From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2002-10-01T10:27:23+09:00
Subject: Re: announce@ == less email (FAQ item?)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Julian Fitzell" <julian@beta4.com>


> Sean Chittenden wrote:
> [...]
> > With my developer hat on, I only use Ruby and C/Ruby.  With my DBA hat
> > on, I only use PostgreSQL and BDB.  As a sysadmin, it's FreeBSD.  I
> > work hard to be good at what I do and enjoy staying informed of what's
> > going on in each of those communities.  When I read my email, I read
> > it in the order of 'inbox', 'cvs commit lists for projects I
> > maintain', 'cvs commit lists for the products I use', '-announce
> > lists', '-bug lists', '-security lists', '-bug lists', '-hacker
> > lists', '-admin lists', '-audit', '-arch', and generic user lists some
> > where down at the bottom of the pile.  -talk, however, doesn't fit
> > nicely into that stratification.  -talk is the bug list, is the
> > security list, is the -hacker list, is the -admin list, is -arch list,
> > and up until recently, used to be the -core list.
> [...]
>
> It's very easy for someone who wants to read every single message about
> ruby to subscribe to multiple lists... it takes maybe a few minutes of
> their life, once.  For the 95% of people who have more limited
> interests, it is difficult or even impossible to select only messages
> that are related to certain topics unless the lists are split up.
>
> [...]
>
> Julian
>

OK, these arguments have persuaded me.  It's reasonable to have some new lists.
I just plead for sanity in their creation.  They should be kept together (at
ruby-lan.org) and created in an organized way.  The ultimate documentation for
what gets posted where will end up in the FAQ.  This information should be
concise, coherent and sensible.

An announcement list is sensible, but it should have the appearance of official
sanction, not just be created on an arbitrary site.  If the future FAQ entry
about mailing lists looks inconsistent, it reflects poorly on the maturity of
the community and ultimately the language.

Another benefit of lists being grouped is that subscriptions can be managed
more easily.

Just as it takes a few minutes to subscribe to multi[ple lists, it takes a few
minutes to create those lists sensibly.

Just my AU$0.04

Gavin