Hi I would propose to join The ASF Slack workspace: I don't see the login as an issue, and we would benefit to pro plan for free (with Apache services integration).
Thoughts ? That said, Slack and the user mailing list are different discussions imho. Regards JB On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 10:47 PM Yufei Gu <[email protected]> wrote: > > Searchability and the 90-day message retention limit on Slack are valid > concerns. That said, Slack really shines for quick, real-time discussions, > something email doesn't handle as well. > > To address the retention issue, one option could be securing sponsorships > to upgrade to Slack Pro. I don’t think that would be too difficult, > especially since there have already been some offline conversations around > this. > > Yufei > > > On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 8:23 AM Adam Christian < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Howdy folks, > > > > Good discussion! > > > > I believe the User ML is a good idea. Here are my two thoughts on why: > > > > First: *Personas:* > > In regards to Eric's comment about the difference between "users" and > > "dev"s, I like to think of Polaris serving 3 different personas: > > 1. *Service Providers / Vendors: *These are users who use Polaris as the > > basis for a separate service that is packaged and sold to other users. I > > believe that this is the majority of users engaged about 3ish months ago > > based on anecdotal evidence. > > 2. *Contributors:* These are the folks who build Polaris. I see that there > > is a lot of overlap between contributors and service providers. Given that > > overlap, I agree that Service Providers and Contributors will probably stay > > on the dev ML. > > 3. *End Users:* These are folks that use Polaris's binaries but never > > interact at a code-level. I believe that these are the folks that a User ML > > would be good for. They can be engaged in the community but do not have to > > understand all of the nitty-gritty of the code. > > > > Second: *Searchability:* > > I think that it's important for the "end user" persona to have > > searchability. We are at an early stage of Polaris and not everything is > > going to be a smooth user experience, so folks need to be able to search > > for their issues and see the answers. I agree that, right now, we do a lot > > of this on Slack. However, I believe our Slack configuration does not store > > conversations older than 90 days. This makes it more difficult for adoption > > in my opinion. For example, I have seen a lot of the same sorts of MinIO > > configuration questions in the past few weeks. Now, we could change our > > Slack configuration and that might alleviate some of this concern and that > > might not be such a big lift, but I think that a User ML is cheaper and, to > > Alex's point, it's more aligned with "if it didn't happen on the ML it > > never happened" philosophy. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Adam > > > > On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 9:55 AM Jean-Baptiste Onofré <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Hi Alex, > > > > > > I have the same experience about Slack: it's great for quick > > > discussions and help, but it's not "stored", so it's not a reusable > > > resource (more one shot). > > > The purpose of the mailing list (dev or user or ...) is to be public, > > > archive, searchable. > > > > > > I think Apache Arrow is a good example of the user/dev mailing list > > > usage. As said before: > > > - dev mailing list is used by contributor/committer to discuss Arrow > > > internals/roadmap. Also "integrators" can ask questions here. > > > - user mailing list is used to get GitHub Discussion and Q&A > > > > > > That was also part of the proposal: also "bridge" the GitHub > > > Discussions with the user mailing list. > > > > > > As we have more and more users on Polaris, as part of our "smooth > > > onboarding" effort, I just wanted to start the discussion, at least to > > > have it in mind, and consider later. > > > > > > Regards > > > JB > > > > > > On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM Alexandre Dutra <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > I'm a bit late to the party, sorry, but wanted to say that I support > > > > the proposal for a user mailing list. > > > > > > > > On the Slack vs ML topic: I know this is highly subjective, but I > > > > personally have way too many Slack workspaces and I find it difficult > > > > to keep track of what's happening in all of them, often missing > > > > important updates. Mailing lists, OTOH, allow me to consolidate all > > > > messages into a single inbox, facilitating triage and filtering. > > > > Combined with Gmail's "snooze" feature, this workflow is the best I've > > > > ever had. > > > > > > > > On the distinction between user and developer mailing lists: this > > > > distinction is common in other Apache communities. Generally, user > > > > lists focus on configuration and deployment questions, while developer > > > > lists delve into code-related discussions. While some overlap is > > > > inevitable, it's not a significant concern imho. > > > > > > > > Furthermore, the Apache philosophy of "if it didn't happen on the ML > > > > it never happened" highlights the importance of mailing lists for > > > > official communications, making Slack more suitable for informal > > > > discussions or one-on-one interactions. > > > > > > > > Anyways, just my 2 cents. > > > > > > > > Alex > > > > > > > > On Sat, Sep 27, 2025 at 6:12 AM Jean-Baptiste Onofré <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Hi folks, > > > > > > > > > > I see your point. The idea is more to focus on discussions purposes. > > > > > Everything about "code" (including I create my own metastore, etc) > > can > > > > > go in dev. > > > > > The user should be more for questions/help on the polaris default > > > > > core. Concretely, it's the questions we have today on Slack (like, > > how > > > > > to use polaris cli, what's the purpose of this configuration, etc). > > > > > It would be a way to directly find questions and answers, as a "user > > > resources". > > > > > > > > > > But ok fair, we will see later about the user list. For now, it's up > > > > > to the contributor and user to create their own filters in their mail > > > > > client to "classify" the discussions (else, they will have a lot of > > > > > noise of with "our" pure dev discussions :)). > > > > > > > > > > Regards > > > > > JB > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 10:22 PM Eric Maynard < > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > I share this concern — further, it’s not entirely clear to me what > > > the > > > > > > distinction between a user and a dev is. > > > > > > > > > > > > Namely, we’ve had many discussions in this mailing list about > > > extension > > > > > > points within Polaris. It could be said that in many cases, users > > > are not > > > > > > expected to use the service completely out of the box but rather to > > > do some > > > > > > “development” to suit their needs. > > > > > > > > > > > > If I’m implementing my own metastore or building an integration > > > with my > > > > > > IdP, am I a user or a dev? Which mailing list can best address my > > > question? > > > > > > > > > > > > If we do create a new mailing list, I think we’ll need to consider > > > what > > > > > > exactly the use of each list should be. > > > > > > > > > > > > —EM > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 1:13 PM Yufei Gu <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi JB, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks for bringing this up. It’s a good problem to have as the > > > community > > > > > > > grows :-)! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > My only concern is that the set of people who can answer most > > > questions are > > > > > > > mainly on the dev list today. Splitting into two lists might risk > > > some > > > > > > > fragmentation, duplicated answers, and less participation > > overall. > > > Right > > > > > > > now Slack already works well for quick user questions, and we > > also > > > have > > > > > > > GitHub Discussions as another channel. Maybe once the community > > > grows > > > > > > > larger, it would make sense to revisit the idea of a dedicated > > > user list. > > > > > > > Just my two cents. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yufei > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 12:15 PM Dmitri Bourlatchkov < > > > [email protected]> > > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi JB, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Adding a users mailing list would be good from my POV. I > > imagine > > > we could > > > > > > > > leave slack for more informal user-to-user discussions, while > > > treating > > > > > > > the > > > > > > > > users ML as a means for requesting information from Polaris > > > developers / > > > > > > > > maintainers. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I imagine if something new or unusual but affecting many users > > > were to > > > > > > > come > > > > > > > > up in slack, it would not be unreasonable to move such a > > > conversation to > > > > > > > > the users ML so that responses and advice would be archived for > > > future > > > > > > > > reference. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > That said, I see some overlap with GH discussions, so I wonder > > > if we may > > > > > > > > want to make GH discussion read-only if we enable the new ML > > (in > > > order to > > > > > > > > direct all questions to one system). > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > My personal preference is with users ML over GH discussions. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > > > Dmitri. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM Jean-Baptiste Onofré < > > > [email protected]> > > > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > It’s great to see more and more users asking questions on > > > Slack. > > > > > > > > > To give a voice to anyone and a way to ask questions, I > > wonder > > > if we > > > > > > > > should > > > > > > > > > not create a user mailing list. > > > > > > > > > Dev will be used to discuss technical details, changes, > > > proposals, > > > > > > > > > decisions (as we do today). User will be dedicated to users > > > about > > > > > > > > > questions, help requests, etc. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thoughts ? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Regards > > > > > > > > > JB > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
