Re: replace training blurb with upcoming pug meetings?

Robert Treat wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:200805282110.54958.xzilla@users.sourceforge.net" type="cite"><pre wrap="">On
Wednesday28 May 2008 18:11:19 Simon Riggs wrote: </pre><blockquote type="cite"><pre wrap="">On Wed, 2008-05-28 at 10:58
-0700,Joshua D. Drake wrote:   </pre><blockquote type="cite"><pre wrap="">On Wed, 2008-05-28 at 19:47 +0200, Magnus
Haganderwrote:     </pre><blockquote type="cite"><pre wrap="">Robert Treat wrote:       </pre><blockquote
type="cite"><prewrap="">In an effort to give more visibility to the pugs, one idea that was
 
floated around was replacing the training blurb on the main site with
an "upcoming pugs" section, modeled after the upcoming events.  The
training blurb would then be changed to a direct link saying "looking
for training?" (or similar) which would take you to the full training
page.  There are some logistical issues that would need to be worked
out to make this happen, but before we go down that path, I wanted to
get a general consensus on the idea. thoughts?         </pre></blockquote><pre wrap="">Any way we can have both? I
agreeit's a good idea to get upcoming
 
pugs, but I'd like to keep the training info somehow.       </pre></blockquote><pre wrap="">I think it is a matter of
decidingthe purpose of the space. IMO .Org
 
should be all about community, not all about advertising for commercial
providers. That isn't to say we shouldn't help the people who help us
(obviously) but it is to say that a PUG should come before CMD, EDB or
any other commercial entity listed.

That being said, we have a problem in that the front page is remarkably
cluttered. It is trying to tell people entirely too much all at once.
Something has to give if we are going to add PUGS. Training or Latest
News seems the most appropriate.     </pre></blockquote><pre wrap="">Yes, it is cluttered, so I think we should scroll
downthe page and make
 
more space for ourselves.

The community includes commercial people too. And the commercial people
only exist because they are wanted and needed.

The suggestion to have a list of PUGs over training could go the other
way too. We could say "Want a PUG?". If they do, they'll click. That is
of course fairly silly, but then so is "Want training?", which hides
anything interesting and unusual and effectively kills it. If we do that
I may as well pack up and just offer one course called "Training".
   </pre></blockquote><pre wrap="">
See, to me the current training blurb is already devoid enough of content that 
I think it is only marginally better than a direct link pointing people 
towards the full training.  Adding in a list of PUG meetings helps highlight 
the growing regional presence and international communities for postgres 
around the world.  I feel this used to be accomplished by the training 
listing, but there was so much gamesmanship between the training companies 
that we had to mold it into it's current, less than exciting, format. I don't 
expect that gamesmanship from the PUGS. 
 </pre></blockquote> I'd have to whole-heartedly agree.  We saw a lot more interest in training when there were a few
courseslisted on the main page (those few being the ones that we would tend to get the most calls about).  With the
shiftto not showing any courses on the main page (due to event spam of sorts), the interest has really waned (though
itsdifficult to determine if this is due to economic factors as opposed to page changing, I think it has to do a little
withboth).<br /><br /> I think a single link to training in a spot of its very own would provide a bit more visibility
thanbeing cluttered with some text and a link.  Perhaps we can have some list of the number of events as well?  Want
training(22 events coming up!)?<br /><br /><pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
 
Chander Ganesan
Open Technology Group, Inc.
One Copley Parkway, Suite 210
Morrisville, NC  27560
919-463-0999/877-258-8987
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.otg-nc.com">http://www.otg-nc.com</a></pre>