Hey, I recently started a thread offering to mail K/X/Ed/ubuntu CDs and DVDs to anyone (in the UK) who requested them in [THIS] Thread, I'm also offering to download any Linux Flavour (or any other open-source OS/Software) that you request if i don't have it as long as i have the bandwidth, also free of charge. A Quick Summery of That Post: Send me a Blank CD/DVD, a Self Addressed Envelope with correct stamps and tell me which ISO you want burnt onto your media and i will do it for you and send it back, free of charge. The main idea was to allow dial-up users and bandwidth capped broadband users to obtain copy's of the disks they wanted, without having to request disc's from Shipit (where you have to wait 6 weeks to receive you disks after your request has been approved) quickly and free of charge. Anti-Trend later posted (in the same thread) offering to do the same, this has got me thinking about a more organised method promoting the use of free software! (free as in beer and speech! ) What i propose is a forum dedicated to it, with [locked] threads Stating The responsibility's of volunteering to the 'project' Who To contact If You are interested in volunteering A List of current Volunteers, sorted by country with links to PM them (i.e PM Impotence) The Forum would also allow people to request a “one off” mailing, for country's where there are no Volunteers (i.e. Hey, will anybody send me AMD64 Ubuntu? I'm in Germany), and also allow anyone to ask any questions they might have. A efficient method of listing what ISO's Volunteers have will have to be thought about, but currently there are only 2 people who have volunteered to do this (Myself and Anti-Trend) so it is not a immediate worry. The iTrader rating system could be used to give feedback on specific Volunteers, stating if they kept to what they said they would do and reporting any problems in a transparent method i.e. thanks for the disc, got my disc back within a week! I don't believe that theft of blank media would be a problem ('volunteers' not sending back the discs), as it would be petty and pointless but none the less the 50 post count rule (which applies to the Buy Sell Trade Forum) and giving a non-free email address when volunteering might be necessary. The Non-Free email address list for Volunteers does not necessary have to be public, more a guaranteed method for moderators to contact the volunteer. If A Volunteer is having any difficulties, it would be easy enough for them to contact the person whom they are meant to be mailing a disc too, stating that it might take a few days longer than expected. A Website might be a more efficient base, but would require hosting, design and maintenance which are three things hardwareforums already has. however i am not dismissing that idea, just i believe it would be more suitable after the 'waters' have been tested. I am well aware that if another forum was created it would need to be moderated, and i volunteer to help out if this request is successful. I am also well aware that who becomes a moderator in any part of hardwareforums is none of my business! (and therefore i will quite happily accept any level of involvement, its not my 'project' as I'm now just a part of it...). This is just the general idea for a project which would hopefully become a community effort, and as such it belongs to everyone! please leave comments and/or suggestions if you have any Impy
Hmm...one thing that might be a good thing to look into would be an autoprune on the forum. Say 1-2 weeks after no replies in the request forum, they are automatically trimmed. I've seen other message boards using vBulletin with this feature (T-Break comes to mind) implemented on some subforums (mostly for testing). On the flip-side, I can see this easily been taken care of with a locked sticky updated as necessary by an admin or mod. Seems to be a real waste of a dedicated forum.
Autoprune would be easy to setup but if we intend to track the deals the threads will need to remain, so users can leave feedback for the user, using iTrader. It would be more organised to have another forum, if we have a lot of requests, but I think before we do, we should start with the thread by Impotence and sticky it and see how many requests there are...?
Awesome idea man, if I get that 16Mb line (Unlimited bandwidth) anytime soon I'll help out, I'll let you know what Sky say and whether or not I'll be joining the 'squad' :good:
Great idea Although i don't have an uber fast connection and there only three Australian members, i'lll help out too! I've got nothing but time.
For anybody to take advantage of the service they will have to know about it... im not too sure the best method of spreading the idear :/
I can advertise on my site(s) post a thread on TechTuts.com - PHP, Photoshop, CSS, Bryce Tutorials and more if you want.
TechTuts.com - PHP, Photoshop, CSS, Bryce Tutorials and more I've posted a topic, I'll also post it on each of my sites when I get time
I Have started to list Volinteers on My First post in this thread, please PM me if i missed you / need to update anything
