Incomplete chat log follows:

(8:49:55 PM) Draggonx: okay i give up, for a casual visotor, you forum is horrid, sorry
(8:53:12 PM) Pervach: yeah, pretty much
(8:53:49 PM) Pervach: what would be less horrid?
(8:54:18 PM) Draggonx: hmm. it DOES depend on who you are aiming it at
(8:55:17 PM) Draggonx: theres just a LOT of subforums and a lot of topics in them, and a lot of them are old, but not all of them would be unwanted-old, you know? do you guys clear out the stuff you dont use anymore? if not, having an archive forum could be a good idea
(8:55:56 PM) Draggonx: means for a casual visitor who goes "i think il have a quick look to see what these guys are about- ahhhhh too much!"
(8:56:14 PM) Draggonx: because, first rule of everything, people are lazy
(8:56:43 PM) Pervach: you basically mean... clearly identify stuff that's old?
(8:56:58 PM) Draggonx: yup!
(8:57:29 PM) Pervach: shouldn't be too hard... I hope.
(8:57:38 PM) Draggonx: because it...demotivates people from continuing to browse when they can see something like, say from before the election, cause the brain then associates everything else nearby as being same time period
(8:57:56 PM) Pervach: viewforum.php?f=20 is particularly relevant
(8:58:59 PM) Draggonx: is that one of those predone php/bb/something forums? cause its not to hard with them to move topics around. um, darn ive already forgotten, do you use stickies to highlight important topics in each forum?
(9:01:57 PM) Draggonx: also- this is a blantently personal preference for anything im "in charge of"- seeing topics with 0 replies is like, ouch. for some reason i always feel that its nice for "the bosses" to at least acknowledge peoples responses. also to support their fellow bosses efforts. discussion and dialogue babies. (unless its an announcement thing)
(9:02:38 PM) Draggonx: you need a "resources" page
(9:03:15 PM) Draggonx: since like, access to information is one of your things, it would make sense to help...facilitate that
(9:03:23 PM) Pervach: would on the wiki be enough resources? hmm
(9:03:54 PM) Draggonx: hmm your wikis not go yet though, is it? last i heard you wanted it re/written

There is a bit of a problem with multiple threads for the same topic (on top of more discussions happening on the various Facebook pages, mailing lists, etc).

I propose a radical solution: Get rid of the forums and just use the Wiki. That way there will be one discussion per topic. We don't need a general forum on internet issues, there are plenty of other places to do that. What we need is maintainability, focus and orientation on the outcome (good policy).

And replace the Facebook groups with mailing lists. It's hypocritical for us to use Facebook so much while maintaining a policy of internet openness and decentralization.

I'd much rather have everything on mailing lists, but I can accept that many people prefer something like phpbb, and I'm fairly sure if we move all policy discussion onto wiki talk pages there would be no participation at all.

I think phpbb is a reasonable thing.

And I'm constantly frustrated by Facebook. It's pure, undiluted evil which we should discourage. It's also where all the people are, and most will continue to be there no matter what we say.

IMHO if you're going down this road, better would be get rid of the Forum and Wiki, and use WordPress comments. The Wiki isn't being used as a Wiki anyway, it's just being used as a second-rate web site with a second-rate comment feature.

Why don't you use mumble?

I think this has been used in some meetings. (I haven't used it myself, but recall seeing a mention of it being used.) I guess an advantage of IRC is having logs that can be more easily searched and copy&pasted. Have you used mumble for meetings and found advantages with it?

We use it as an alternate to local face to face meetings as some members cannot get away because of work schedules or family commitments etc. Minutes can be kept, just as in a physical meeting, on a piratepad. Also we are in geographically large area so it is used for working groups which often meet more regularly. It is an indispensable tool for us.

There is a technical hurdle for some older members but the fact that voice is used, rather than a keyboard, there is a higher participation rate from those with limited keyboard skills.

It is also scaleable - yesterday there was a discussion in IP with the CEO of Sony Europe and the Piratenpartei with over 200 listeners in a mumble room.

We had a mumble server set last year which was left over from the old kiwiarena gaming server from four or five years ago. As far as I know there were no changes to the configuration file other than adding some pirate party channels, but somehow the mumble server which had been working fine was no longer working so well. The machine it was all running on has since been rebuilt completely (with debian 6.0, not ubuntu server), we're working on a new cleaner and more easily maintained website, and at some point I may get around to setting up mumble again.

There are reasons I prefer IRC. Everybody gets heard, it's possible to have several conversations going at the same time and nobody really needs to wait their turn, and it's much easier to get a written record of what was said.

However it does have the drawback that people who cannot type quickly will be left out of the conversation. On the flip side, I'm not sure I can find a microphone around here ...

I would suggest you set up a room in mumble.piratenpartei-nrw.de PPI, the UK and the USA all have rooms there which would give you the opportunity to converse with other English speaking parties. In the mean time I will find and dust down my IRC client.