Exploring solutions: knowing about issues when I need to know about them

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We know that one of the major problems is that it is next to impossible (unless you live in IRC) to know about all the issues you'd like to know about. Let's explore some solutions to that problem. Ideas that we've talked about already include:

  • Better tagging, the creation of tag pages (a la http://www.quora.com/Drupal), the ability to follow a tag and be notified when new topics associated with that tag (or it's children?) are posted.
  • notification via email (probably digest style, you set the frequency depending on how hard core you are... although, the more hardcore you are, the more likely you are to be in IRC I guess)
  • smart aggregation of issues you'll be interested in on your dashboard.
  • automatic Tweet notification for those of us who Tweet more than we IRC perhaps?
  • being able to invite/ping people to participate in an issue via the issue interface (not just IRC), maybe being able to search a directory for relevant skillsets when you need them and ping people (documenters, UXers, graphic designers, testers etc.)
  • a way to broadcast major initiatives so that it's difficult for people NOT to find out about them (rather than now when it's completely hit and miss) - is the dashboard the right place for this? email?

thoughts/feedback/more ideas pls :)

Comments

Broadcasting might be good.

davidhernandez's picture

Broadcasting might be good. In general, the greater the number of ways information gets out, the better, but there needs to be a place that everything gets funneled into. I think the Drupal community has an issue with consolidating discussion. Lots of people will talk about the same issues, but with different people and in different places, without those channels interacting with each other.

Linking killes propose at

Twitter notification would have some good advantages

mgifford's picture

I think the idea of twitter notification could have some useful side effects. I check my dashboard too often, and it's more often than not a "subscribe" or +1 plug which really doesn't help move an issue along all that much. We don't have other ways to indicate priorities at the moment, so it's a necessary strategy, but not as useful as I'd like.

If notices were sent out to all participants when an issue was being pushed ahead mind you, that would be useful. If someone responded to questions, posted a patch, provided snapshots.

However like everything, if it isn't pruned to relevant, timely information folks are going to be overloaded with information and are going to want to unsubscribe to any twitter type alerts.

Some folks will want a dashboard block, others a tweet. Heck, if I've got an issue I'm watching that's critical to my site I might want you to send an SMS to my cell phone when there is any traffic on it at all.

Might also be useful to degrade one's interests in a particular topic over time to get less information tagged with a particular taxonomy, from a particular user or simply on an individual module.

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