I posted recently about a new site being set up for TeX questions: tex.stackexchange.com. This is developing nicely, I think, and there is already a good set of questions and answers. The aim of the site is to be something that mixes the best of forums, wikis and so on, with the key idea being that the quality and relevance of both questions and answers is rated by the community. This is a bit different to more traditional support routes, such as comp.text.tex, but does have its advantages. For example, if you’re a new user you get a sense of which answers are worth reading and hopefully why. I should add that I’ve volunteered as a moderator, at least for the beta phase of the site!

Of course, this is not the only place to go for support. For LaTeX users, forums such as The LaTeX Community or GoLaTeX (in German) are an increasingly popular destinations. In my inbox recently I had an e-mail from another potential support site, Equalis. This is a maths-focused community, with a set of forums including one for LaTeX. I’m all for there being a variety of places to look for help, and I’m very excited that there is the interest in these new TeX-related sites. Will Equalis get the following it needs to be a success? I’m not sure, but the only way for it to have a chance is for people to take a look!