Mail lists

[Steve Cooke]

Benedikt Meurer wrote:
> BluPhoenyx wrote:
> 
>> Ok, I guess I've been around mail lists far too long, and simply don't 
>> see the reason for using the lists anymore.
> 
> 
> I don't see the point in this discussion.
[snip]
> 
> Just my 0.02€...
> 
> Benedikt

The point is that it is very difficult for us, as users, to know whether 
some particular behavior is a defect, or otherwise, without some 
discussion of our situation. What we have been asked to do is to report 
EVERYTHING in the "bug" database and, ONLY THEN, start discussing it. 
You are going to have one very large and polluted database, supposedly 
for tracking the status of defects, but actually tracking the progress 
of various user based problems. And most users will be incredibly 
FRUSTRATED by the continuous, Sun-esque, "not a bug" status that will be 
assigned to the vast majority of the users reports.

This situation may be what the developers want. It may allow them to 
analyze where the most common user problems are, and develop 
documentation to deal with these. As a developer myself, I do understand 
and appreciate the reasons for the XFCE developers wanting this paradigm.

Maybe what is required is a cultural shift in the use of this resource. 
Maybe, I, as a user, should be consulting the defect database for 
similar problems to what I am experiencing before bombarding the list 
with requests for help, the status of the weather/trees in my part of 
the world, whatever. Which brings us back to the original post of this 
thread:

"What is the point of these lists if everone is required to use the 
bugtracker? Perhaps the lists should be canceled and a pointer to the 
bug tracker be put on the proper web pages."

Just my $0.05 worth (with exchange rate factored in.)

Steve Cooke