1. I don't mind asynchronous communication. I love it too because it provides more meaningful discussions. You don't have to hurry to answer and can give you some time to organize your thoughts. Although sometimes you'd like to make it quick (e.g. hotfixing that requires >1 ppl). Slack/Gitter provides you an opportunity for both quick/slow communication. Email is very bad for quick replies. That limitation is the thing I'd like to get rid of.
2. I've tried Pony Mail. Currently, I'm using it. It is way better than usual Gmail interface (I use it for 10+ years with short pause when I switch to Inbox), but there are still huge disadvantages: a) I can't quote particular sentence to address it b) There is no way of structuring your text (like bulleting, underscoring, indentation, etc). Yes, I know I can use it in the Gmail web client, but It is way harder to navigate there. c) No threads. Every discussion tends to split into different branches, so it is nice to be able to join one of the threads ignoring the whole discussion (or vice-versa). d) Reply window just holds half of my screen. I have to close it to reread some points in the discussion. e) A lot of niche things that I get used to (like polls, images, etc). They're not that crucial but make communication easier. f) I still have a cluttered inbox, hence all the discussions arrive there. Yes, I can create smart filters, but it still needs some effort. 3. Yes, mobile device is a problem. Mailing lists on mobile are still just Gmail client which is horrible for that kind of discussion. 4. And now my biggest concern: for the majority of users joining to mail list sounds like an invite to MySpace. It is easier to skip the community then make an effort into understanding how devlists do work. I think the main problem is not the struggle of existing users but the number of developers who skipped conversation being afraid of the unfamiliar messaging tool. On 2019/12/31 23:22:43, Jarek Potiuk <jarek.pot...@polidea.com> wrote: > I had some discussion today and I'd love to get some more insight (@Anton > Zayniev and others). I think about spending some of my time next year on > Apache-general projects so that might be one I might put some effort into. > So I would love to learn more. > Anton - I would love to run an experiment with you. Would you like to try > to use the https://lists.apache.org/list.html?dev@airflow.apache.org to > respond to that email - quoting relevant parts etc. ? > > - What I really love about email interface is the built-in asynchronous > communication (thus slowness). I never expect response immediately, nor > provide one. I think this is deeply embedded in the whole Apache Way. > People in Apache projects are all over the world, have different > schedules/time zones and responding after some time is OK and expected. > This is why we gave 72 hrs of voting time for example. Is this > something that bothers people who do not like mail interface (Anton?) is > your expectation about immediacy of communication? > - The UI/interface - have you (Anton and others) used > https://lists.apache.org/list.html?dev@airflow.apache.org ? like > "log-in" and use it as mail sending interface? Not that different from > Gmail/Other web interfaces. I am using Gmail for like 12 years now as my > only email interface (no clients whatsoever) and never looked back after > switching. Maybe you simply don't realise how comfortable and useful it is > to use web interface for writing emails or messages? > - Or maybe the problem is mobile devices? > - I think once you learn how to start new threads, comments with quoting > etc, mailing list is pretty useful. I don't think slack is much better in > it to be honest. What are the most annoying things that bother you Anton > with those? > > J. >
