The OP, Zack Weinberg helpfully published his analysis on his own web page¹ and the formatting (different typeface for headings, flowing paragraph text, hyperte

The OP, Zack Weinberg helpfully published his analysis on his own web page¹ and the formatting (different typeface for headings, flowing paragraph text, hypertext links, bullet points) made the analysis much more readable. I think email is fine as the communication medium for software projects – particularly for projects that have been around for as long as Autotools†. For me, the biggest downside is that not all mailing lists use GNU mailman or other listserv software that provide archiving of list posts. Having a searchable archive of discussions is invaluable. † though I was surprised to see a number of contributors top-posting; that practice was universally discouraged on Internet mailing lists until the number of new members using MS Outlook overwhelmed members who followed the established “netiquette” 1. https://www.owlfolio.org/development/autoconf-swot/ https://www.owlfolio.org/development/autoconf-swot/