Spilt off / Re: Forum slow for others as well ?

[Joanna]

Moderation note

Don't try to change the topic. Don't embed hidden references to circumvent the rules. (For other readers: Hidden ref to IRC => see forum rules)

Also "the decision" => is a misrepresentation. There was no decision to give up any alternative services.

Any further circumventions of the rules will be deleted.

I’m not sure what you mean but please do advise us of where to get help with pascal when the forum is unreachable. That would be very helpful.

[Martin_fr]

There are various official mailing lists.

There are plenty of 3rd party sites (different nationalities), local user groups in various places that may have their means of communications and can be joined. Since those are 3rd party, and we can not control what they are doing => we do not usually advertise them here. (though some are in the "other languages section".

The quality of answers in any of them is purely contributor dependent. Exactly as for this forum.

[Joanna]

https://www.mail-archive.com/fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org/maillist.html
It’s good that there are official mailing lists but this one doesn’t seem very active, the last post was on September 20.

In my experience mailing lists can be confusing to use. Have you considered other types of official places that people can go to when forums are down?

[Martin_fr]

In my experience mailing lists can be confusing to use. Have you considered other types of official places that people can go to when forums are down?

"Considered": We aren't a company with board meetings, and paid employed that get assigned tasks.  So consideration (and decisions) wont take place until there is a possibility arising "on its own". (volunteered)

If someone from the team(s) volunteers, and then (and only then) if there are no compelling reasons against it, then something will be done. If not, then not. Simple. Nothing more to be said about it.

Well, one more thing to be said (kind of a repeat): Currently there is no reason to consider or decide.
(This is just stating a fact / this is no judgment on it, nor does it require any / and history teaches us that this wont change for any amount of any posts made here)


So lets better return to the topic: The current state of accessing the forum

The "cookie issue" should afaik be solved, if not anyone still getting it should point that out again.

The speed issue is ongoing, and to the best of my knowlegde being worked on (within the limit of what is possible)

EDIT: split off the topic instead.

[Joanna]

Although I wish there were more resources, At least there are still official mailing lists.
I can see link for them on left side. I’m not sure how easy it will be to access them for first time when the forums are unusable.
So why not just advise people to preemptively sign up for mailing lists and become familiar with them?  It wouldn’t hurt to explain how to use them properly because it’s tricky for people not used to mailing lists.

[creaothceann]

There's also

https://old.reddit.com/r/pascal/
https://old.reddit.com/r/freepascal/

[Nicole]

not today and not recently

[PascalDragon]

https://www.mail-archive.com/fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org/maillist.html
It’s good that there are official mailing lists but this one doesn’t seem very active, the last post was on September 20.

So? And you conclude that because the last mail was from roughly two weeks ago that no one is reading there? We've gone much longer times with no mails and it's still no indicator of activity and the mailing lists have a very high variance in activity. Just suggest a controversial feature and you'll see how active the mailing lists can become.

In my experience mailing lists can be confusing to use.

What's confusing about e-mails especially if your mail client implements threading which most e-mail clients do?

Have you considered other types of official places that people can go to when forums are down?

The mailing lists are the official channel and they have the least burden of entrance, cause all you need is an e-mail address which most people already have.

[Joanna]

Why do you think there are such long periods of inactivity in the mailing list? Was it always this way?

 Don’t get me wrong, I think the more platforms available the better as long as they don’t seem inactive. Some platforms don’t even require an email address believe it or not.

[marcov]

Why do you think there are such long periods of inactivity in the mailing list? Was it always this way?

A lot moved to the forum in the last ten years, before 2015 the maillists were moreimportant, specially for development/cutting edge.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the more platforms available the better as long as they don’t seem inactive. Some platforms don’t even require an email address believe it or not.

Any fall back option will be less active compared to the forum itself. That is the fate of a secondary option, to be less than the primary 

[Martin_fr]

There are people who think that curly brackets would be a good replacement for begin/end. And for some reason, despite it has been answered way more than once, every now and then that topic comes up again...

Sorry, but something reminded me of the above...

[Joanna]

The forums are a good resource but they are not good for socializing  like other platforms used to be. Some people need something more fun and less formal to stay motivated. Not everyone is the same.
Without anyone to talk to about pascal , pascal isn’t fun anymore.

[marcov]

The forums are a good resource but they are not good for socializing  like other platforms used to be. Some people need something more fun and less formal to stay motivated. Not everyone is the same.
Without anyone to talk to about pascal , pascal isn’t fun anymore.

Well, there is Reddit for that :-)

[Martin_fr]

The forums are a good resource but they are not good for socializing  like other platforms used to be. Some people need something more fun and less formal to stay motivated. Not everyone is the same.
Without anyone to talk to about pascal , pascal isn’t fun anymore.

Yes, we know. As indicated, you stated that very frequent already.

So, either
- there aren't any others but you. Then a place wont matter.
- there are, then they will have a place already, as non of them can be seen seeking.

If the latter, I don't know where. And I don't have the time to find out. And I don't know anyone volunteering to find out (remember, "volunteering" is how it all works).

Maybe they aren't on the forum after all, since - given your ongoing efforts - non of them contacted you.


In any case, by now, from the result (or absence of) that you got: It seems crystal clear they aren't going to be found here. If they were, you would have already.

So to paraphrase: You aren't barking at the wrong tree. You are barking in the wrong lot, with only trees that aren't right.

And again, I don't know were one would need to look, and I don't volunteer to find out.

[440bx]

Without anyone to talk to about pascal , pascal isn’t fun anymore.

Everyone here talks about Pascal and, the threads are not always technical even though, most are, which is a good thing, people can learn something from them.