Inactive mailing lists

Ben Cooksley bcooksley at kde.org
Fri Apr 28 10:59:44 BST 2023 

HI Joseph,

Couple of things to note here:

1) Some of these mailing lists deliberately have archiving disabled, so
Mailman's archives cannot be relied on to determine if a list is still
active or not. This is particularly the case for *-bugs mailing lists. I
should note though that there is alternative functionality within Bugzilla
that can replicate this functionality, so a mailing list does not have to
be used here (although some may prefer this for their email filters)

2) Some of these lists are certainly defunct (kde-dashboard for one) and
can definitely be closed down

3) Some of the lists are commit filter lists which are no longer operating
(khtml-cvs for one) and should be archived.

Cheers,
Ben

On Fri, Apr 28, 2023 at 9:52 AM Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss <joseph at kde.org>
wrote:

> Cross-posting to the relevant mailing lists.
>
> To discuss, please answer to kde-community at kde.org.
>
> tl;dr There are several inactive or unused lists of the 181 mailing
> lists at KDE. What do we want to do with them?
>
> This is a post about inactive or unused mailing lists. For a general
> discussion about (active) mailing lists at KDE, please start a new
> thread or wait until I address that, likely in the very near future.
>
> _Inactive Mailing Lists_
>
> For a better understanding of what works and what needs improvement in
> KDE's internal communications, I started by looking at the 181 mailing
> lists publicly listed at:
>
>    https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/
>
> Here I see 51 mailing lists which might be considered inactive, some of
> which were never used at all. There may be more to add to this upon
> further inspection, but these seem like a good place to start.
>
> By inactive I mean there has been very low or no activity in the past
> 2-3 years at least, and for most lists the last post was 4+ years ago.
> For several of these lists, there are long gaps in activity, often with
> no community responses to the most recent posts.
>
> The 51 mailing lists are included at the end of this email.
>
> Importantly, I know a list with infrequent activity is *not* the same as
> a list that has no activity. Some communities do not need regular
> communication for that community to be active. If you see your
> community's mailing list here and think it is a mistake, please let me
> know! My apologies in advance if this is the case.
>
> Crucially, do not interpret an inactive mailing list to mean a project
> is inactive. It only means the mailing list is not a frequently used
> channel of communication. There are many other channels for community
> discussion (e.g., Matrix, Discuss, etc.).
>
> _Some Questions To The KDE Community_
>
>   * What do we want to do with inactive or unused mailing lists?
>
>   * Is there a policy for retiring inactive lists? I didn't see anything
> at the Community Wiki. [1]
>
>   * Does KDE have internal infrastructure to archive mailing lists for
> posterity? I see kwrite-devel [2] archived old posts at the "Mailing
> list ARChives" [3].
>
>   * Do we want to nudge traffic from low activity mailing lists to
> somewhere with generally higher activity (specifically, I am thinking
> Discuss)? I can imagine being in a more active online space could
> increase general participation for otherwise low activity groups.
>
> _Inactive Lists: To Close Or Not To Close_
>
> I am sure there are reasons both for and against closing mailing lists.
> Here are just some reasons I can think of to close inactive ones:
>
>   * The more communication channels there are, the more fractured KDE's
> communication is.
>
>   * It may not be obvious to new (or even old) contributors that a list
> is no longer in use, resulting in wasted energy signing up for an
> inactive one.
>
>   * Trying to engage with an inactive list may reduce motivation for
> futher contributions from members, especially when posts go unanswered.
>
>   * Moving some communities to more lively platforms may increase their
> overall activity.
>
>   * There could be a slight efficiency/ecological benefit for KDE's
> server infrastructure by removing or deactivating unused services.
>
> Pleae keep in mind: I am not judging the value of any particular group
> by pointing out low activity, or arguing we need to close any specific
> list. If there is a reason -- any reason at all -- to keep a list open,
> then let's keep it open! I myself like mailing lists for various forms
> of communication (announcements, long-form discussion, information which
> I want to archive locally for future reference, etc.).
>
> If I made any mistakes in my summary here, please let me know. It is a
> challenge to go through 181 lists and not make any errors, though I
> tried my best not to.
>
> I look forward to reading your thoughts and suggestions!
>
> Cheers,
> Joseph
>
> [1] https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/Mailing-Lists
> [2] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kwrite-devel
> [3] https://marc.info/
>
> # Overview
>
> Of the 181 mailing lists listed publicly, I found the following:
>
>   * 12 are lists that have never been used and 1 was already closed
>   * 27 are potentially-inactive general lists
>   * 11 are potentially-inactive language or country-specific lists
>
> # Unused / Closed Mailing Lists [13 Lists]
>
> ## Never Used [12 lists] ("No messages have been posted to this list
> yet, so the archives are currently empty.")
>
>   * Calligra-author: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/calligra-author
>   * Cantor-bugs: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/cantor-bugs
>   * Gcompris-espanol:
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/gcompris-espanol
>   * Kde-dashboard: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-dashboard
>   * kde-games-bugs: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-games-bugs
>   * Kde-i18n-it: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-i18n-it
>   * Kde-l10n-my: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-l10n-my
>   * Kde-l10n-sw: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-l10n-sw
>   * KDE-Look: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-look
>   * Kde-partnership: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-partnership
>   * Kdepim-builds: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kdepim-builds
>   * neon-bugs: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/neon-bugs
>
> ## Officially Closed [1 list]
>
>   * kde-nonlinux: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-nonlinux
>
> # Inactive General Lists [27 lists]
>
> ## Currently Inactive With Almost No Previous Activity [5 lists]
>
>   * kde-artists: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-artists
>   * Heaptrack: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/heaptrack
>   * CuteHMI: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/cutehmi
>   * Khtml-cvs: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/khtml-cvs
>   * Cki-attendees: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/cki-attendees
>
> ## Currently Inactive With Low Previous Activity [2 lists]
>
>   * Snorenotify: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/snorenotify
>   * KXStitch: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kxstitch
>
> ## Currently Inactive But Previously Active [16 lists]
>
>   * Choquk-devel: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/choqok-devel
>   * Kde-embedded: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-embedded
>   * Kde-buildsystem: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-buildsystem
>   * WikiToLearn: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitolearn
>   * Marble-commits: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/marble-commits
>   * Ksecretservice-devel:
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/ksecretservice-devel
>   * KDE-Telepathy: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-telepathy
>   * Kde-speech: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-speech
>   * Kexi: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kexi
>   * Enterprise: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/enterprise
>   * Marble: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/marble
>   * kde-women: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-women
>   * kde-usa: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usa
>   * kopete-devel: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kopete-devel
>   * Kde-scm-interest:
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-scm-interest
>   * Kexi-devel: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kexi-devel
>
> ## No Activity In 7+ Years [4 lists]
>
>   * SymbolEditor: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/symboleditor
>   * Gcompris-portugues:
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/gcompris-portugues
>   * kdelibs-bugs: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kdelibs-bugs
>   * QmlWeb: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/qmlweb
>
> # Inactive Language/Country-Specific Mailing Lists [11 lists]
>
> ## Currently Inactive With Almost No Previous Activity [2 lists]
>
>   * Kde-i18n-eu: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-i18n-eu
>   * Kde-edu-pt_br: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-edu-pt_br
>
> ## Currently Inactive But Previously Active [5 lists]
>
>   * Kde-i18n-uk: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-i18n-uk
>   * KDE-india: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-india
>   * Kde-l10n-in: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-l10n-in
>   * Kde-latam: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-latam
>   * Kde-l10n-kn: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-l10n-kn
>
> ## No Activity In 7+ Years [3 lists]
>
>   * Kde-el: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-el
>   * kde-mexico: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-mexico
>   * Kde-l10n-si: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-l10n-si
>
> ## Infrequently Active [1 list]
>
>   * KDE-Italia: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-italia
>
> --
> Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss
> KDE Internal Communications & KDE Eco Community Manager
> OpenPGP: 8FC5 4178 DC44 AD55 08E7 DF57 453E 5746 59A6 C06F
> Matrix: @joseph:kde.org
>
> Generally available Monday-Thursday from 10-16h CET/CEST. Outside of
> these times it may take a little longer for me to respond.
>
> KDE Eco: Building Energy-Efficient Free Software!
> Website: https://eco.kde.org
> Mastodon: @be4foss at floss.social
>
>
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