I think a sub-forum for popular Linux Distro’s is a good idea. However, breaking out into Matrix could also add additional functionality, like breakout rooms (chat/voice).
This is exactly what I do as well. The only improvement beyond this would be to implement tags for searching purposes, but I do not know if discourse supports tags or not.
There’s ~2 threads created per day and of the ones that are distro specific they’re almost exclusively help desk. To test that theory I went back a month and didn’t find any that would belong in a distro specific category (they’re all help requests with one multi-distro topic).
We could do distro-specific help desk but distros are often more similar than they are different so someone wanting to only sub to certain distro-help desks would probably miss a lot of requests they could handle.
I could put distro categories in anyway but then it’d be a bunch of empty rooms that fill up the category drop down and take away from the observation of “fullness” for new forum members.
I agree here. Also it is easy just to tag it with a certain distro in mind or to put it in the title of the thread like it is most of the times right now.
Well, it could be that distro specific posts would increase if there were a specific category for it. I also believe that the lack of distro specific categories could be driving others to other forums in search for the content they are looking for.
Or, I could be wrong about all of this. Just a thought.
Distro specific tags might also mean more traffic from google etc. if people are using distros as search terms.
Might encourage people to post under certain distros or not. Current members have already formed certain habits in how they interact with DLN. How those habits change over time remains to be seen. Given the choice there might be some things we want to share with people using the same hardware / software / distro.
The fragmentation of the DLN network is probably its worst feature. Thanks for erring on the side of caution.
So it is great having a Forum / Network where you can discus Linux and pool resources whichever Distro you are running.
You could be running Slackware or Linux from Scratch, but you still have some solutions that could be appreciated by the broader Linux community. Or you just want to share your experiences as a Distro hopper.
It would be valuable to have a way of indicating wether the user is a newbie to Linux. I’m not sure how this works, but maybe there could be different badges for different experience levels. That way the community would know how to help the individual better. For an example, users first coming to Linux may not want to use the terminal. Maybe there is a GUI alternative way of accomplishing the solution to their problem. This would certainly be a better way of making new comers to Linux feel less intimidated.
When would someone move from being newbie to having some experience with Linux and how would you measure it.
Some users would be insulted at being called a newbie.
If you are going to have a flag there, I think it would have to be something everyone can set for themselves.
Would you prefer to be treated as a newbie or experienced user?
Newbie
Have some experience
Don’t care ?
I think that a flag that everyone can set for themselves is a good idea. When eryone treats everyone well it doesn’t matter what level they are.
As a non-professional I will probably forever identify myself as a newbie.
Personally, I think the labeling is a bad idea.
There has been people who almost always pre-pend “Linux newbie:” or something similar to their thread title and/or feel they need to regularly establish that. I think some people may want it as an opt-in.
I can manually set user titles on request but that’s not user friendly.
Going to my account I see a title option here:
https://forum.tuxdigital.com/u/<your account name>/preferences/account
Nothing related to that menu comes up in the admin area searching “title, label, tag, regular”
I did some research and it appears these titles are actually badges that you earn which have the ability to use as a title enabled. At present I think ok the Regular badge has this enabled.
So a solution could be adding a custom badge in the admin section here named something like “New to Linux” and enable it for using as a title.
Problem is… creating it doesn’t actually give it to anyone. That requires creating a custom trigger, which is a feature that needs to be turned on. But can’t within the scope of my capabilities because it requires manually editing the database server-side and this would break my sanctified unspoken rule of not vexing Michael.
Not to be deterred I press on…
After a a few dead ends I realized if I edit an existing badge that everyone gets right away (something like the Basic badge) it could be renamed to something like “New to Linux” and I could enable it for use as a title which would give everyone the ability to set it as their title if/when they want it. Downside is everyone will have a “New to Linux” badge on their badge page because the option to show it can’t be changed.
IMO, this is only really a downside to people who care too much about themselves.
A problem I see with this method is that somebody would have to know how to go and set a title for themselves.
Edit: save yourself the buttache and just ask Michael for the necessary server side stuff to be turned on.
How much effort has to be put into implementing this “feature” ?
And is it going to be used enough to make it worthwhile?
Sorry, not trying to dismiss it totally but others have had concerns about not fragmenting the community or applying labels to people.
There’s always some risk to directly editing an app’s database even if it’s documented and that expands through all future updates. There’s also security implications for enabling the feature that lets me create custom badge triggers.
I’m also worried about generating distraction/work for creators if it’s something we can solve ourselves or we don’t critically need. Ideally when creators hang out in the community it should just be a source of fun so I made this thread to funnel tasks our way because we can handle them.
Just editing the Basic badge is probably the way to go, I was just curious if anyone might know a different feature or workaround.
I can also set a badge description that tells the user how to apply it and I think? that description shows up in notifications when you get the badge. Not sure on that. It could also be in the “Welcome to the forum” message but how to actually edit that message is a whole nother ball game 
The best solution, IMHO, is that if you feel that it is necessary to communicate that you are new to Linux (or even new to app that your are troubleshooting), AND if you feel that communicating that would be helpful to those assist you, then say so in the body of the message.
You can most easily define the title by creating a new group and calling it “Linux Noobs” or similar.
I am a Linux Noob
Now all members will have this title visible on their profile at all times.
Wow…
I didn’t know about that section and damn can these do a lot, thank you.
The following is the flow for joining a group:
Or go to: https://forum.tuxdigital.com/g
Alternatively the user can be linked directly to the group’s page, example: https://forum.tuxdigital.com/g/Test_Group
Title shows next to name:
Weirdly my new-user test account doesn’t have the option to turn the title off in settings and my main account does but removing the title should be done through leaving the group anyway.
Some pros/cons for opt-in “New to Linux” titles.
The user would create their own profile. One of the features in their profile could include the user skills (terminal user, gui user). The whole idea is to identify what type of user is asking the question. I would love to see those new to Linux feel like they belong. I just thought this would be a useful feature that could benefit those who don’t have higher technical skills. I’m not trying to label anybody, that is not the intention. I hope that clarifies the idea.