Are Media Manager questions welcome on tridion.stackexhange.com?

Question

Every now and then a question pops up about Media Manager, like this one What CDNs can I connect to with SDL Media Manager. Various answers/comments on this question claim the question is on topic if it is a Tridion integration, and off topic if it would be a Tridion integration.

I think we should welcome those kind of questions instead of declaring them offtopcic (link). Although SDL Media Manager could be used as a stand alone product (as in not integrated with SDL Tridion) and some questions might not be directly related with SDL Tridion CMS, the questions are still relevant for the audience and the Media Manager service is closely related to SDL Tridion.

It's like questions which could be answered without Tridion knowledge, i.e. a .NET troubleshooting question. Those questions have a weaker relationship with the main topic of the site, but we have to embrace those questions to make tridion.stackexchange an open platform where everyone is welcome, and to encourage new users to post their questions and answers.

Answer 1

I do not think it is a good idea to let SDL's internal organization determine what is on topic or not. First of all that is not something you can expect people to know, and secondly it can change without any actual change to the products. So if you bring in SDL Media Manager, I can't see how you can avoid bringing in SDL World Server and SDL TMS. If they are here, then SDL Trados is hard to avoid (after all, this is the tool most translators will use when translating a Tridion component), and then we do indeed have SDL Stack Exchange. Which might be a great idea, but it's a different idea than a Tridion Stack Exchange.

When I post that I consider the question to be off-topic it's not something I just do to annoy the poster. It's to let the poster know that they probably have to follow other channels to get the answer, instead of simply waiting for an answer to their post here. And if possible I will provide the information that I do have on the subject.

Answer 2

I'm inclined to agree with you on that particular Media Manager question, Jan but we do need to be mindful of the line. This isn't SDL Stack Exchange, it's specifically for Tridion.

I don't really agree with you on allowing questions that could be answered without Tridion knowledge though. We need to build a resource of useful, relevant and professional level content for Tridion. If we begin to allow general programming questions it could dilute the usefulness of the site as a Tridion resource and weaken our distinction from Stack Overflow which could hinder us getting out of beta (disclaimer: based on no evidence).

That said, I think our fight with getting Tridion questions to stay open across the Stack Exchange network prior to TRex's existence has given some of us quite a harsh attitude to off topic questions now that we have power over our own site. This may or may not be a good thing.

I'd be interested to see others' (perhaps the Stack Exchange mods') opinion.

Answer 3

I would argue they are fine if there is some kind of Tridion context. If they are about the Media Manager Connector etc there is an obvious place for it here.

I think I would likely vote to close questions (like the CDN one) if they are not answered quickly. After all, if the key people who monitor this Q&A can't answer it, then chances are that only MM Product manager or R&D can.

Answer 4

Media manager is off-topic for this site, as are various other products that you can buy through the same sales channels. As has been noted, where the question is about an integration with Tridion, that clearly makes it on-topic. In general I think we should be fairly gentle in the way we process off-topic questions. First ask what the Tridion-relevance might be, and ask the questioner to add information that shows this relevance. But if this isn't forthcoming, we should close the question or have it moved to a different place.

Answer 5

I've asked three of the four questions here that have been tagged with Media Manager. Every answer gave me insight and assistance in resolving an issue with Tridion, not MM, though.

I looked at the other technology-focused stack sites, and it doesn't look like there are any "product suite" type of sites; the sites are singular in their purpose as either covering a subject (Web Applications), or a single application (Drupal).

I also agree that Media Manager questions are off-topic and that we should not consider SDL's organization as a qualifier for whether a question is appropriate.

I think the qualifier for relevance is in the answer, not the question: Does it answer something about Tridion?

Answer 6

Having attended two Media Manager bootcamps, I see the appeal of wanting to be able to ask Media Manager questions here.

This includes:

1. My colleagues and peers working with Media Manager are very likely a subset of the larger SDL Tridion technical community
2. StackExchange is a modern, fast, addictive, and easy-to-use platform
3. The expertise, functional questions, and even technical approaches are familiar including a WCF API to metadata to client-side templating

But it isn't Tridion. :-)

Until that changes, this community changes, or there's another place for it, I'm suggesting a small Q&A forum on something familiar (Google Discussions):

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sdlmediamanager

Ask for an invitation on the site if interested. I've already sent an invite to the few I know that are already using MediaManager or have shared about it. Feel free to use your professional or personal email account (it's Google, so you can pick).