Why is registration disabled?

[Cnaeus]

Seriously, why can't people just register to this website like any other linux forums? It certainly does not help Pardus' reputation....

[John A]

I think it was becaues of some spam/fake profiles. But I agree it would help if it was more easy.
I would prefeer a CAPTCHA solution:
http://www.captcha.net/

I don't know if thats possible with Simple Machines LLC?
Another alternative would be to have the forum at some other alternative:
http://www.phpbb.com/

[Michiel]

I think it was becaues of some spam/fake profiles. But I agree it would help if it was more easy.
I would prefeer a CAPTCHA solution:
http://www.captcha.net/

The problem is that solutions in SMF version 1.1.14 do not help, when I trun it on I have 10 spamrequest within 30 minutes and I am not going to deal with those on a continuing base, no way. I have another SMF version 2.0 forum which has more options (combination of CAPTCHA and questions to answer), however the server on which this SMF forum is located (it is not my forum, nor my website or my server but Willem Gielen's website) does not allow upgrading to 2.x

So I have already tried some captcha options, but as just said when you have numerous spam registration request within minutes it is not the way for me to manage that.

Like Willem I also do not have much time to moderate these forums in general, so if someone wants to take over the whole thing I would suggest to get in contact with Willem who is the owner of this domain.

[John A]

Maybe the best would be if the English forum was included here in some way?
http://www.ozgurlukicin.com/forum/english/

They have started a English section but not very developed in a serious way.

Edit.
It's a bug report about this issue:

Bug # 18264
 

[Dean]

when you have numerous spam registration request within minutes

Does this help?
http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=31295

[John A]

Maybe it be a solution with this:
http://bugs.pardus.org.tr/show_bug.cgi?id=18264

Atleast they are aware of the problem now.

I hope they will think about the e-magazine to:
http://bugs.pardus.org.tr/show_bug.cgi?id=18802

[Cnaeus]

An Error Has Occurred!
Sorry, registration is currently disabled.

This is the current message that welcomes newcomers. You could at least replace it with an "email the moderator" option... 

[John A]

Thats correct. But even so, if they make a offical english forum thats another nice option.
They got one already but not done in a serious way.

[Freebird]

What's the link to the English forum you're referring to John?
This is a VERY serious problem that needs to be worked out quickly if Pardus is to ever find a serious place in the English world.
 Right now Pardus sports several desirable characteristics that give it a real edge in the Linux world.
But if another English based distro should appear with similar advantages (and it will), Pardus will quickly lose the present opportunity it has to become a very popular distro. If this window of opportunity closes it will not be very easy for Pardus to catch back up. Pardus has a unique chance to become something more if it gets this right.
 Also, it's imperative that a "clean" presentation of the 2011 and Corporate 2011 versions be presented in this effort. There is simply too much overlap with the older versions and this causes frustration in searching for up to date info. While much of the old is still valuable it is not what new users want to wade through for answers. This applies especially to Pardus Wiki.
 This is simply my opinion and I realize the work that goes into such a task so please don't think that all of the hard work that is done now is taken for granted. I'm speaking as a general user (which most people would be) and not as real "Linux guru", but all of Linux in general will have to cater to this crowd if they are to ever rise very high amongst the general populace of the world.

[Freebird]

In another post I suggested the idea of a sub-forum at LinuxQuestions.org.
http://worldforum.pardus-linux.nl/index.php?topic=3981.msg21184;topicseen#msg21184
I still think this is a good idea. Spreading the word about Pardus is what will help the most once support is established. This site has thousands of visitors and I use it regularly.
Here is a page that tells how to get a sub-forum for Pardus on their site.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-distributions-5/why-is-there-no-forum-for-my-distro-513876/
Here's a small excerpt from that page about this.
 "Politely email the (Pardus)distro makers and point out that LQ (LinuxQuestions) has over 250,000 members and that is firstly a lot of people who help with any support questions and secondly a good sized number of people to read any "new release" press releases they may write.
If you see any of the distro devs on an IRC channel, suggest they get in touch with Jeremy with a view to setting up a forum - point out the low overheads for them: we will do the moderating, Jeremy will set up the forum and all they need to do is turn up to answer questions
Point out that you and a number of other <Pardus distro> users are members here and you would love to be able to ask and answer questions on a dedicated forum."
 "It should be clearly noted though, that monetary support is not a requirement. In fact, LQ does not ask for monetary support and does not receive it from any of the distros who have sub-forums. What we need is for that distro maker to participate in some way in LQ and help maintain the level of activity in the forum."
 This is the page that I would like to see Pardus listed on.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-distributions-5/
Any thoughts on this from anyone?

[John A]

Here is the forum I refeering to:
http://www.ozgurlukicin.com/forum/english/

I think they could develope it in a serious way. But now it's mixed in turkish/english.
If they want a english section there then they must do it in a better way.
Registration is in turkish etc.. And some topics there are in turkish to.
It's more or less a joke now. If thats all they can do than it's better with only turkish.

Pardus are now at place 36 at Distrowatch and going down.
I think this is one of the reasons.

No good marketing/promotion material to as I write in this bug report.
Bug # 12727

I have my doubts that they just not will do anything with that report..Over a year old and still no progress.

If Pardus was more popular I think they would benefit from it in the long run.
And in my personal opinion Distrowatch are very important in this aspect.

I agree what is written here:

"There is one slogan I’ve heard from a former community manager “An open source project without a community is deficient.” and this may not be more true"

"USER

We have stressed the importance of the product before, but it never suffices. It may be possible to continue a project without financing, a team and a community; but if you do not have any users, you are doomed. Don’t forget you are responsible to create awareness about your product in the user base. Don’t expect the users flock to your site and start downloading. Once you have users do not try to shape them, instead listen to them."

http://blog.erkantekman.org/?cat=12

So it's a lot Pardus could do.

[Freebird]

 I was afraid that was the link you were referring to, John.
It's pretty useless for me.
 I know my suggestion about a sub-forum on LinuxQuestions.org is not the best answer but I do feel it is a good one to start with. It would not really require anything from the Pardus devs except a request to have it set up and possibly a link to it from the Pardus homepage.
I'm sure user participation would suffice to keep it going.
I like the idea of it being in a general Linux community environment.

If something of this nature does not occur I may be forced to move to a different o/s with the hopes of continuing development. User base is almost as important as the basic platform. Other distros do not differ that much. I expected a quicker and more robust response to this matter already. It seems it's just not happening.

[Cnaeus]

Freebird has a point there, I think...

[John A]

One positive aspect are that more people help with the English Wiki than before, even people from Turkey:
http://en.pardus-wiki.org/Special:RecentChanges

And thats are great, I think they should be more involved in general not just for Turkish users.
With a mix from professional developers and volunteer people the English wiki will be excellent.

If you have a good wiki then you avoid the same questions coming over and over again in the forum.
And I suppose many have been on summer vacation so the Pardus/Tubitak team have not time to the deal with the forum issue so much.
But I hope they will look at it now in autumn.

[John A]

From the bug report 18264:

Do you have any ideas about meeting point?

I mean, I guess all the local communities (i.e. netherlands, germany, canada
etc.) would prefer to maintain their own sites/forums.

So we need some form of a landing page which lists all the community work out
there... Should it be a single site dedicated to this or a literal landing page
under new web site will be enough?

I would prefeer a english forum done by Pardus themselves "in the house" to make sure it will last in the long run and not be depended to much on volunteer moderators etc..