Re: Debian-devel is full of noise
On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Fernando wrote:
> - Someone must be in charge of watching the mailing list [the Watcher]
> - Once the Watcher identifies a topic that is becoming too long, he raises
> the alarm and a Topic-Architect is appointed.
> - The Topic-Architect creates a new mailing list [debian-Topic] and subscribes
> automagically all identified participants.
There should probably be provision for discussion participants to
take the discussion over to debian-Topic on their own initiative,
without the intervention of the Watcher, and to terminate the
discussion on their own (deleting the debian-Topic list).
There should also probably be an easy way to query what debian-Topic
discussions are currently underway. A periodic (weekly?) auto-posting
of this information to debian-devel would probably be useful, and not
too intursive.
debian-Topic probably needs to be archived, too. This
will probably result in a number of historic debian-Topic
files cluttering up the mailing list archives over time.
That could have Archive management impact.
> - An announcement is sent to debian-devel that the topic Topic is being
> discussed in debian-Topic.
> - Replies to debian-devel messages with relevant subject lines are
> automagically rerouted to the new list. The Topic-Architect will have to
> manually identify which subject lines are relevant, though.
> - After that, people who post to debian-devel a message about Topic are
> unsubscribed to debian-devel and subscribed to debian-Topic. [Of course,
> they will be able to resubscribe to debian-devel, no more punishment than
> the hassle of resubscribing is intended.]
Posters should be auto-subscribed to the debian-Topic list,
but should not be unsubscribed from debian-devel. If they are
unsubscribed from debian-devel, they will miss debian-devel messages
on other topics in the interim until they resubscribe. I'd suggest,
rather, that the debian-devel message be re-routed to debian-Topic
and the offending poster be sent a mechanized wrist-slap message,
and auto-subscribed to debian-Topic if he's not already subscribed.
> - After the discussion on debian-Topic is declared finished by the
> Topic-Architect, the list debian-Topic is destroyed and its subscribers
> are resubscribed to debian-devel.
Again, they shouldn't be unsubscribed in debian-devel. They're
probably interested in other topics being discussed there while
they're involved in the sidebar discussion on debian-Topic.
> - The Topic Architect posts the result of the discussion to debian-devel.
> If it generates too much controversy, a fiat decission is requested to
> the Leader.
> I think that topic-oriented mailing lists must be dynamically created and
> destroyed. The improved quality of debian-devel is worth the technical effort.
I think this suggestion has a lot of merit. I've had sort-of
the same idea kicking around in the back of my head for some
time, but hadn't developed it to this level of detail.
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