[ncc-services-wg] Introducing the New RIPE NCC Forum

Dear all,

We invite you to try out the RIPE NCC Forum, our newest online space for 
discussions. We’re eager to find ways to make it easier for you to 
engage with us and one another, and by launching this new forum, we hope 
to lower the barriers to participation.

Go straight to the forum:
https://forum.ripe.net

The RIPE NCC Forum is built using Discourse, an open source platform and 
it is open to all. The forum is read-only for anyone who does not create 
an account. We’ve shared more details about the ideas and technology 
behind the forum in this RIPE Labs article:
https://labs.ripe.net/author/ulka_athale_1/the-new-ripe-ncc-forum-talk-to-us-talk-to-each-other/

Over the years, we’ve heard many of you ask us for a forum, and for 
easier ways to stay connected with each other. We hope this forum is a 
step in the right direction. Please keep in mind that the mailing lists 
remain the official feedback mechanism to the RIPE NCC Executive Board 
and management, and all policy proposal discussions should still take 
place on the relevant mailing list. By adding a forum, we would like to 
create room for more conversations or discussions on topics that are of 
interest to you, like helping you learn how to use our tools or 
services, or to make it easier to connect with others who might have 
solutions for issues you face. Trying something new can be a bit 
daunting, so we’re starting off with the standard features available in 
Discourse. As we see the use of the forum evolving, we will consider 
adding more advanced features.

For a while now, the existing RIPE Forum (our web interface for the 
mailing lists) has been displaying a banner announcing that it will be 
retired soon. This is due to the planned upgrade to Mailman 3, which has 
significantly improved functionality for searching and browsing mailing 
lists, making the existing web interface redundant. We will continue to 
support the old web interface until the upgrade is completed.

In the meantime, we hope you will try out our new forum, and tell us 
what you think.

Kind regards,

Fergal Cunningham
Head of Membership Engagement
RIPE NCC