We put a task list in place. So if you want to help out but don't know where to start, take a look at the task list. There are tasks for non-programmers as well so even if you have never written a line of code in your life, you can help out and become a Drupal contributor. Of course, you can also check the bugs reports, find a bug, fix it, and send a patch to the mailing list. Any help is most welcome.

It seems that the very promising Google module's development is dead. The module was build directly after Google API's were opened and was - at that time - state of the art.

However, we only scratched the possibilities of Google's potential. I can think of a dozen ways how we could (re)use the API within drupal. Is anyone able and willing to take this project again?

BTW: The module was never released within the drupal site but is still available at: natrak

In busy forums, moderation can be a useful tool for gently enforcing good behavior. Drupal is pretty flexible in its support for moderation, but it could go farther to make moderation more effective.

Plastic.com, to take one example, uses moderation in ways that are different from Drupal's in some major and minor ways. The two most important differences are: 1. Limited pool of mod points, and 2. Karma points accumulate.

MicrosoftWatch hosts the following article written by Mary Jo Foley:

With Google buying Blogger creator Pyra Labs over the weekend, many are wondering when and if Microsoft will take a similar plunge into the Weblog-tools world.

It will come as a surprise to many that, with little fanfare, Microsoft officially entered the blogging-tool space last week. At the VSLive! developer conference, Microsoft unveiled five new sample applications built on top of its ASP.Net scripting environment. One of these five "the ASP.Net Community Starter Kit" is a blog builder.

"You could use this (Kit) to build a Weblog," confirms Microsoft developer division product manager Shawn Nandi.

The Community Starter Kit consists of application code, templates, documentation and forum-based help. According to Microsoft's own definition of the kit: "The Community Starter Kit enables you to quickly create a community Web site such as a user group site, a developer resource site, or a news site." [ read more ]

Food for thought and discussion. What would happen when every MSN/Hotmail user was automatically given the option to opt in for a free weblog (a la LiveJournal)?

Here is an extreme scenario. Having single sign-on in place (.NET Passport), every MSN user could comment on anyone else's blog and have his personal preferences follow him or her as he/she travels from weblog to weblog; a problem the rest of the weblog world has yet to solve. Naturally, their weblogs would seemingly integrate with their IM service/client, and both Internet Explorer and Outlook would get a handy "blog this" feature. Moreover, having billions of MSN users, they could establish de facto technology standards and render existing technologies such as the Blogger API, MetaWeblog API and Trackback almost useless. At every aspect, they would have an immediate technical advantage over established weblog software.

Can anyone give some really good reasons NOT to use Drupal as the sturcture for my school district's Intranet?

Also, does anyone know where else I can post this question to get good feedback?

Gallery 1.3.3 has now been ported to Drupal and released as a module. This integrates into the Drupal user permissions system, and offers simple user-management for creation/addition/admin of galleries and photos.