Should there be a new "Python Scripting" forum?

[ChrisSnyder]

Should there be a new "Python Scripting" forum that is seperate from the existing "Geoprocessing" and "ArcGIS Desktop - General" forum topics?

For the "long story" background on the issue: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/10092-Should-this-forum-be-SPLIT

The basic arguments are (and I am trying to be very 'fair and balanced' here, although maybe I shouldn't 😞

Yes: Python scripting continues to become an increasingly popular and important method to automate GIS workflows and with advances in v10, no longer applies to only geoprocessing tasks. Providing a separate "Python Scripting" forum will make it easier for knowledgeable contributors to reply to Python-related questions and provide a more focused and easy to browse knowledge base resource for all users interested in Python scripting.  

No: Fewer forum topics is better, as many new ESRI users do not know what forum to post their questions under. Having fewer forum topics concentrates traffic and maximizes posts. The more threads in a forum, the better chance the thread will be responded to. Python-related questions are best left in the existing "Geoprocessing" and/or "ArcGIS Desktop - General" forums.

Python users (or would-be users) unite! Help shape the new ESRI forum... Vote!

[LornaMurison]

I am a very new python user.  Just yesterday wrote my first script to buffer a point 🙂
I think having a separate python forum will be extremely useful, much like the old ArcObjects - VBA forum was in helping me learn that language.

[TedCronin]

So, should the new forum thread be called Python scripting, or just Python?

I prefer Python.  Python is a bit past just scripting.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

No ... for all the reasons in the No section.  Tags need to be implemented...in a Borg system, the post could be scanned for relevant tags and the appropriate forum suggested.  Most people aren't that sentient and will continue to post in the General forum (ie field calculator Python issues) or in the GP forum.  But anyway it is the posting that is the problem not the forum splits and/or aggregations.  I would vote for removing any General forum altogether

[TedCronin]

Too bad there is not a weight feature on this poll, since Kevin and Jason would be less weight, since they are supporters rather than users.

[BartHound]

Keep it simple.  Thats the whole philosophy ain't it.

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Simple is better than complex.
Sparse is better than dense.

[TedCronin]

Keep it simple.  Thats the whole philosophy ain't it.

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Simple is better than complex.
Sparse is better than dense.

I totally agree with this quote completely and its totally relevant with regards to this forum category and the forums overall.  I would also add:

Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.

But then having its own category would be a bit more explicit.

Explicit is better than implicit.

[BartHound]

If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.

[ChrisSnyder]

WAIT A MINUTE - aren't you the same Bart_D_Hound that said this:

Put my vote in as well for splitting up these here forums for gp, into scripting (python) and at least Model Builder, along with General GP.

here:

http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/10092-Should-this-forum-be-SPLIT?p=48122&viewfull=1#post48122

What gives? This vote certainly isn't going the way I thought it would...

[BartHound]

Ahh, I am that user, but Tim Peters changed my mind since that post, I now follow the Zen of Python to the extreme.