(low-frequency) mailing lists | suggestions & summary of prior thread

[Shantanu Tushar Jha]

Hi Joseph,

Thanks a LOT for summarizing the discussions, it really helps.

@Bhushan Shah <bshah at kde.org> Since there is a KDE India already on
Discourse[1], I propose we remove/archive the kde-india mailing list.

Cheers,
Shantanu

https://discuss.kde.org/c/local-communities/kde-india/19

On Tue, 23 May 2023 at 14:10, Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss <joseph at kde.org>
wrote:

> Follow-up discussion to the post "Inactive mailing lists".
>
> tl;dr There are three topics discussed here:
>
>    1. For mailing list admins: *Suggestions For Information To Add To
> Mailing List Descriptions*
>    2. For mailing list communities: *Moving Certain Groups To Discourse?*
>    3. For everyone: *Summary Of Prior Discussion About Inactive /
> Infrequently Used Lists*
>
> As always, the discussion is open for your feedback and ideas!
>
> _1. Information To Add To Mailing List Descriptions_
>
> If you are a list admin, consider adding the following to the mailing
> list description. This way subscribers are well-informed about the
> communication channels used for your project/community:
>
>    * Other communication channels for this project and their intended
> use (e.g., for announcements, user support, live chat, etc.)
>    * Relevant links for the project (e.g., website, wiki, etc.)
>    * Intended scope for the list (i.e., what it is for / not for)
>    * Policies regarding moderation, code of conduct, etc.
>
> For examples, see:
>
>    * Energy-efficiency:
> https://mail.kde.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/energy-efficiency
>    * Kde-soc: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-soc
>    * Visual-design: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/visual-design
>
> _2. Moving Certain Groups To Discourse?_
>
> Beyond typical forum functionality, Discourse integrates well with email
> and RSS. Something to consider for low-frequency mailing list groups:
> there may be projects and communities that benefit by officially moving
> communication to Discourse. Although I have no data to back up the
> claim, I suspect having users interact on a more active platform could
> generally increase engagement within KDE.
>
> A nice feature of Discourse is: for mailing list subscribers who wish to
> continue receiving posts in their mail clients, it is possible to follow
> discussions via RSS or by enable mailing list mode in Discourse. It
> takes some setting up; see below for more.
>
> A few language and country-specific communities already have made a move
> to Discourse. See:
>
>     https://discuss.kde.org/c/local-com.munities/
> <https://discuss.kde.org/c/local-communities/>
>
> Some of these groups also have low traffic mailing lists. Unless current
> list subscribers also move to Discourse, there is the risk of fracturing
> the community as list subscribers are seperated from the people at the
> forum. In this case, archiving and closing the infrequently-used mailing
> list might be beneficial. Of course, that is for the list admin and
> relevant community to decide.
>
> Info about using Discourse with email and RSS:
>
>    * Users can enable "Mailing list mode", which allows one to receive
> and respond to posts via email (i.e., just like a mailing list). By
> default, users receive posts to /all/ categories -- limiting posts to
> specific categories requires manually "muting" the other categories. See
> the community wiki for more detail, including how to mute categories:
>
>      https://community.kde.org/KDE.org/KDE_Forums#Mailing_List_Mode
>
>    * Alternatively, one can follow specific categories, tags, etc. as an
> RSS feed. Again, see the community wiki for details:
>
>      https://community.kde.org/KDE.org/KDE_Forums#Following_RSS_Feeds
>
> _3. Summary: Prior Discussion About Inactive Mailing Lists_
>
> Here are some bullet points from the discussion about inactive /
> infrequently used mailing lists. For the full thread, go to:
>
>     https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-community/2023q2/007577.html
>
>    * Some lists deliberately have archiving disabled, so an empty
> archive is not necessarily an indicator of no activity.
>    * Some lists are primarily used for following bug reports (e.g.,
> *-bugs) or commits.
>    * Subscribing to a low traffic email list is rarely something people
> notice, and the UI of mail clients rarely gets in the way. By contrast,
> the UI of e.g. Matrix very much gets in the way of staying in 200 low
> traffic channels.
>    * Low email traffic does not mean subscribers will not answer
> appropriate posts sent to it.
>    * Unless current subscribers also make the move to a new channel,
> moving discussion to a new platform risks separating the people who have
> answers (the current subscribed people) with the people who have the
> questions (the people redirected elsewhere).
>    * For lists that are unquestionably no longer in use, please file a
> sysadmin ticket and they will get removed.
>    * See this ticket for mailing lists that have been or will be removed
> as a result of the discussion: https://phabricator.kde.org/T16387
>
> Cheers,
> Joseph
>
> --
> 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
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Shantanu Tushar
shantanu.io
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