Site is not ready for launch [Was: Re: Launch now???]

Hi,

Dave Page wrote:

> I've fixed a bunch of issues today, and as far as I can tell, the new
> site is ready to go barring some minor issues and ongoing content
> updates. As I will be away over the Christmas break, and will not
> necessarily have any email access I am keen to go live ASAP so there are
> at least a couple of days before Christmas after we switch over.

It is inappropriate to *suggest* something and then go ahead and do it
without consensus, e.g., removing the events archive, removing the
"About the new website" link and changing the content to potentially
culturally insensitive text, linking things externally instead of
actually taking the time to do things properly and integrating with the
site, and removing the press section entirely.

You can't just *remove links to proposed or incomplete content* and mark
it as done. Recklessly cutting corners should *not* be an acceptable way
to ready the site for launch.

We're still working on and evaluating the entire site. On a cursory
glance I can see TODOs still left on the site (History?), the unfinished
Developer section (we're still working on this), the spelling mistakes
(Licence? -- the rest of the site is in American English), broken links
on the front page, the developer page, problems with books under docs,
the list subscription page doesn't have all the lists, etc. We're aware
of these issues and we're working on them.

Additionally, there's no meaningful error page should someone happen to
follow a link from an external site to what used to be on the old site.

Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list of the problems with
the website and really is just scratching the surface.

Once all the known problems have been addressed, it would be common
sense to ask pgsql-www to thoroughly test the site and report back any
issues. *Only* once the site has been fully tested and all of the issues
resolved should the site be considered ready for launch.

> *** With that in mind, unless there are any screams of objection I will
> make the site live tomorrow AM (GMT). ***

Consider this a scream of objection. A half-finished site is *not* a
site that's ready for launch. The site in its current state would
reflect very poorly on PostgreSQL.

It would be foolish to unnecessarily rush to put the site live before
Christmas; just before everyone goes on holiday is the *worst* time to
launch.

While we appreciate that everyone is anxious to see the site launch as
soon as possible, we fail to see why we can't wait to actually *finish*
the site before putting it live.

Best Regards,
Omar Kilani
Emily Boyd