Re: Making Lua accessible to everyone

Hi Rob!

Thank you, I appreciate your honest feedback.

I hear what you're saying. And I think most of it is because of unfamiliarity with mailing lists and technical documentation. Most people don't even know there's an UI for mailing lists. And technical documentation is still scary to beginners. Many people also prefer the forum layout and structure (over, let's say Reddit's "tree/branching" structure?) StackOverflow on the other hand, is not a very welcoming place for beginners: beginners get downvoted a lot, their questions get locked, and they get attacked for not asking the questions correctly. Beginners, especially those completely new to programming wouldn't even know how to ask a correct question. I'm not saying SO is doing anything wrong, but beginners do not feel welcome there. Agree?

Well, not all my sites show up on the first page of Google when I search for related keywords. It's a great domain name.

You're probably right in that nothing has ever been deleted from the lua-l archives. The reason I mention it is because I want to assure you the same applies to LuaForum.com

That's ok. If you ever change your mind, you're welcome.

Sincerely,

Sorn

mandag 16. november 2020 skrev Rob Kendrick <rjek@rjek.com>:

On Thu, Nov 12, 2020 at 03:22:38PM +0100, Sorn Županić Maksumić wrote:
> To continue, at least 90% of the traffic LuaForum.com is getting is from
> beginners searching “Lua Forum”, because they need help. The forum has
> great SEO (mainly because of the domain name) and the forum always appears
> on the first page on Google. But, it’s no use in having great SEO if there
> is no one around to help the beginners, right?

Perhaps your website could point them towards the web interface to
lua-l? It doesn't let you post (problems with spam and poor-quality)
but it does let you read using a website. Perhaps the lua.org website
could also add your forum to the Community page, too.

> People new to programming are most likely not going to join a mailing
> list

Do you know why, even if it has a web interface? I mean, it's still
another UI and username/password to remember.

> The forum has great SEO and it’s the first place many beginners look for
> help

Well, searching for the name of your site finds your site, that's not
surprising :) The main Lua website lists numerous discussion fora,
including this one, it's not hard to find.

> Technical documentation can be scary and there's no way to ask a question

No way to ask a question where? On the docs? The website has links to
many places you can ask a question, most of which do not require any
sign up at all.

> Experts can share good coding practice and style

Same applies to everywhere the community section of the website
mentions.

> Posts will never be deleted

I don't know about other systems, but I don't think a post has ever been
deleted from the lua-l archives.

> I hope you join, but no pressure if you don't. It's up to you.

Sadly I won't be joining, I've found web fora almost universally
terrible places in terms of interface, convenience, uptime, reliability,
and content. Needing a special sign-up just for it is also a put-off
for me: somewhere like StackOverflow or Reddit where people are likely
to already have signed up seems better to me, if a mailing list is not
an option.

B.