# Break Usage into: Helpdesk, and General

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448>\
**Category:** Meta Discussion\
**Created:** [October 3, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448 "2019-10-03T11:30:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oxinabox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oxinabox/32/206603_2.png) [@oxinabox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oxinabox)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/1 "2019-10-03T11:30:44Z")

</div>

We don’t really have a good channel for General ontopic julia discussion.

- Usage is mostly questions
- Community should be focused on community building type stuff
- Domains is not general, explictly so

It would be good to have channel to post general kind of:  
“How about this cool idea for implementing X”.  
Or things that are like a blog post, but more discussy.  
Or literally “I posted this blog post what do people think of it?”

The blurb for **Usage** says:

> Questions and discussion about using Julia.

I feel like it should just say _questions_ and we should have **General** for _discussion_

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/2 "2019-10-03T12:02:20Z")

</div>

This is an interesting idea, but perhaps _General_ is too… general. Is there a better name?

Also, can you link some examples that would fit better into this category than _Usage_?

Would a tag like _discussion_, within _Usage_, be sufficient?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oxinabox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oxinabox/32/206603_2.png) [@oxinabox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oxinabox)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/3 "2019-10-03T13:11:53Z")

</div>

> but perhaps _General_ is too… general. Is there a better name?

Discussion? Could have General Julia Discussion and Julia Usage Questions.  
General seems to be fine in slack

> Also, can you link some examples that would fit better into this category than _Usage_ ?

There are a number of things i have not posted because I can’t find somewhere to post them.

Here are some from Community:

- [CAD in Julia?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cad-in-julia/28557)
- [Making a list of all public Julia package registries](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/making-a-list-of-all-public-julia-package-registries/29035)
- [ANN: Plans for removing packages that do not yet support 1.0 from the General registry](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-plans-for-removing-packages-that-do-not-yet-support-1-0-from-the-general-registry/28003)

From **Usage** : these are hard to find cos so many questions.

- [https://discourse.julialang.org/t/please-recommend-a-julia-ecosystem-for-statistics/](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/please-recommend-a-julia-ecosystem-for-statistics/)
- [What is in your startup.jl?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-in-your-startup-jl/18228)

> Would a tag like _discussion_ , within _Usage_ , be sufficient?

Tags seem second class in Discourse,  
I don’t even know how to browse by tag.  
I click usage category and I am drowned in questions.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/4 "2019-10-03T13:54:17Z")

</div>

> [@oxinabox](#):
>
> It would be good to have channel to post general:  
> “How about this cool idea for implementing X”.

> [@Tamas\_Papp](#):
>
> Is there a better name?

> [@oxinabox](#):
>
> Here are some from Community:
> 
> - [CAD in Julia?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cad-in-julia/28557)
> - [Making a list of all public Julia package registries](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/making-a-list-of-all-public-julia-package-registries/29035)
> - [ANN: Plans for removing packages that do not yet support 1.0 from the General registry](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-plans-for-removing-packages-that-do-not-yet-support-1-0-from-the-general-registry/28003)

Based on the examples provided by @oxinabox, I would say he is approximately interested in what I would name the `Brainstorm` category. It is a place where theoretical meta-discussions take place, ones which aren’t quite `Usage` questions. They are brainstorming threads and musings about what to take action on.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/5 "2019-10-03T14:42:32Z")

</div>

Thanks for the examples, they clarify what you are proposing.

FWIW, I like the current arrangement: I think that questions about best practices, workflow, and package recommendations are fine in _Usage_, and things to do with the registry have a perfect home in _Community_.

> [@oxinabox](#):
>
> There are a number of things i have not posted because I can’t find somewhere to post them.

I don’t think this community is very strict about these things, the worst that can happen is that your post will be moved to another category. This alone should not prevent anyone from posting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oxinabox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oxinabox/32/206603_2.png) [@oxinabox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oxinabox)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/6 "2019-10-09T14:03:24Z")

</div>

Here is another one, that was posted in Meta

> [@Frequent releases of packages?](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/frequent-releases-of-packages/29649):
>
> This kind of a meta question, but related to the package repository. I don’t know where to put it… I feel a bit reluctant to create frequent releases of my package because I know that the pull requests are manually reviewed and merged, and I tend to think that I have to justify every release because I am creating work for others. It might be just me, but I an automated process (at least after the initial registration of the package) could possibly lower the threshold in general sweat_smile T…

that feels like it doesn’t have a good home.

Could go in Usage (but it isn’t a question on how to use julia), could go in Community (but it isn’t a question on creating meetups etc)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/7 "2019-10-09T14:05:52Z")

</div>

I put it in #community since that’s where the package announcements sub-forum is, but I agree it’s not a perfect fit.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oxinabox](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oxinabox/32/206603_2.png) [@oxinabox](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oxinabox)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/8 "2019-10-09T14:07:34Z")

</div>

I think that is the best fit for it yes.  
though since package announcements is only their for historical reasons…  
(and because we can’t make it a subforum of announcements, as otherwise it would email a bunch of people.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wsphillips](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/wsphillips/32/6777_2.png) [@wsphillips](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/wsphillips)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/break-usage-into-helpdesk-and-general/29448/9 "2019-12-09T19:41:57Z")

</div>

Pseudo related comment about usage section:

In any outcome, some way to separate “first steps” from “probably tricky” questions would be nice (whatever you want to call it). I find myself going to Slack when I have something more difficult to ask about Base. There’s a body of knowledge that’s not yet documented/known only by core devs and at least having those types of questions cataloged in one place might be useful for future embellishment of the documentation/generation of FAQs.