Re: [PHP-EVANGELISM] Re: IRC Server - PHP

i'll address peter's points below, but this discussion has led directly
into the rat's nest that i figured would happen here. it appears that
the desire to set up new websites and servers is stronger than any
desire to actually evangelise php.

list of user groups? http://phpusergroups.org/

articles about php? http://www.phpbuilder.com/, http://php.weblogs.com/,
etc. (there's a list at http://www.php.net/links.php.)

if you really want to evangelise php, write articles for technology
sites and magazines like webmonkey or dr. dobb's.

if you want to write a tutorial for php, go for it. there's no lack of
places to publish them. some of the places i've mentioned will actually
pay you!

i think building yet another site about php is just an excuse to set up
a website and fiddle with the code, and will do very little to actually
evangelise php.

this irc digression is particularly annoying because irc is such a
non-existent entity to a vast number of people. and it's a 'problem'
that has already been solved (by pointing irc.php.net at
irc.openprojects.net).

anyway, on to the digression....

Peter Petermann <[email protected]> wrote:
>> and i think it is painfully obvious that given the choice between
>> utilizing an existing irc network, and setting up a standalone server,
>> it makes more sense to use an existing network.
>
> want some reasons why a php-specialised server would be great?
>
> a) on other networks you have a lot of diffrent channels.

that seems like a plus to me. more channels mean more people on the
network, which means more servers, which means more reliability.

> if you have a server that is specialised for PHP you could tell your
> Boss about that, so he will tell your admin that he should open
> the firewall so you can work with that.
> I dont think much Bosses like exployees that are on some
> gaming/sex/whatever channel while working

has anyone reported having this problem? why does this make
the openprojects irc network unacceptable? it is focused completely on
providing support channels for irc channels.

> b) it would be easier to have all that great php projects
> out there on one server, so if you need to talk to someone
> of a specific project you just need to join their channel, and no
> searching which network it could be with channel lists of size
> 60k and larger

openprojects currently has 502 channels. hardly a chore to find channels
related to php or specific projects (#php, #php-gtk, #phpgroupware).

there are also channels for related projects and technologies --
#apache, #xml, #webdesign, #java, etc.

> c) If you have an ircserver you need admins/ircops for it
> on most nets those ircops dont know much about php,
> but a lot of people tends to ask ircops if they can help
> and on most existing networks ircops wont even be
> able to tell you in what channel you can get help.

i don't believe this is a problem on openprojects.

what happened to d and e? :)

> f) finally with a php server, we are in control.
> if someone spams (for example is joining regulary and telling everyone to
> use metabase)
> its hard on most ircnetworks to find an operator who sets an kline.
> and as you may know: bans arent that effective.

in the few times i've hung around #php on irc.php.net (still pointing at
the openprojects network), this hasn't been a problem.

jim