expect to handle even 
more vigorous requirements while programming?


> I'm not saying that pythonforum.org is the best solution but it
> certainly looks more attractive than c.l.p. to the new generation of
> Python users

I get:

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://pythonforum.org/ 
 The following error was encountered:
 Connection to 173.83.46.254 Failed  
 The system returned: 
    (111) Connection refused


Oops. Looks like they can't handle the millions of new users joining up.

Despite my sarcasm, I actually do wish them the best. I'm not too worried 
about fragmenting the community -- the community is already fragmented, 
and that's a *good thing*. There are forums for newbies, for development 
*of* Python (rather than development *in* Python), for numeric work in 
Python, for Italian-speakers, for game development, etc. This is the way 
it should be, and I don't fear a competing general Python forum or 
forums. If they're better than comp.lang.python, they will attract more 
users and become the place to be, and if they're not, they won't.



-- 
Steven