[llvm-dev] RFC: Moving toward Discord and Discourse for LLVM's discussions

[Chandler Carruth via llvm-dev]

Hello everyone,


*Short version:*I've set up an LLVM Discord server for real time chat
(similar to IRC) and an LLVM Discourse server for forums (similar to email
lists):
https://discord.gg/xS7Z362
https://llvm.discourse.group/

Please join and use these new services. They are only partially set up and
still very new, so don't hesitate to improve them and/or reach out to this
thread with any issues you see or things you want to fix. Also, both
services have dedicated feedback channels.

Do feel free to use Discourse for technical discussions, although try not
to create duplicate discussions (any more than you would between the lists
and Bugzilla) and make sure the people you're having the discussion with
are fine using Discourse instead of the email list. In case Discourse
doesn't work out, we'll collect and archive everything so it isn't lost.


*Longer version & more details:*During this year's Women in Compilers and
Tools meeting, folks expressed very clearly that our communication systems
cause a non-trivial amount of friction for new people trying to find out
about, learn, or contribute to LLVM. Both IRC for chatting and mailing
lists for longer-form discussions are unfamiliar, difficult, and often
intimidating for newcomers. While I have long been a fan and resistant to
change in these areas, the feedback from folks at WiCT was compelling and
important for us as a community to address. Even if it means I have to let
go of my precious IRC. ;]

We talked to a bunch of people and looked at the options out there and the
most promising ones were Discord for chatting and Discourse for longer-form
discussions. Meike and I have set up both an initial Discord and Discourse
server. You can find them here:
https://discord.gg/xS7Z362
https://llvm.discourse.group/

There is still a lot of work to be done. Notably, it'd be great for folks
to clean up and improve the summaries for each of the groups in Discourse,
and I'll be asking various people to help moderate on both Discourse and
Discord. If you'd like to help out with a specific set of improvements to
these, don't hesitate to reach out to me or Meike and we can get you set
up. Some specific things we're already working on:

   - Getting Discord verified with a nice URL.
   - Archives of mailing lists on Discourse so you can search in one place,
   etc.
      - See the plan here:
      https://llvm.discourse.group/t/mirroring-and-archiving-llvm-mailing-lists-on-discourse/61
   - Moving Discourse to forums.llvm.org.
   - Documenting the best way to move to Discourse while preserving a
   similarly email-focused workflow.


We're just adding these for now, but I'd like people to seriously try using
them. While IRC has served us fairly well, I think it is one of the bigger
barriers to entry. Our email lists are more effective, but also have had
serious infrastructure challenges over the years: a constant flow of spam,
bouncing for several major email providers, etc. Discourse has very
powerful email-based workflows available and I think we should seriously
consider moving to Discourse long-term instead of the email lists.

I also want to say thanks to all the folks at the WiCT workshop for giving
me and others feedback. I was pretty set in my ways around these kind of
things, but hearing the kinds of challenges this has posed to people less
established in the community was a real eye opener. It takes a lot to speak
up like this, and I really appreciate it. I hope this also helps start to
address these long-standing issues. Also a huge thanks to Tanya for
organizing the WICT workshop and Meike for helping drive this message home
to me and doing a bunch of the work getting these things set up. I wouldn't
have been able to do it without her help, especially around Discord bots.

-Chandler
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