Hi, On Thu, Jul 10, 2025 at 02:59:33PM -0400, Jeffrey Walton wrote: > I don't think removing email workflows (which implies removing mailing > lists) is wise. > > Debian can support new ways to participate, like Social Media and > Chat, for Gen-Z. However, I don't believe it is an either/or > proposition. Debian should support email, mailing lists and other > methods for everyone.
I believe it's either/or only because once alternatives are provided and decently supported, people actively choose not to use email. And if the alternatives aren't provided then people ultimately choose to use something that doesn't require them to use email. There are some in Debian who are actively pursuing this. Debian's Salsa, for example, is a private GitLab instance, so that's web-based. There doesn't need to be (and shouldn't be) a stated goal to "kill email"; the issue is that email is doing a good job of dying all by itself and that is easy to reverse. Salsa proponents recognise that many software developers want a web forge, not a mailing list, not a mailing list for patches and bug discussion, not a web interface that is merely a transcript of some emails. Then you've got the recent introduction of tag2upload which is making it possible to use a git-based workflow without the addition of a lot of Debian-specific tooling, lots of which happens over email. This is good because it makes collaboration more frictionless like GitHub without any of the downsides of being captured by GitHub. Salsa, and tag2upload, and things like them, are not without controversy. There's plenty of Debian Developers who wish they didn't exist and think that the current ways of working while imperfect are good enough. That changing things in ways they don't like is too high a price to pay for hypothetical collaboration with younger developers. Like with this, only time will tell. > If Debian switches to Social Media and Chat, then folks like me -- who > do not participate in the social networking experiments -- will lose > out. You are reacting to a threat of something you like being taken away, which no one has proposed, even though what you like will fade away over you lifetime just because it is becoming less relevant. That's just life, isn't it? Surely you must concede there is no rescuing email at this point. It's not ever going to get back to its glory days as a means of collaboration. We can move with that or not. I'll still be here too, but we'll just be talking to each other. I like mailing lists too but they are a relic now. The people that are interested in Linux but have no desire to seek support by email will be elsewhere. Members of the Debian community certainly can take the position that they don't welcome those users, or that those users are imaginary, or that they exist but they are living their life wrongly. I don't think those would be good choices though, so while Andrew is discussing welcoming environments for user support I thought I would make that case. Thanks, Andy -- https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
