New user friendly discussion forum?

[adagj]

Hi
I wonder if not all noresm users have access to this discussion forum. I wonder if you need to be part of the NorESMhub to start a new discussion. Would it be an idea to instead start a https://mybb.com/ ? I think that is similar to what is used by ncar: https://bb.cgd.ucar.edu/cesm/

@TomasTorsvik , @MichaelSchulzMETNO

[TomasTorsvik]

Hi,
@adagj , @MichaelSchulzMETNO

I found this comment in the discussions quickstart :

Any authenticated user who can view a repository can create a discussion.

I think this means that you don't need to be part of the NorESMhub, but you need to have a user account on github and be logged in. When I logged out I could not start a new discussion, so there is a barrier to use the discussion forum. I would guess that the other platforms also require some for of user authentication for anyone who want to post on the forum? I can see there is an advantage if there is a lower barrier on other platforms, but it also means one more site to maintain and monitor, so I wouldn't like to go this way unless we can see a clear benefit.

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

I can see an advantage of using only one tool for all - github. But - following the example of CESM is also a good idea, get some holiday from github. I'll suggest the noresm core meeting to have a short discussion on this, would be good to have a recommendation announced to all users. @DirkOlivie can you put this on the agenda, please.

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

After some discussion in the tuesday MET coffeemeeting:

• The CESM bb solution should be considered, Michael tries to explore the effort.
• Arguments for the different forum solutions should be gathered, so that the larger NorESM comunity gets convinced
• other solutions: slack, github discussions, google chat, emails
• Arguments involve: Accessibility to all users; Tracking of common issues arising from [email protected] emails; Public versus Privacy choice; Technical solution and associated work, price, maintenance effort; Easy to use judgement; Link to CESM forum? ; Effort to make it a living tool; INES project heritage;
• A NorESM telecon should be used to discuss and propose a forum solution

[YanchunHe]

What is the tool used to setup the NCAR/CESM bb forum? It looks very useful.

How about this redmine forum tool looks like? It can be used for the track of NorESM software development tool (some may overlap with github).

[YanchunHe]

OK, I see it is https://mybb.com, as Ada wrote at the top.

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

I have asked for the template for bb from NCAR, will come back if thats arriving. I suggest we start an argumentation slide on google and maybe ask for votes/ranking/feedback using the INES user email list. I will start the google slide.

[MicSchu-Nesodden]

External users can comment...

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

[adagj]

?

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

I was just testing uploading a figure, sorry.

[adagj]

I guess one problem with github-discussion is that the topics don't appear on google if you search. I'm not sure if we can change some settings which make the topics searchable... except from that, it is really nice to have all the information in one place

[MichaelSchulzMETNO]

I agree, that google search is missing, I couldnt figure out how to get over that. However, searching in all the organisation discussions (eg BLOM, NorESM, CAM) with one search works within github, even if one is outside of the organisation. So if we pointed to this search function and discussions in all sub repos, it would be possible to search.

[jmaerz]

Others had this question about google search as well - and it seems to be a matter of linking the discussion page explicitly in the repo description and other web pages - according to this github page: community/community#3318