Re: Replacing the ML with a forum

From: Andrzej Krzemienski (akrzemi1_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-09-07 08:28:36

sob., 7 wrz 2024 o 09:08 Andrzej Krzemienski <akrzemi1_at_[hidden]>
napisał(a):

>
>
> sob., 7 wrz 2024 o 09:04 Andrzej Krzemienski <akrzemi1_at_[hidden]>
> napisał(a):
>
>>
>>
>> sob., 7 wrz 2024 o 01:53 Vinnie Falco <vinnie.falco_at_[hidden]>
>> napisał(a):
>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 6, 2024 at 4:05 PM Andrzej Krzemienski <akrzemi1_at_[hidden]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> śr., 26 kwi 2023 o 16:08 Vinnie Falco via Boost <boost_at_[hidden]>
>>>> napisał(a):
>>>>
>>>>> Before we replace the mailing list with a forum (and implement a mail
>>>>> gateway)
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I want to be crystal clear here: no one is getting rid of the mailing
>>> list :)
>>>
>>>
>>>> If so, do you care if
>>>>>
>>>> discussions are changed to be flat (like Discourse)?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> What does "flat" mean here? I am not familiar with Discourse. Could we
>>>> get a sample or example?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Great question. So, "threaded" means that the messages are presented in
>>> a hierarchy. That is, when someone replies to a message the reply is
>>> nested. Multiple replies to the same message are nested at the same level.
>>> And when someone replies to a reply, it is nested relative to its reply. It
>>> is probably easier to just show you what that looks like:
>>>
>>> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Nntp.jpg
>>>
>>> Users of Boost's mailing list want threading, which became obvious a
>>> couple of years ago when the mail provider was changed and the threading
>>> broke. I can't find the discussion on this but it is there.
>>>
>>> The author of Discourse is very much against threading, and he is vocal
>>> about it:
>>>
>>>
>>> https://meta.discourse.org/t/threaded-discussion-is-ultimately-too-complex-to-survive-on-the-public-internet/63172
>>>
>>> The popularity of mailing lists has gone down significantly, although it
>>> is still a format which offers advantages to active contributors. Younger
>>> generations of developers prefer the immediacy of SnapChat, Discord, and
>>> platforms like Reddit over mail subscriptions. To address this need, we
>>> have been working on deploying a web-based front end to the mailing list.
>>> This feature is part of mailman 3 and it is called "HyperKitty:"
>>>
>>> https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/hyperkitty/en/stable/
>>>
>>> Our deployment of HyperKitty has been paused while the governance issues
>>> are being resolved and this is the latest snapshot (I don't think the
>>> messages were imported):
>>>
>>> https://lists.preview.boost.org/mailman3/lists/
>>>
>>> With considerable effort we can work this into a solution which allows
>>> existing contributors to use the mailing list as they are already
>>> accustomed to using, while allowing new volunteers who prefer using a
>>> browser to also participate. A side effect is that it will make browsing
>>> the archives more pleasant.
>>>
>>
>> First of all, thank you so very much for making this herculean effort.
>> Making a service that provides the new interface as well as the old
>> interface seem like a super-hard task to me.
>>
>> Now I better understand the question, so, currently, when I am using a
>> Gmail client.
>> 1. I receive new messages, and notifications about them, from many
>> forums, Boost mailing list being only one of them.
>>
>
> Maybe I should clarify the one above. I participate in many WG21 (that is,
> ISO C++) "reflectors", which are, I think, also email based. I appreciate
> that I have a uniform interface from both these reflectors and Boost
> mailing list.
>

And one more thing, not sure if relevant in this context. Currently, on my
Android phone, I am always logged in to Gmail and have it always open. This
means that I am plugged into the Boost mailing list automatically. Given
that, I do not appreciate the Discord stuff, because this is in an
additional app that I have to log on to separately. This having one tool
and not being forced to authenticate in others, I consider a feature also.

Regards,
&rzej;