[Gambas-user] mailing lists to forum topics

[Rob]

On Monday 03 September 2007 21:58, Gareth Bult wrote:
> Why not just subscribe to the forums you're interested in (i.e. not
> gambas-users or gambas-developers, as you get this via the mailing
> lists) and you'll get the posts via email ... ??

Because regardless of the RSS feeds, gatewaying the mailing lists will 
accomplish one of two things, either of which is obnoxious.

1. It's a one-way gateway, in which case people on the forums will 
answer questions from people on the list, unbeknownst to people on 
the list.

or

2. It's a two-way gateway, in which case we'll be getting responses on 
the lists from people who aren't subscribed to the lists, most likely 
with a catch-all address preventing us from responding to them 
directly.

Either way, it becomes a nuisance to be on the mailing lists with the 
gateway in place, assuming the forums ever develop their own 
following.  

> c. Expand - in which case mailing list traffic will eventually
> overwhelm the list.

This hasn't happened with more popular projects like Pan, GNOME and 
the Linux kernel, so I can't imagine why it would happen to Gambas. 

> I would like to see (c) come to pass, in which case you will need
> an alternative, forums for example.

Well, if the mailing lists and forums are one and the same, the forums 
aren't an alternative at all, are they?

At any rate, we've had Gambas forums linked from the website for 
several years, as I mentioned earlier.  Despite this, the mass influx 
of non-email-savvy users predicted by forum proponents has never 
happened.  Like most mailing lists for free software, there's also a 
web interface to read the lists so that Google will find answers to 
problems.  

Feeding mailing lists into the forums may help the forums by creating 
a facade of critical mass, but I don't think it'll help the mailing 
lists, or those looking for answers to problems, at all.

Rob