Why was Kubuntu Forums created?

[NickStone]

As there is already a group of forums under the Ubuntu banner at www.ubuntuforums.org which covers not just the Gnome (now Unity) desktop but also XFCE, LXDE, and KDE for all users of Ubuntu regardless of the desktop to discuss and help other users.

So what is the point of Kubuntu Forums?

[Rog132]

Back then (2005):

Request: a Kubuntu forum: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=21150
[SOLVED] New kubuntuforums?: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=68493

[life0riley]

This really says it for me.
http://www.kubuntuforums.net/content...Kubuntu-Forums

This is a good forum with excellent moderators. It's not too big. I like the focus on Kubuntu. It's not just a subsection of a very large forum, and posts here ususally get a quick response. There are plenty of knowledgeable people on this forum. The first time I installed Kubuntu I had to do a lot of Googling to answer my questions. That's how I found this forum. Most of my questions were answered here.

I'm sure someone can express this more eloquently than I have.

Request: a Kubuntu forum: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=21150
[SOLVED] New kubuntuforums?: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=68493

Thanks for the links Rog132. I didn't have a historical perspective on this.

[tek_heretik]

I agree with Mr. O. Riley, this distro has a dedicated/engrained DE, a slightly different animal, where as Ubunutu is like a multi tentacled creature on a 'spin the bottle' path, lol. Just my

Frankly, I find the Ubuntu forum a bit bizarre, I rarely go there and if I do, a search may have led me there for 'under the hood' info.

[whatthefunk]

I think Kubuntu Forums are far superior to Ubuntu forums. Ubuntu is increasingly becoming more distant from other distros, mainly because of Unity, and this makes it really hard to help Ubuntu users or receive help from them. Ubuntu Forums also get hundreds of repeat threads which gets tiresome. Plus the strict rules about threads which may be political irritate me...sometimes the politics here gets to be a little too much, but I can handle that. Here, we have a dedicated user base of people who know their stuff, visits by developers, and a focus on KDE, which is much more useful to all of us. For a Kubuntu user, this is heaven. This is the only Linux Forum that I regularly visit.

[PaulW2U]

Frankly, I find the Ubuntu forum a bit bizarre,

Very different from here.

I rarely go there and if I do, a search may have led me there for 'under the hood' info.

When I was very active at the Ubuntu Forums I used to make a point of trying to help or least acknowledge every Kubuntu post as there seemed to be so few other Kubuntu users around. The Ubuntu Forums have become very specific to the Ubuntu flavour rather than being the "catch all" for the entire Ubuntu family.

Just look at the Ubuntu+1 sub-forum set up for discussion of the latest development release, the flavours hardly get a mention.

[Feathers McGraw]

Yep, it's been said already but basically Kubuntu questions get swamped at Ubuntuforums.

Besides, I like it here... it's kind of cosy, and you get to recognise regular contributors which is nice. Feels more personal.

A question for admins who are active on both forums:
The threads linked from around the time KFN was started show quite a lot of negative feeling towards KFN & worries about fragmentation etc. What, in your opinion, is the state of the relationship today?

Feathers

[Snowhog]

I think that (anymore) Ubuntuforums gives us little thought. We (KFN) aren't going away anytime soon, and we have demonstrated that we are a viable Kubuntu support forum. Our (total) membership numbers are a fraction of theirs, but the last time I did the math, our active members (as a percentage of total members) outnumber theirs.

Kubuntu Forums is IMO, far more open, inviting, and 'personal' than Ubuntuforums. Here, one feels like part of a family. Not so (much) on Ubuntuforums. I came here in 2007 when I began my switch from Windows to Kubuntu Linux. Rog131 was there and immensely helpful. I credit him with my successful transition to Linux. That experience sold Kubuntu Linux for me. I found my home here.

[claydoh]

Oh wow who is that masked, scary looking kubuntu /KDE user posting things over there at ubuntuforums?? Whatever happened to that less-fat, less-older snot?

It is very very simply why KFN was created, and why I myself rather quietly moved from a multi-forum Kubuntu support-giver to being here.
It was primarily the sheer size of Ubunutforums drowning out things rapidly, making anything KDE/Kubuntu quickly lost in the sand pit. Note that the [SOLVED] thread Rog132 linked to is from 2005, and even then UF was a huge place. A place independent from Canonical. Without tags. Without a KDE or Kubuntu section. Heck Kubuntu was still nearly a newborn and in need of some polish. Even Ubuntu itself was still in nappies, fer crying out loud.. Even the anti-borg, anti-big-distro me from back then initially thought it might be better to have a unified forum.

Then add in the supreme and extreme difficulty (at the time) of searching for Kubuntu related topics to help with or follow. The lack of a lot of users simply even noticing that a poster was using something non-Gnome, spouting off a gnome-specific solution that left the OP totally lost. The unfortunate anti-KDE Gnome fanbois.

Reading that thread, I see why so many were a bit adamantly against a separate, standalone, Kubuntu forum. Ubuntu was founded with a heavy emphasis on Community and inclusion, and there obviously were people at UF who totally were/are wonderfully gung-ho on that. This is a fantastic thing to have been able to see in action, and even to have taken to take a small part in. But the forum became far too huge so darn quickly in terms of being able to provide decent support to KDE users.

As to the politics and posting 'restrictions', I think these sort of situations are endemic to large, active forum communities. Almost a natural occurrence

[Snowhog]

As to the politics and posting 'restrictions', I think these sort of situations are endemic to large, active forum communities. Almost a natural occurrence

Even more so, UF is hosted in Europe where 'freedom of expression' is, shall we say, no so free? Here in the United States, where KFN resides, we (still) have the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

[Feathers McGraw]

Even more so, UF is hosted in Europe where 'freedom of expression' is, shall we say, no so free? Here in the United States, where KFN resides, we (still) have the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Treating all of Europe as a whole is a gross misunderstanding.

I really don't think there's anything I could say here in the UK that would get me in trouble, short of "all black people should be killed because of X, Y and Z", in which case I would be done for inciting racial hatred. Even nutters in the BNP get to say they want to deport people who aren't native British. They are heavily criticised, and rightly so, but they still have the right to make fools of themselves.

[Snowhog]

I wasn't implying that 'all of Europe' is a reflection of Ubuntuforums 'policies' visa-vise freedom of speech. The last line in my signature here was deemed 'inappropriate' and I was 'told' to remove it. I said 'no', and they removed it for me! I left UF because of that, and I will never be a member with them again.

[claydoh]

Even more so, UF is hosted in Europe where 'freedom of expression' is, shall we say, no so free? Here in the United States, where KFN resides, we (still) have the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I truly don't think that this has as much to do with it as you might think. It might have almost nothing to do with it.

[Feathers McGraw]

I read "UF is hosted in Europe where 'freedom of expression' is, shall we say, no so free?" to mean "freedom of expression is not so free in Europe", I guess you meant "freedom of expression is not so free in Ubuntu forums, which happens to be hosted in Europe"?

Or did you just mean gun laws are different in Europe, and to you carrying a weapon is part of expressing yourself?

Tampering with your sig was out of order. I don't blame you for moving.

Feathers

[claydoh]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

See this small exchange above? Multiply that by at least 50, and factor in the heat level increases, and you can see why a huge forum might tend to have some restrictions. Not saying it is right or wrong, but that it exists.


yeah, I do agree on the editing of the sig. That was wrong. But their house, their rules :/