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From: Alan de Freitas (alandefreitas_at_[hidden])
Date: 2022-04-07 18:39:54
Hi,
I've attempted to synthesize this discussion so we might find holes in our
divergencies or come up with something more actionable.
- This list does not represent my opinions. I marked things mentioned as
pros and cons with +1/-1. This is also how I interpreted the comments and
not my opinion.
- As with any synthesis, there is going to be some error. I'm sorry if I
misrepresented some opinions by mistake.
- Solutions are not exclusive and not exhaustive.
## Communication
Problems mentioned:
- Declining activity in the mailing list
- Balkanization of Boost
Proposed solutions:
- Mailing list
- +1 The medium is not necessarily the problem
- -1 Declining activity already
- -1 Discussions about libraries are already on Github
- -1 Instant discussions are already on Slack
- -1 _Some_ non-per-library discussions are already on Reddit
- -1 Feels link 20-years ago tech
- +1 Discussion comes to the subscribers
- +1 Simplifies local archives and one can use tools of choice
- -1 Inability to have nicely formatted code
- -1 Inability to have embedded godbolt preview
- +1 It doesn’t interrupt you when “new stuff is availableâ€
- Forum based solution
- +1 Friendlier from the user perspective
- +1 Allows one to subscribe to topics of interest
- +1 Discussion also comes to the subscribers
- -1 Some find forums inferior to mailing lists
- -1 Not everything can be solved by new and shiny tools
- -1 People have already moved discussions to Github
- +1 Newcomers prefer the web
- -1 People need to subscribe to topics
- -1 Integration with email involves lots of important details
- -1 Centralized services might limit access based on the user's region
- -1 Forums might require javascript to load content
- Some form of social media management
Related points
- Getting reviews pumping should incentivize communication
## Promotion
Problems mentioned:
- Necessity to highlight once again the important role that Boost serves in
the C++ community
- Newcomers can't figure out where to ask for help and report problems.
- Newcomers find it easier to find support on Reddit, Gitter, Github, or
slack, than on the mailing list.
Proposed solutions:
- Website
- +1 Make boost.org more modern and relevant
- -1 Not everything can be solved by new and shiny tools
- -1 Not many people decide not to use Boost because of the website
- +1 Could simplify involvement for newcomers
- Use boost projects for website backend
- -1 May not be the most efficient
- -1 Off-the-shelf software parts are widely understood
- Some type of campaign
- Identify metrics of success
- Number of installs
- Number of programs using Boost
- Participation
- Quantify where the participants have gone
- People go to std:: mailing lists with their ideas and bypass boost
- People go to Github, have their ideas available, bypass the review,
and avoid changing things.
## Contributions and Proposals
Problems mentioned:
- No high-impact library creation and adoption
- High barrier to getting involved
- Libraries are either too well-written (beast) to contribute
- Libraries are too domain-specific (math libraries) to contribute
- There is no clear flow to do small improvements
- Contributors don't know what libs are dead and which are not
- Contributors don't know what are good issues for casual participants
- Unmaintained libraries and PRs that get ignored
- Contributors' lack of time
- You are not going to attract new people by making them use ancient
standards
- Not enough women
Proposed solutions:
- Pivot in the direction of more user-facing utilities
- +1 Graphics clients, window managers, audio I/O
- +1 Boost is great for supplying nuts and bolts, but it's light on
turnkey application frameworks
- Pivot in the direction of more embedded utilities
- GPIO, SPI, and I2C
- Drawing in young engineers with fresh ideas and free time
- Somebody making that happen
- Create a list of open questions
- Spend time at conferences cajoling people to act as review managers
- +1 Good opportunity to find people
- -1 Boost should not be "two-tier" i.e. those with travel budgets and
those without
- Involve more women: Cold-call a colleague or a mailing list participant
- -1 Gender has no bearing in the Boost community
- -1 Information about a C++ contributor other than their code is
irrelevant
- +1 Ignoring this as an issue is being "fine" with the "status quo"
- -1 It segregates people by qualities irrelevant to the community
- -1 It introduces a social divide
- -1 It takes away from the community's efficiency
- -1 The problems mentioned might not apply to online discussions
- -1 It abandons merit as the most important value
- -1 There's no reason to follow other organization's value system
- +1 There could be efforts to make any open-source community more
welcoming
## Review
Problems mentioned:
- Declining level of participation as reviewers
- Difficulty to find a review manager
- Newcomers don't understand the review process, although others do
- Newcomers don't understand the process to become a maintainer
Proposed solutions:
- Somebody making that happen
Related problems:
- Requires new attractive proposals
On Thu, 7 Apr 2022 at 10:36, Adam Wulkiewicz via Boost <
boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> W dniu 07.04.2022 o 15:32, Mateusz Loskot via Boost pisze:
> > On Thu, 7 Apr 2022 at 15:29, William Linkmeyer via Boost
> > <boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> >> Although, I think (or hope) that we can all agree that there could be
> efforts to
> >> make most any open-source community be more welcoming.
> > Yes, let's identify and eliminate technical barriers and chores
> > that work against growing participation by users and contributors.
> +1
>
> Adam
>
> _______________________________________________
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-- Alan Freitas https://github.com/alandefreitas
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