Thanks for raising this issue Thorsten. It definitely is an issue that needs careful attention and probably more discussion. I also agree with the subsequent replies. (I don't have much time now, concentrating on the release.) Don't worry, i am not reacting nor getting defensive, just responding.
Yesterday was the first time that i ever used Internet telephony. I installed it explicity so that Ferdinand and i could work quickly through the detail of the release process. (I do also need it for the upcoming ApacheCon to phone home.) Don't worry, we know the need for discussing most things on the list, so as to include the community. We needed to ensure that we were each comfortable with the process. You saw the commits to etc/RELEASE_PROCESS.txt file. We did also have some problem-solving to do. We need to do a branch experiment to solve the docs layout issue which has been discussed ad infinitum on the list, and on which i have spent a lot of personal time. Email would have been too inefficient. Internet telephony was perfect. Like Gregor, we also used it to talk through the setup of Ferdinand's ASF committer account. We logged in together and made sure everything was okay. So skype certainly has its situations where it is useful. I reckon that it is not a matter of IRC versus skype, they both have their benefits when used appropriately. Now on to the issue of an IRC channel for Forrest. In the recent dev list discussion, we decided to hold a virtual meeting once per month on IRC. The details are in the archives. Here is an idea ... This would be an appropriate use of IRC solely for that 24-hour window. We could automatically tell people that it is being logged when they enter the room. Then we could review the log during the subsequent weeks, and bring any issues into the light of the list. Is it possible to close the channel at other times? In that way, we don't give the impression that there is an additional communication medium constantly available. We also don't have stacks of IRC logs to wade through. If people wanted to informally chat, then they could use some other channel. Not sure if that is possible - i am new to IRC and only participated on the old Cocoon FirstFriday sessions. --David
