[Data-modeling] Data-modeling list vs type discussion pages

[Christopher R. Maden]

Tom Morris wrote:
> I posted the following a few days ago in the help forum on the
> discussion hub.
> http://www.freebase.com/discuss/threads/%239202a8c04000641f80000000012090ef
> Since it's attracted no attention and concerns this list too, I
> figured I'd repost it here to try and spark a discussion.

There were a *lot* of posts between Friday and Monday.  Is Freebase 
becoming too popular? (-:  I’ve pasted my discussion replies below.

> 1. What should be discussed in the forums/discussion hub vs on the
> data modeling email list?  For example, the discussion around the
> Person topic has a bunch of stuff which is very similar to things that
> get discussed on the list and I can't really tell what is appropriate
> for which medium?

The forums are good places for discussing specifics of a topic, type, or 
domain, especially for communicating with a user on his or her page, or 
as the owner of a domain.  The data-modeling list is a good place to 
discuss general issues, ask for help with a model, or to alert people to 
changes.

> 2. I just discovered replies to comments that I posted several months
> ago.  I'm pretty sure that I never got email notification of them, but
> that could have been operator error.  Are notifications turned on by
> default?  Do notifications result in email or do they just add an
> entry to the tab on my main discussion hub page (ie I have to log in
> to see if anything happened)?

We don’t have e-mail notification for discussion posts.  You can ask for 
an RSS feed of the posts on any particular topic, and your Freebase home 
page will show replies to you.

Since we at Metaweb are all users of this system, we are aware of the 
challenges in tracking discussion. We are working on better 
communication tools, so stay tuned.

> For #2, I think I've figured out that notification gets sent for new
> topics, but not new replies, which can make it difficult to sustain a
> conversation.

Yep.  RSS is the best way for now.  Stay tuned.

> As for #1, it seems like the finer granularity and the increased
> context of the discussion boards should make them the appropriate
> place for more of the conversation, but the fact that they're poorly
> implemented and less frequented may mean this list needs to be the de
> facto choice.  What do others think?  Having the conversations in two
> different places without any coordination makes them harder to follow
> (e.g. Faye & I on cemeteries in the discussion hub, Kirrily on burial
> places here)

You’re right.  The discussion boards work better if they are watched, 
but that can be tricky.

~Chris
-- 
Christopher R. Maden
Data Architect
Metaweb Technologies, Inc.
<URL: http://www.metaweb.com/ >