[LGM] The LGM website

[Tobias Ellinghaus]

Am Donnerstag, 16. Januar 2014, 19:13:21 schrieb ale rimoldi:
> Hi,

Hi.

> personally, I'm getting very tired with all those people who are not
> happy with the tool(s) installed on the LGM server and keep bitching
> around.

Since I feel addressed by that I will answer.

> (And I'm not happy about the server not working correctly, either).

There seem to be some configuration issues indeed.

> Since it seems that nobody likes the Wordpress that is currently
> installed on the server, we need to remove it before next year's LGM.

I am perfectly happy with Wordpress for the website. I don't have an account 
(and don't want one) but since I know Wordpress and see the website I think 
that it works nicely.

> I'm not ready to maintain the server for another year under the current
> circumstances.

Maybe we can solve some of the issues since I guess that some of them stem 
from misunderstandings.

> Now, the reason for removing Wordpress are rather simple: it is a
> blogging tool and nobody feels the need of doing any blogging on the
> LGM site.

My guess is that one of the reason is that our websites don't look like blogs. 
So no one feels that blogging there should be done. There is no start page 
with a list of recent entries, ...

> And:
> 
> - Nobody thinks that using WP as a general tool is a good idea, either.

For building the publicly visible website it does a fine job.

> - Nobody things that using WP for information management is a
>   good idea.

That's true, at least for me. Wordpress wasn't designed for collaborative 
editing of the same resources, and that is something that doesn't work nicely. 
There are too many automatisms and things that get into your way.

> - The forms plugin installed (Gravity Forms) not only is a
>   commercial plugin that we should pay for each year, but it's also the
>   best solution available for WP and is not good enough for us
>   (no granular access to the forms).

No idea about that one, never used it, can't say if there are better 
alternatives or if we should rather pay the fee.

> So: we clearly have the wrong tool installed.

I disagree. We have the right tool, it's just not a silver bullet fixing all 
our needs.

> Now, the first step for building a solid site is to find out what we
> need. The second step will be to propose and then choose the tools to be
> used.
> 
> 
> For what I know what we need (and mostly somehow already have) is:
> 
> - A website presenting the LGM (currently the lgm/ wordpress instance)
> 
> - An information management tool for the LGM (currently the lgm/
>   WP instance, partially as public, partially as private pages).

That website is highly invisible (going to that site even forwards you after a 
few seconds). Maybe I am mistaken when thinking that these things should be 
more open. If it works for working I can't tell, no account and stuff.

> - A website presenting the next/current LGM (currently the 2014/ wp...
>   and 2013/ wp, 2012/ wp...).

I would stick to Wordpress.

> - An information management tool for the specific LGM edition
>   (currently the mediawiki intance on houz' server).

Well, since that is my wiki I obviously like it.
 
> - A form/list editor for gathering the information from the
>   participants (currently the non free Gravity Forms for Wordpress).

See above, no idea about what there is out there.

> - An aggregator of tweets and co. about the LGM.

Sounds like "Web 2.0". Let others comment on that.

> My questions to you are:
> 
> - Do you know of other needs for the LGM server? (existing needs or nice
>   to have)
> 
> - Do you know good tools for meeting those needs?
> 
> And, on top of it, under certain circumstances, we will have to find a
> new server for hosting those tools... so if you have any proposition...
> 
> 
> 
> As a personal note, I'd like to install and maintain one single tool
> that happens to meet all our needs *or* install several small tools
> that all match one of the needs.

I prefer the Unix way, one tool for one job.

> I'd like to avoid installing a tool like Mediawiki, which is somehow
> the same as Wordpress, but starting from the wiki world instead of the

I have to disagree a lot here. A wiki (like Mediawiki) is definitely nothing 
like a blog system/CMS like Wordpress. In a wiki you have an open history, 
easy editing, searching, cross referencing and all these things. What you 
don't have is the visual aspect of a CMS. You could probably force a wiki into 
such a role, but that would be as wrong as using a CMS as a wiki.

> blogosphere. Somehow meeting each of needs, with no clear boundary on
> what it can and cannot do.
> ... except if you can convince a majority of LGMers that it's the best
> tool to match one of our needs.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to see a few ideas collected before the LGM, then discuss
> it in Leipzig and find good solutions for the future of the LGM server.

Ack.

> 
> Have a nice evening and sorry for the long mail... I could not write it
> shorter.
> 
> a.l.e

Tobias
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