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I don’t so much mind (yet) slack replacing IRC. I use slack at work already. So more slack channels is an easy extension of that communication space. Collaborat

I don’t so much mind (yet) slack replacing IRC. I use slack at work already. So more slack channels is an easy extension of that communication space. Collaborating with Kotlin or Elixir folks in their excellent slack channels feels like a modernized variant of the IRC communications I used to have with Python and Smalltalk. Like you, I much prefer mailing lists over any sort of web forum (discord included). I hate Swift’s forums. I like the Python mailing list. One idea the reasons is that in the mailing list, I get to pick my tool (my mail client), and you can pick yours. We’re leveraging an already strong communication ecosystem of tools.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago
I think there are a bunch of issues with using mailing lists this way, but they are fixable: 1. Moderation tools on mailing lists are extremely rudimentary. A healthy community _needs_ moderation of some sort. 2. A lot of tooling is necessary to make a good mailing list experience. I would expect an inclusive community mailing list to have a web interface for posting and searching, and a separate interface for searching. 3. There's no documentation on setting up email clients to use mailing lists and it isn't a trivial/intuitive process. The email spam problem has made the registration process non-intuitive and often drops emails to/from the list. 4. There's very little documentation on setting up your email client to use a list properly. What are best practices for organizing your inbox around a mailing list? How do you reply to a list? How do you quote a previous response? 5. There's no easy basic flow for folks to get started with. The power of more "modern" approaches is that the default web interface is highly opinionated. This makes it easy to join and easy to participate. When there's no basic flow to use, folks never get to the basics before they get to a point of wanting to customize their flow. I think a blessed mailing list flow using a webmail client, a web newsgroup/BBS interface (which doesn't exist now sadly), or a blessed email client workflow would go a long way to making mailing lists accessible. Unfortunately because mailing lists are only popular among tech people these days, I doubt you'll see much work on this.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago

I think there are a bunch of issues with using mailing lists this way, but they are fixable: 1. Moderation tools on mailing lists are extremely rudimentary. A healthy community _needs_ moderation of some sort. 2. A lot of tooling is necessary to make a good mailing list experience. I would expect an inclusive community mailing list to have a web interface for posting and searching, and a separate interface for searching. 3. There's no documentation on setting up email clients to use mailing lists and it isn't a trivial/intuitive process. The email spam problem has made the registration process non-intuitive and often drops emails to/from the list. 4. There's very little documentation on setting up your email client to use a list properly. What are best practices for organizing your inbox around a mailing list? How do you reply to a list? How do you quote a previous response? 5. There's no easy basic flow for folks to get started with. The power of more "modern" approaches is that the default web interface is highly opinionated. This makes it easy to join and easy to participate. When there's no basic flow to use, folks never get to the basics before they get to a point of wanting to customize their flow. I think a blessed mailing list flow using a webmail client, a web newsgroup/BBS interface (which doesn't exist now sadly), or a blessed email client workflow would go a long way to making mailing lists accessible. Unfortunately because mailing lists are only popular among tech people these days, I doubt you'll see much work on this.