While I agree that linuxaudio.org sites could benefit from a sidebar or some other common tool that binds them more together, I honestly do not see such a thing happening until: 1) community gets more involved, even if that means simple feedback/communication on the consortium list (i.e. recently we posted final proposed version of the CD cover and got no feedback whatsoever--whether due to apathy, disinterest, or something else, I am not sure, needless to mention that most of our members do not bother posting their announcements on the consortium list). 2) other sites which are hosted under the linuxaudio.org do not respond as if their individuality is being threatened every time there is even the most remote allusion to the idea that there should be some kind of unifying/cross-linking framework for the sub-sites. Recently, I spent a couple of days just dealing with porting of mailing lists (OSX server, don't get me started...), while helping Thorsten revise the CD cover for Vol.1 of Made in Linux Series, now I see that the main linuxaudio.org site needs new news posts regarding recent announcements. And this is how the story goes, instead of me trying to plan things that will have a much greater impact (i.e. fund-raising, incorporation), I am always sidetracked with micro-management since everyone in the LA* community thinks linuxaudio.org is a great idea but very few want to help out. Even the few volunteers we got in the fall, out of the ones who did not fizzle out, we are yet to get *a* contribution... All that being said, the consortium is keeping as busy as always and is using whatever limited resources it has to the fullest potential. We should be announcing our contributions soon. Also FWIW, portal.linuxaudio.org has been announced on linuxaudio.org site (see main page), the one site over which consortium has direct control. Best wishes, Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A. Linuxaudio.org Director Virginia Tech Department of Music - 0240 Blacksburg, VA 24061 (540) 231-1137 (540) 231-5034 (fax) ico(a)linuxaudio.org http://www.music.vt.edu/people/faculty/bukvic

I think everyone here who knows Linux audio knows the significance of your contributions and I am not even suggesting that you personally should implement these changes on the lao site (although greater involvement in day-to-day discussion/feedback would be certainly appreciated as it should not be much more overhead than what your today's posts on LAU lists were). However, there were certainly more polite ways of expressing your suggestions for improvements, such as the one included from your latest e-mail below. The irony is that while this is being piped to the LAU lists, I do not see any users raising their hands to help either... That can be done. However, there should be a way for all sites to share the same format/cross-linking info, otherwise the effect of the suggested alteration will be rather minimal. In other words, it will be only a matter of time before someone else asks the same question on LAU/LAD lists... Best wishes, Ico

ok, here I am, what is needed to do, where to start? I tried to enhance the LAU FAQ but didn't succeded, the server seems to have some trouble serving the pages, I get timeouts. I signed up at the consortium. Cheers, Malte -- Malte Steiner media art + development -www.block4.com-