response 23 of 85:

Dec 3 15:23 UTC 2010

Here's what I see we need to do, in order of priority:

  1. Get the web newuser working.  If that means getting it working
     as it did when it was last working, with all the questions and
     technical stuff, so be it.  Not having it working at all is more of
     a harm to us than a complicated new user process.

  2. Simplify the web newuser.  From what I've seen we should be able to
     do this if we have a working web newuser and just use some default
     values or no values for options, for the things we're no longer
     asking (in the data submitted from the web page).  If this is not
     the case, speak up.

     The "how" (or "how much") to simplify is one of those consensus
     questions we get from time to time.  Let's give the Board and Staff
     and the rest of the users some time to weigh in.  Perhaps they see
     other issues with any simplification proposal.  If we hear nothing
     in a reasonable amount of time (e.g. 1 week), I'll assume no one
     has an objection.  Then let's simplify it and see how it works out.

Let me know if you see issues with this process (such as it's more work
to re-do the web newuser or web page to simplify it than it is to just
take the time to simplify all of it now).  We can adjust accordingly.

(I've also e-mailed staff and board with a summary of what we're talking
about in this item).