On Fri, 2010-06-04 at 06:26 -0400, Máirín Duffy wrote: > Lately I've been thinking a lot about how alternative interfaces to > mailing lists might improve some of the problems inherent to them. I > actually set up a blog gateway and a forum gateway to the Fedora > design list. While it was primarily to solve a different problem (the > largest pool of designers out there for us to recruit from aren't > familiar with mailing lists at all), it might help here. If folks > think it's a good idea I'd be happy to help having something similar > set up for this list. Speaking as someone who's managed a number of large lists (in the hundreds to thousands of members), I'm keenly attuned to the problems that can arise when a small minority doesn't behave as they should. However this is in the nature of large communities. Technical solutions such as changing to a forum format are not going to cut it, not least because many people are going to want to stick with the mailing list, so you're going to end up with two interfaces, only one of which you can control. It's always tempting to propose radical solutions when some unusual event occurs (see most responses to terrorist incidents for a real-world parallel). My view is that the recent slug-fest over the Fedora webpage design is not typical, and has mostly died down. It doesn't *need* a radical response, and the same goes for the occasional spats that crop up from time to time. Those directly involved may feel strongly, may even feel personally wounded, but the majority of the list is on the sidelines and presumably just want it all to go away so we can get back to our regularly-scheduled programming. Fortunately the use of threads helps a lot in ignoring the parts one doesn't care about, except for the rare occasions where someone hijacks a thread (though this doesn't seem to happen with the kind of thread we're talking about). My advice is to leave well alone. What I would do however is make some key aspects of the Guidelines a little more upfront when people subscribe. I don't mean simply a pointer to the complete Guidelines, but a *brief* list of the top points directly summarized in the confirmation message. poc -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
