[arch-general] Scope of arch-projects mailing list [was on arch-dev-public]

[David C. Rankin]

On 2/3/22 5:53 AM, David Runge via arch-dev-public wrote:
> Rationale:
> We lack a mailing list that revolves around our internal projects and
> which can also be used by non "elevated users" (such as Trusted Users
> and Developers) for more general discussion.
> Given the very low traffic on the arch-projects mailing list I see no
> issue with it becoming a per-project discussion list as well (as in our
> case mailing lists seem to be mainly used for discussion and not so much
> for development anymore these days).
> 
> Best,
> David

(food for thought, not a critique)

Devs,

  There is always a desire to fragment mailing lists into ever smaller and
smaller topics to reduce traffic to just what a handful of folks want to see.
That can be useful, but list slicing also has a dramatic effect on the
community. There are always questions that don't fit in one list or the other.
The problem with separating lists is it tends to reduce the number of
knowledgeable devs participating in general list QA. Which in turn transforms
the general list from a place where knowledge of all topics is present to one
where questions linger without an answer.

  This isn't an Arch problem yet, but I've watched over the last decade how
creation of sublists and fragmentation of the openSUSE list has all but put a
nail-in-the-coffin of the openSUSE community. Traffic did fall dramatically --
but so did users of the distro. Worth keeping in mind when discussing whether
current or additional sublists are needed.

  Just my $.02 from watching the changes, and cause and effect, distros have
gone through for the past 20+ years. There is nothing wrong with specialized
developer lists -- so long as it doesn't result in brain-drain from the
general list that impacts the general list usefulness. Like I said, not at
Arch problem yet -- and let's hope it never is.


-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.

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