Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 10:36:01 +1100 From: Jim Mock <jim@corp.au.triax.com> To: Licia <licia@o-o.org> Cc: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com>, "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com>, Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Is there a "how did you hear about us?" form on www.freebsd.org? Message-ID: <19990327103601.A40738@corp.au.triax.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903261418270.3071-100000@o-o.org> References: <36FB92CA.187A0C3@uk.radan.com> <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903261418270.3071-100000@o-o.org>
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On Fri, 26 Mar 1999 at 14:32:04 -0600, Licia wrote: > On Fri, 26 Mar 1999, Mark Ovens wrote: > > Licia wrote: [snip..] > > > Would you be interested in the possibility of a standalone TCP > > > registration server? A simple protocol could be used to > > > create/edit/delete registrations. With a simple whois style > > > 'handle' system and basic authentication it would be possible to > > > allowe users to maintain their own entries in the system, with > > > virtually no added effort from staff or such. I'd personally > > > also like to see the possibility of users snail mailing in their > > > registrations, if they simply have no way of getting online to > > > do it as well. > > > > > > > If you decide to run with this idea then may I make a couple of > > suggestions? > > > > 1) When designing the registration form (whether it's a printed > > form to go with the CDs or an ASCII file for printing out) > > then please don't forget that FreeBSD has an international user > > base and non-US addresses often don't fit well into a US-style > > address template. > > > > This is a good point. I run into this problem now and then with > various applications I've worked on, and a similar problem with > phone numbers. I'm not much of an international person though. Can > you show me a simple template for addresses and phone numbers that > will work clearly and simply for US and international users? If so, > even if this project isn't approved, I'll incorporated those > templates into other things I work on :) > All it'd really need is Zip/Postal code box that doesn't complain if it's not 5 characters (mine's only 4) and a phone number box that can handle phone numbers that don't fit the US (xxx)xxx-xxxx format. If the phone number box is just a blank line (instead of having ()'s for the area code) it should be ok. Other than that, it'd be the normal address, city, state/province type thing. Don't forget the country line either ;) > > 2) To encourage more people to complete and send in the form why > > not try and get volunteers to handle the forms in their > > country? This would spread the workload and should hopefully > > more people would send the forms in because they wouldn't have > > the inconvenience of having to go to the post office to find > > the cost of mailing to the US. The volunteer could then enter > > the details from the forms onto the registration database on > > behalf of the non-connected users. > > > > I personally think this would be a Good Idea. Would that person > accept responsibility for snail mailing confirmation back to the > user with their 'FreeBSD Handle' for future reference? I could > handle doing so in the US, with no difficulty if need be... > I agree.. I think this is an excellent idea. I'm not quite sure on the 'FreeBSD Handle' thing though.. care to elaborate on that bit? > > Before you ask, yes I am volunteering to do this for the UK > > (and Western Europe if necessary) > > > I can handle Australia.. or at least the eastern half of the country. I'm willing to do the whole thing if no one from the western end steps up to volunteer. > > OK it's not a great contribution to the project, but every little > > bit helps, or so they say. > > > > I personally think it's a good contribution, and if this project > works out could be a benefit to the entire community... Imagine > actually having better numbers as to how many people are installing > FreeBSD, and on how many computers :) > I agree.. even if it is a somewhat "small" thing to do, if it works out, the benefits could be huge. Once we get some decent numbers, they can be given to Corel, Oracle, Star Division, etc., and say "hey, we've got some good numbers here, how about a native port".. it'd definetly be a step in the right direction. -- Jim Mock System Administrator jim@corp.au.triax.com ,-._|\ FreeBSD work: Triax Internet Services http://www.triax.com/ / \ The personal: http://www.triax.com/~jim/ \_,--._/ Power To The FreeBSD 'zine http://www.freebsdzine.org/ v Serve! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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