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I don't think mailing lists have a future. There is no new adoption of mailing lists, newer developers (those under 30) use other forums for communication (stac

I don't think mailing lists have a future. There is no new adoption of mailing lists, newer developers (those under 30) use other forums for communication (stackoverflow, github, etc) and mailing lists will eventually just die out as the generations of developers do. I am not trying to criticize mailing lists, they definitely have a lot of advantages over some of the newer systems that have grown to replace them. Without organic growth from new developers though, mailing lists are doomed to become a relic of a distant time. To most developers, they already are.

icebraining 12y ago
In my opinion, as an under-30 developer myself, and I don't see neither SO nor Github replacing mailing lists for broader discussions; SO is very specifically about the nitty-gritty, and while Github issues can accommodate them to a degree, they're not as suited, in my opinion. For those of you who don't use mailing lists, what do you use instead for these discussions?
- prawn 12y ago
  As Afforess said, forums. I used to be subscribed to a number of mailing lists maybe a decade ago, but none now. The signal:noise ratio is generally pretty terrible for anyone pressed for time.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    What makes the SnR ratio so different for forums vs mailing lists? I haven't noticed, frankly. I agree with Jeff Atwood: forum software is generally pretty terrible. The difference being that I don't find his better - the way it actively prevents people from reading offline is enough to make me extremely frustrated.
mehrzad 12y ago
Mailman is very popular at my college for "listservs", so that's at least one usage. They at least have a future outside of tech/programming.
- uxp 12y ago
  There are a number of open source discussion lists I've been subscribed to over the past decade (usenet, then Google Groups) that have recently migrated to hosted Discourse boards because of Google's lack of spam fighting tools. Who cares about what the listservs UI looks like, the entire point is to receive and send email. Lets help build good spam fighting capabilities into mailman and others so all of our knowledge isn't locked into these walled-garden communities.
  - hobarrera 12y ago
    Actually mailman 3 can help fighting spam: * Since data is now in SQL, it's easier to interact with the DB and have simple tools delete spammers. * Since there's an exposable API now, it's possible to develop systems that interact with mailman and help with the issue.
click170 12y ago
With respect I disagree. To me a mailing list serve a purpose. Its a middle ground between IRC and not having any discussion medium at all. IRC is suitable for chat but discussions happen on mailing lists (or here on Hackernews). In mailing lists conversations are threaded and there's nothing wrong with carefully considering your response before the question flies off the screen as on an IRC chat. Stackoverflow is great for one-off questions, but they are not a support forum for your project. IMO new or young projects don't yet have a need for real discussion around the project, the project is to small, the Dev team is too small and or is located geographically close together, or the project just doesn't warrant in depth discussion yet. Edit: my biggest gripe about mailing lists is that many do not meet the one - click - unsubscribe standard, most that I've seen require two clicks. Maybe I'm being pedantic, but it does matter to me.
DannoHung 12y ago
I got to hating them because they were impossible to navigate. The new interface looks pretty convenient.
- feld 12y ago
  The interface is your email client...
amirmc 12y ago
I find your comment quite odd. It's like saying people don't need email anymore -- which is ridiculous. So as long as people are using email, there will be the need for groups of them to coordinate over email. Mailing lists are one answer. And what on earth does 'organic growth' of mailing lists even mean in this context? Had you been commenting about mailman specifically, then I guess I could see your point (it's one product in this space) -- generalising to all mailing lists ever seems absurd.

icebraining 12y ago

In my opinion, as an under-30 developer myself, and I don't see neither SO nor Github replacing mailing lists for broader discussions; SO is very specifically about the nitty-gritty, and while Github issues can accommodate them to a degree, they're not as suited, in my opinion. For those of you who don't use mailing lists, what do you use instead for these discussions?

prawn 12y ago
As Afforess said, forums. I used to be subscribed to a number of mailing lists maybe a decade ago, but none now. The signal:noise ratio is generally pretty terrible for anyone pressed for time.
- icebraining 12y ago
  What makes the SnR ratio so different for forums vs mailing lists? I haven't noticed, frankly. I agree with Jeff Atwood: forum software is generally pretty terrible. The difference being that I don't find his better - the way it actively prevents people from reading offline is enough to make me extremely frustrated.

mehrzad 12y ago

Mailman is very popular at my college for "listservs", so that's at least one usage. They at least have a future outside of tech/programming.

uxp 12y ago
There are a number of open source discussion lists I've been subscribed to over the past decade (usenet, then Google Groups) that have recently migrated to hosted Discourse boards because of Google's lack of spam fighting tools. Who cares about what the listservs UI looks like, the entire point is to receive and send email. Lets help build good spam fighting capabilities into mailman and others so all of our knowledge isn't locked into these walled-garden communities.
- hobarrera 12y ago
  Actually mailman 3 can help fighting spam: * Since data is now in SQL, it's easier to interact with the DB and have simple tools delete spammers. * Since there's an exposable API now, it's possible to develop systems that interact with mailman and help with the issue.

click170 12y ago

With respect I disagree. To me a mailing list serve a purpose. Its a middle ground between IRC and not having any discussion medium at all. IRC is suitable for chat but discussions happen on mailing lists (or here on Hackernews). In mailing lists conversations are threaded and there's nothing wrong with carefully considering your response before the question flies off the screen as on an IRC chat. Stackoverflow is great for one-off questions, but they are not a support forum for your project. IMO new or young projects don't yet have a need for real discussion around the project, the project is to small, the Dev team is too small and or is located geographically close together, or the project just doesn't warrant in depth discussion yet. Edit: my biggest gripe about mailing lists is that many do not meet the one - click - unsubscribe standard, most that I've seen require two clicks. Maybe I'm being pedantic, but it does matter to me.

DannoHung 12y ago

I got to hating them because they were impossible to navigate. The new interface looks pretty convenient.

feld 12y ago
The interface is your email client...

amirmc 12y ago

I find your comment quite odd. It's like saying people don't need email anymore -- which is ridiculous. So as long as people are using email, there will be the need for groups of them to coordinate over email. Mailing lists are one answer. And what on earth does 'organic growth' of mailing lists even mean in this context? Had you been commenting about mailman specifically, then I guess I could see your point (it's one product in this space) -- generalising to all mailing lists ever seems absurd.