Re: Testing Discourse for Debian
Unfortunately part of my original message was truncated so I will continue it
here:
On Sunday, April 12, 2020 1:15:23 PM PDT Russ Allbery wrote:
> > Coming from a corrupted-to-the-bone post USSR country I speak from
> > personal experience of being on receiving end of that situation. You may
> > think that it is for the best, but it is not.
>
> This is a common argument, but I find it entirely unpersuasive.
> Censorship is highly concerning when done by a government because the
> government can use force to prevent any other form of discussion except
> the one the government controls. The idea that Debian could do this is
> absurd.
>
> If moderation of Debian forums suppressed some problem that a lot of
> people really cared about, there would be an explosion of discussion
> elsewhere, huge uptake of the discussion in other places over which Debian
> has no control (LWN, for instance), and alternative forums being
> repurposed or newly created all over the place.
> This is a community full of people entirely capable of setting up a new
> mailing list or forum on the fly in an afternoon. Debian doesn't have a
> monopoly on the press, or any realistic ability to suppress discussions.
> We couldn't be more unlike a government.
>
> It's sadly common for people who want to fight about something on project
> forums to claim that they're being censored and unable to get their
> message out. It's also quite dubious. People love controversy and free
> software developers tend to be a suspicious and anti-establishment lot.
> Actual controversies with even a hint of credibility spread like wildfire.
> If no one is willing to pick up on a controversy and amplify it, it's
> worth considering the possibility that's because everyone who looked at it
> seriously has decided it's bullshit.
While I agree that there are usability aspects of email driven workflow that
are far from being perfect, Discourse, as well as any other web browser
focused solution is a step in wrong direction.
I much more like what https://sourcehut.org is doing. They are working on
improving email workflows without forcing users into web browsers and I think
this is something we should do to.
Thanks
--
Ihor Antonov
https://useplaintext.email
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