[Gluster-users] [Gluster-infra] Revamping GlusterFS website for expanded participation

[Tuomas Kuosmanen]

TL;DR: This started in gluster-infra list as an effort to improve
the Gluster website and to connect it better with the Gluster
community. If you are interested in this, read below, and pitch
in with your insights. We should continue the discussion on 
gluster-infra list to avoid fragmentation, but I wanted to cc -users
and -devel to invite more people into the brainstorming.

The goal: To better connect the website with the Gluster community

I think we should list what generally goes on in our community, 
and also what things we would like to improve. Then we can try to
figure out how the website could support that effort better.

There might be many approaches to this, and everyone of you can help 
by pitching in ideas and things that you think could help Gluster
community. Creating a smoother path for new people to install
Gluster and get familiar with the community would be good.

Here's what I've been thinking about, from the point of view of 
someone new to Gluster. Feel free to improve the list:

I've been thinking of four main areas here: Gluster (the software),
the Community, News, and Events.

The Software (installation, learning about it)
==============================================

## Discover Gluster

  * Explanation of what Gluster is and what are the strengths
    * Some good showcases that clearly show the strong points
      where Gluster makes sense
    * Some introduction videos / screencasts to explain the
      principles and concepts
    * Maybe a link to a QA forum's "newbie" section where
      we can help with questions we did not know about ourselves?

## Installing Gluster

  * Instructions to get initial installation going easily,
    this should be really straightforward and sensible
    default settings should work.

## Learning more about Gluster

  * Detailed admin guides / howto-documents that explain
    what kind of setups make sense for different uses etc..
  * Community QA and mailing lists and irc for more questions / 
    and also to get involved
  * Consultancies and companies offering support

## Improving Gluster

  * Reporting Bugs
  * Sending Patches
  * Companies offering Gluster development services


The Community
=============

## Communication and Hangouts

  * Explanation and the idea about open community development
  * IRC channels, Mailing Lists, etc?
  * How to get involved


Events
======

  * I don't know much about what's happening in this area,
    please fill in details :-)

News
====

  * Security alerts
  * New releases
  * Development blog / newsletter?

Do you have other ideas? Are there other things that the 
community does that I am not aware of? Let me know. Or if
you disagree with something, explain why I am wrong in my
thinking :-)

Tom, you also likely have some ideas you want to drive forward?

//Tuomas