Re: An appeal for brevity on the Sarge/SC threads

[Brian May <bam@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Enrico" == Enrico Zini <zinie@cs.unibo.it> writes:

    Enrico> Example strategies could be learning how to isolate
    Enrico> positions and topics and split and retitle threads, or
    Enrico> having someone ("mailing list secretaries"?) writing
    Enrico> regular summaries of the hottest discussions and the
    Enrico> various views that are expressed in big and important
    Enrico> threads.  Or both.  And maybe something else.  And a BOF
    Enrico> on this at Debconf.

The point about summaries is a good one. The mailing list threads are
just raw data, and this needs to be processed in some sort of way in
order to make any sense out of it. Usually this is easy, but with
large and complicated threads, similar issues tend to get discussed in
different sub-threads, different sides may be taken in different
sub-threads (so if you only read one sub-thread you may pick up only
one side), some sub-threads are based on misunderstandings that are
subsequently cleared up (sometimes this gets cleared in another
sub-thread), some sub-threads are personal flames and don't add
anything, some sub-threads can go completely off-topic (so you spend
time reading messages that aren't important), etc.

This isn't to say that having the mailing list threads/archives isn't
a good thing, but not everyone has the time to process it and form
there own opinions. This is where summaries come in, somebody can
process and summarise the thread others can just read this summary.

There is a summary of debian-devel
<URL:http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2004/17/>; it doesn't yet
include the latest hot topic though (at least not that I could
see). It is also rather brief, and may not be the best place to
summarise controversial topics.

Obviously, there is also the danger that a single summary written by a
single person may be biased, even if that person tries hard to avoid
introducing bias.

Would it be possible for a representative of each side in the
controversy write (and maintain) a web page giving the main points
of their arguments, and then the weekly news could provide a link to
this page?

This would enable people like me to see both sides, without having to
scan and process the raw threads, which tends to be a slow process
prone to misunderstandings if rushed.
-- 
Brian May <bam@debian.org>