+1 on one clear destination. If it has to start fresh, then it has to start fresh. Let's identify the content to move and move them over.
--Alex > -----Original Message----- > From: Chip Childers [mailto:chip.child...@sungard.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 1:49 PM > To: cloudstack-dev@incubator.apache.org > Subject: Re: [ASFCS40] Redirect cloudstack.org and docs.cloudstack.org as > part of the 4.0 "release" > > Let me start by saying that I know how hard it is to build up a site's > traffic and > user base. You guys did a great job with that. However, I'm of the opinion > that we need to make some big changes in a very short timeline. It's part of > the change from Citrix / Cloud.com to ASF. > > On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 4:46 PM, Mark Hinkle <mark.hin...@citrix.com> > wrote: > > I think it's a good idea however I think there are a few things you might > want to consider: > > > > CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> gets about 500,000 unique visits a > month though that's also partially because of the content on the current > pages e.g. forums, blog, videos, directory. etc. > > Also CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> as it stands get's about 125,000 > visits a month from organic search and tens of thousands of links to direct > pages, you should 301 redirect the old to the new so all the search and hard > link folks don't get 404'd. You'll need someone to map all the redirects and > it's not trivial. > > Also If you break all those links traffic will drop pretty significantly > > IMHO > until Google re-indexes and all the old content and then the number of > people that would normally find out about > CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> through search wouldn't. Also the > content on the incubator site is pretty good for the hard-hitting sysadmin or > open source guys but new users might be a little intimidated. > > You are describing 2 issues here: SEO optimization for certain terms that > leads people to CloudStack, and content that is considered to be valuable > being transitioned. > > I think that we should consider this an opportunity to clean up a bit. > While there is certainly lots of content on cloudstack.org, it's actually > pretty > hard to navigate IMO. I'd rather see us cut over, and have an organized plan > to review and migrate content into a newer / simpler structure. To make > sure that we don't completely fail the users, we could setup a redirect page > instead of the default 404 on the ASF web servers, that points to the > project's new index page. > > Personally, SEO optimization isn't at the top of my list of considerations > right > now. If we take the time to move content over cleanly, the search engines > will sort themselves out. > > > I think we should also answer the following questions: > > > > - What should we do with the old content is do you want to keep it or > move it to something like CloudStackUsers.org<http://CloudStackUsers.org> > or the like? > > - Apache Incubator doesn't have forums so do you abandon the forums? > > (There are over 11,000 registered forum users) > > I don't believe that a forum is the right method of managing user interaction > with the project. It adds to the confusion about how to engage with the > project community, and frankly isn't that active with project members these > days. We should point people to the cloudstack-users@i.a.o list, and > perhaps to an archive search service (markmail.org). > > > - Do you want to have a blog, move it to a new place or give it up? > > I think we should consider doing 2 things here. First, the project needs a > news page (which is has). Second, the work to get a planet server going for > the CS community can really serve as a much more open alternative. > Perhaps the Citrix community managers that post to the current > cloudstack.org blog should have a home somewhere else, that gets > aggregated into the CS planet? We should also consider adding an RSS feed > version of the new site's news page. > > > - Should we still announce events and do sign-ups (we have thousands of > historical sign-ups for Build a Cloud Days and user conferences and the > capability to send invites to past attendees based on geography etc. baked > into the site). > > Announcements of community events are best done via the users and dev > lists. Perhaps an email blast explaining the changes, and pointing users to > instructions for how to signup for the lists would be a good way to force the > transition? > > > - There are 30,000+ people signed up for a newsletter on > CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> when we donated the project to the > ASF I stopped sending updates. Do you want to start doing that to help > promote the project, migrate to some new system or some other option. > > Same suggestion as above. It's time to point them to either (1) Citrix > commercial information sources or (2) ACS information sources. > > > My suggestion would be: > > > > - Alias a new community approved domain to the existing site eg > CloudStackUsers.org<http://CloudStackUsers.org>. test it to make sure it > works and nothing's hard-coded or broken. > > I think that this adds to the confusion really... We should instead migrate > the > content over time, leaving behind content that's out of date. > > > - Really make sure that the incubator site experience is good (my pet > > peeve is that there is no common navigation to get from bugs to docs > > to the main site) > > I'd love if we could get someone to help make the current ASF site better, > but that can happen in time. > > > - Then point CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> to the Incubator > > site - http://incubator.apache.org/cloudstack/ > > I think that should be done almost immediately... after dealing with the 404 > fix noted above. > > > - Divide content for Apache CloudStack development to > CloudStack.org<http://CloudStack.org> and really work on the user > experience for developers and start migrating content systematically to > Apache. > > - Come to consensus on what to do with the old content on CloudStack (i'll > volunteer to keep it maintained and collaborate with whomever the PPMC > wants to give access to is cool with me) until we decide. > > > > Thoughts, flames, etc.? > > > > Regards, Mark > > > > > > > > Mark R. Hinkle > > Senior Director, Cloud Computing Community Citrix Systems > > p: 919.228.8049 > > m: 919.522.3520 > > e: mark.hin...@citrix.com<mailto:mark.hin...@citrix.com> > > twitter: @mrhinkle > > > > > > > > > > On Oct 3, 2012, at 1:26 PM, Chip Childers > <chip.child...@sungard.com<mailto:chip.child...@sungard.com>> wrote: > > > > All, > > > > I'd like to propose that Citrix (if willing) redirect > cloudstack.org<http://cloudstack.org> > > to http://incubator.apache.org/cloudstack/ and > docs.cloudstack.org<http://docs.cloudstack.org> to > > the appropriate sub-page of the ASF site. > > > > Specifically, I'd like to propose that this happens as fast as > > possible. The impact will be a simplified experience for users, once > > we get through our first official ASF release. > > > > I don't see any reason to wait... > > > > Any concerns? Can someone make this happen? > > > > -chip > >
