Yet again, a third party is listed by a Canonical entity most prominently as the go-to location for technical support.
AskUbuntu’s IRC?
How about #ubuntu or the Ubuntu Forums, both of which belong to Canonical and not Stack Exchange?
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Hi! You’re referring to the splash which appears for new users, right? This:-
Edit: You can see the source for the image above at the Welcome page.
It lists askubuntu, irc and forums, each linked to a page explaining how to use those services. It doesn’t favour any one over another. It just has them listed. Sure, we could shuffle the order, I don’t think it really matters that much.
Indeed while askubuntu is hosted by a third party (just as IRC is), it’s used and loved by many members of the Ubuntu community, just like IRC and the forums. All three are perfectly valid support sites, servicing different userbases. Indeed we omitted other support options to keep the page nice and punchy. Note that mailing lists aren’t on that list. However all the support options are listed under the “technical support” link in that panel.
I would be fine with moving it to the end of the list, or having some magic which rotated the options around, or some other suggestion.
What do you think?
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I understand, of course, that Ask Ubuntu is a valuable resource. They all are. As it stands right now, askubuntu.com appears to be the primary choice and “askubuntu.com/irc/forums” looks like a URL to it.
How about changing the part that reads “askubuntu.com/irc/forums” so that it does not look like a URL. That, or completely remove it. As it appears right now, that is as a URL, the first thing clicked will be askubuntu.com.
If you just leave the “technical support” link, I think it will be much more clear.
A matter of semantics/symbolism, IMHO…
A reasonable matter of written/graphical clarity on a web venue as discussed between an Ubuntu Forums Admin and popey.
Ok, I moved it to the next line, re-ordered things, made it clear it’s “Ubuntu Forums”, replaced the slashes with commas. Hows that?
To me, AskUbuntu seems like the best forum for technical support, even though it’s not hosted by Canonical, and I’d want it listed first. It’s also the first recommended when you install Ubuntu. So I disagree with @qiii 's opinion here. I don’t suppose it’s possible to do polls on Discourse? 
Edit: Actually I guess you can use likes. Like this post if you agree with me I guess, and like qiii’s comment if you agree with them!
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I think we have better things to do than argue back and forth about the order of support sites on a welcome screen most users will immediately dismiss 
Each of the support sites has their merits, it’s not about which one is best, just that they are all represented in a way that makes them easy to find.
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Excellent! Thanks, popey!
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