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Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 20:50:28 -0500
From: "J Aaron Farr" <farra@apache.org>
Sender: jaaronfarr@gmail.com
To: general@incubator.apache.org, matthieu.riou@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Thoughts on Umbrellas, Federations, and Communication
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References: <NBBBJGEAGJAKLIDBKJOPCENMGOAC.noel@devtech.com>
	 <440F0F27.5010107@toolazydogs.com>
	 <fbdc6a970603091120y7da66fc7j618d8ab80d2cf749@mail.gmail.com>

On 3/9/06, Matthieu Riou <matthieu.riou@gmail.com> wrote:

> I know that mailing-lists are part of the foundation of the ASF and
> are a really useful way to communicate effectively. However my feeling
> is that we don't have the right tools or policies to use them as
> effectively as could be. For example, as a commiter, I find it
> extremely annoying that I have to subscribe to a mailing-list just to
> post a message on it. Also most archives aren't really user-friendly.
> Not being able to do a simple search on ALL mailing lists is for me a
> major drawback.
>
> So I'd suggest (if possible) the following ideas:
>   * Give any commiter the necessary rights to send an e-mail on any
> mailing list without having to subscribe.
>   * Provide fully searchable mailing-list archives.

That's perhaps part of the solution.

Really we have two problems:

1. Managing information
2. Providing suitable forums for cross-project collaboration

In the first case, it's a matter of filtering the massive amount of
information that goes through the mailing lists.  I can't subscribe to
them all.  I'm over-subscribed as it is.  So while I want to know
about other conversations, I need a filtering mechanism.  One solution
that I really liked were the Apache newsletters we had going on a
little while ago.  It was a nice way to know about what was going on
in each project's little corner of the ASF.  If we could extract
similar information from the mailing lists and create "smart digests"
that would perhaps suffice.

Another matter is providing spaces for cross-project collaboration.=20
In this matter, I'm not sure I have any solution, though I'm not sure
additional mailing lists are really the best idea.  That might only
add to the email overload.

--
  jaaron

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