[llvm-dev] [cfe-dev] Mailing List Status Update

[Tobias Hieta via llvm-dev]

Hello,

As a newer member of the LLVM community, I certainly would appreciate
using Discourse over mailing lists. I find the mailing list
intimidating and hard to format code and discussions well. It just
feels like a relic - to me. But I wanted to touch on a point below as
well:

> We went through many of these same discussions a while ago about
> moving away from IRC and email at the same time. There was no
> community consensus during that discussion, but for various reasons
> the end result was a fracturing of the community (some people went to
> Discord, some people stayed on IRC, and now both communities have to
> tell members "if you don't get an answer here, try on the other
> service or the mailing lists"). IMO, this left us with a community
> that's less approachable because new people are never really certain
> if they're asking their questions "in the right place", especially
> when a failure to get an answer to their question requires them to try
> again on a different service. I am worried that a switch from email on
> the -dev mailing lists to using Discourse will result in a similar
> fracturing, as discussions will still be possible via email on
> -commits. To me personally, the possibility of further fracturing the
> community is a concern I think we need to take very seriously.

I am very active in the Discord and try my best to help people and
while I often refer people to post to the mailing list if they can't
find an answer, I have never and never seen anyone direct new people
to the IRC channel.

One thing I haven't seen in this discussion is the fact that Discord
and Discourse is way more approachable for people who haven't used IRC
and email their whole life. I understand there must be a balance
between keeping current contributors happy and attracting new ones.
But keeping discussions in the mail-list over discourse would (In MY
opinion) favor current/older contributors way higher than newer ones.

Thanks,
Tobias