On 3/14/06, Thomas Dudziak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 3/14/06, Simon Kitching <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I was just considering proposing exactly this! > > > > The issues about groupings, subprojects, etc. are completely irrelevant > > it seems to me. A community is the set of people subscribed to emails > > about a particular project, no more and no less. > > > > Unfortunately the way email lists are currently run at apache forces a > > strict hierarchy onto community structure, and forces a choice between > > coarse-grained and fine-grained style communities (eg one commons list > > vs one-per-project). PMCs are structured hierarchically, and that is > > reasonable, but communities don't need to be this way. > > > > The perfect system, to me, would be a website that allows a user to > > register a username/email-address; the process would confirm that the > > user's email address is valid. > > > > A set of checkboxes would allow a user to "subscribe" to various lists, > > or to virtual groupings such as "jakarta commons" which would implicitly > > subscribe to the list for every project that is tagged as being a > > jakarta-commons project. Of course this implies fine-grained email lists > > (ie one for each project); the problems of partitioning the subscriber > > base too much is avoided by the existence of the groupings. > > > > This system would allow overlapping groups to occur; for example > > commons-digester can be filed under both "commons" and "xml" virtual > > groups; someone subscribing to *either* group would receive > > digester-related emails. It also allows projects to move from one PMC > > to another without destroying the existing community (which *is* the set > > of people receiving emails). > > > > Groups also allow new projects to be created and added to the group; all > > people subscribed to the group would then automatically get emails > > related to that new project. > > > > Any list which has less than 3 subscribers would automatically forward > > its emails to the PMC list (or similar) for purposes of oversight. > > > > Any person subscribed to 3 or more projects associated with "commons" > > would automatically be subscribed to the whole commons group (or maybe > > just sent a weekly nag email recommending they do so). That hopefully > > allows casual commons developers to get just postings for one or two > > projects, without destroying the useful commons-wide community that > > exists now. > > > > Having a single point for managing subscriptions would also help greatly > > with something that regularly frustrates me: suspending subscription > > when I'm away on holiday. Currently, I need to unsubscribe to > > half-a-dozen lists then resubscribe on return. > > > > This sort of functionality probably already exists in one of the > > open-source mailing list management packages; it isn't anything radical > > as far as I can see. > > > Perhaps a forum frontend would be even better for users, at least for > non-power-users. > For instance, from what Patrick Lightbody told me about OpenQA, they > have a system that is both a forum and a mailing list: any forum entry > gets posted to the list, and any mail posted to the list appears in > the forum (e.g. see the Selenium forum at > http://forums.openqa.org/forum.jspa?forumID=3). > I haven't used it myself yet, but I could ask him if there is interest > in the technical details.
That is a good idea. Forums don't work for extended team communication like mailing lists do. Mailing list don't work well for transient participants who only want to ask one question and then move on. You used to see this type of setup with mailing lists and news groups but news groups are all but dead to younger generations these days. -- Sandy McArthur "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
