Discourse vs Topicbox

Thunderbird Add-ons
#1

(Continued from here Mark Junk read not working. )

I expect most new posters here come from addons.thunderbird.net where there is a link ‘Forum’ at the bottom of every page. And those pages are localised, which is why some people, quite reasonably, post here in their own language.

There is a sticky here from February 2018 (though I had to use a new device to see it - I must have dismissed it long ago) which says:

"This category is for discussing Thunderbird add-ons/extensions. This is a good place to discuss add-on development, ask questions about creating add-ons, and help others create new extensions.

Below are a few resources you can use to get started making add-ons, or to troubleshoot your existing ones …"
(followed by some links, many out of date).

Despite the emphasis on development in all that it has always been used for questions about ATN itself (or AMO when that hosted TB addons) and individual addons. The eqivalent Firefox group here says “Discussions about add-on development, add-on support and addons.mozilla.org”. This group has no equivalent ‘charter’.

It’s clear that the Topicbox group https://thunderbird.topicbox.com/groups/addons is for development: “… intended for general discussions about creating add-ons, and is for add-on developers who need support in creating their add-ons.”

So the obvious thing is to send developers over there and try to answer other questions here. And the sticky should be updated, and perhaps a charter added to this group. @ryanleesipes

#2

Good idea to create a separate thread for this forum duplication issue!

I’m not sure if it makes sense to have 2 forums with slightly different goals:
Is there really a difference between:
“… to discuss add-on development, ask questions about creating add-ons, and help others create new extensions.”
and
"… general discussions about creating add-ons, and is for add-on developers who need support in creating their add-ons.”
?

Therefore I would like to repeat my statement already made in the other thread:
I think this duplication is a bad thing.
I would like to suggest that someone from the TB team (maybe Ryan Sipes, Community and Business Development Manager) makes a clear decision which forum should be the one and only …
(If it turns out that https://thunderbird.topicbox.com/groups/addons is more suitable, this forum should be closed respectively everyone should be redirected from here to Topicbox.)

C-E

#3

Quite a few new posters who have Thunderbird questions actually land on the Firefox Addons board. I’m not sure why; I suspect they have not noticed that TB addons are no longer hosted by AMO, the two sites looking the same.

These are sometimes answered over there, sometimes moved here by somebody like @freaktechnik

For example this Thunderbird WebExtension messages.query -problem which was in the Fx addons board when I responded to it. (I saw it when I was poking about trying to find out how to restore the sticky I quoted! Anybody know?)

So if TB support-seekers - especially those not posting in English - are going to post on Discourse anyway, it would perhaps be best to keep a board here. For example, Lingua info su nuove (e vecchie) estensioni, which is not a developer question. Or maybe it is?

BTW @C-E you selective quoted from the sticky. The first sentence says “This category is for discussing Thunderbird add-ons/extensions.” Not just development.

#4

I can answer this only how I see it, but to be honest, I didn’t event know that Firefox and Thunderbird are separated it that degree that they are.
I found my way to here from google and it did throw me into wrong tracks that URL for here was https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/thunderbird/addons/255
Naturally I assumed (wrongly) that this was TB add-on’s board… Sorry for my mistake, but I was kinda in a hurry

#5

Also tooltip for Add-ons -link is saying something along the lines of “This category is for discussing Thunderbird add-ons/extensions” etc. so I’m not sure what’s going on, but maybe I just should have been more carefull

#6

@djshake No need at all to apologize.

Of course, most people will just google. Another reason IMO why TB should maintain a presence here.

#7

@djshake About your second post: When you posted your question it went here: https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/add-ons/add-on-support/111 which is where it was when I replied. Someone moved it here - and added the two tags. There’s no way you could have known that though - or me, if I hadn’t seen it there.

#8

About the Add-ons Category

I believe the Thunderbird and Thunderbird Add-ons categories on Discourse predate the Thunderbird Add-ons topic on Topicbox.

Having topics here only gives the user the idea that Thunderbird is still a Mozilla product. IMHO

#9

@DaveRo
It was not my intention to selective quote something from the sticky in order to go in a certain direction.
However my understanding is that this forum is just for development. But maybe I’m wrong.
It would make sense to have 2 forums, one just for addon developers and one just for addon users.

#10

I believe that this Add-on Category on Discourse is not all that helpful, it seems to be misleading add-on developers into thinking that this is the correct place to discuss add-on development.

Not that it couldn’t be, but true adoption never really happened. The proper place is the Topicbox. I will be updating to point at that as many places as possible. As for the category, the add-on category will go away shortly.

#11

@ryanleesipes
Dear Ryan,
Can you please update your thread “About the Add-ons category”?
(…/t/about-the-add-ons-category/25400)

And maybe even more important, the link ‘Forum’ at the bottom of every page in addons.thunderbird.net should be changed. Ideally the user should be directed to the correct forum, either the one for addon developers or the one for addon users.

C-E

#12

Hello, is there any beta version for android? or any project for thunderbird on android?

#13

No is the short answer to both those queries

#14

Back to the original question: Discourse or Topicbox:
I now found by chance another forum:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mozilla.dev.apps.thunderbird
So the original question can be enlarged: Discourse or Topicbox or Groups.Google ???

Confusing.
Needs streamlining, imho.

#15

Not actually a Google Group, but accessible from GG, it’s been around for ages. Like most of the mozilla newsgroups it’s in terminal decline - mainly frequented by pensioners like me who still like usenet.

People do frequently ask questions about addons - but not usually development of them - in mozilla.support.thunderbird, and the Firefox equivalent.