(Just FYI, all the questions asked in different channels are being
collected at
https://discuss-space.wmflabs.org/t/testing-the-path-from-mailing-lists-to-…
)
Thank you for the initial round of feedback. I think I am addressing all
the points below.
Why change?
This is in fact the most interesting question. It is tempting to think that
if mailing list users declare they are happy with mailing lists, then there
is nothing to discuss. However, we have to think (and to Risker’s point)
that mailing list users who aren’t happy just go elsewhere, or don’t even
join a mailing list, usually relying on commercial social media products
completely outside of the Wikimedia movement and its values.
Here we are trying to propose a Space for discussion, collaboration and
support that can bring (back) together those who are still using mailing
lists AND those who are having their Wikimedia conversations in Facebook,
Telegram, etc.
Private mailing lists
Yes, private mailing lists can be mirrored or emulated, and access
permissions can be granted more or less like in Mailman. Space admins can
create a group (corresponding to a mailing list) and assign the mailing
list admins as owners, then the owners can invite & unsubscribe users. And
then a private category can be created to host the messages, with access
permissions restricted to members of that group.
Space administrators <https://discuss-space.wmflabs.org/about> have access
to all content, just like they have access to all the content in the site.
And just like with Mailman (I guess) SRE and whoever has access to the
servers have the technical possibility to access to the content too, which
is not encrypted in the database.
Replying from Discourse to mailing list mirrors
Not possible. Mailing list mirrors are read-only. If posting from Discourse
is wanted, then you want mailing list emulation (which means leaving your
current Mailman mailing list behind).
Editable archives
The content of mailing list mirrors is not supposed to be edited. However,
Space admins have edit permissions that can be exercised if something HAS
to be edited. They can also delete messages archived.
In the case of mailing list emulation, regular permissions apply and
authors can edit their own posts within a time frame that can be defined in
the site preferences. Moderators and administrators can edit past messages
too.
Guidelines specific to a certain mailing list / category
Totally negotiable for private, invitation-only categories/mailing lists
where people join for a specific task, in a specific role, and the content
is not even visible for the Space community. Common sense prevails. If a
category wants to set additional guidelines for themselves on top of
the general
guidelines <https://discuss-space.wmflabs.org/guidelines>, they probably
can as long as the whole is consistent.
If a group e.g. ArbCom has special needs that might conflict with a literal
reading of the guidelines (e.g. investigate users that have been reported
in a project) common sense keeps prevailing, trust matters, and an official
and legitimate activity in one Wikimedia channel should be able to operate
under the same premises in Wikimedia Space.
Mailing lists without archives
An equivalent of this functionality is currently not supported in
Discourse. We could commission the development of a plugin that would
delete posts from the web UI and the database after they have been
distributed via email. When asked, Discourse maintainers said it wouldn’t
be difficult to write such plugin, it is just not a priority for them.
“What we’d lose (user experience)”
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Discourse#What_we’d_lose_(user_experience)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Discourse#What_we'd_lose_(user_experience)>
lists
some points as potential disadvantages of Discourse over Mailman (fun fact,
the archived email
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/listadmins/2019-October/000325.html>
containing
this question has a broken link). 😏
-
Problems with email rendering? The promise is to offer no functionality
loss to Mailman users. We want to test mailing list mirroring and
emulations precisely to get a first impression about problems in real use
if any (and file bugs accordingly).
-
Email forwarding? Same thing, let’s test and see what are the problems
if any.
-
Problems subscribing. OK, there is room for improvement indeed, both for
making easier to understand how subscribing works (the subscription itself
is easy, clicking a button) and for implementing mailing list mode per
category <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T236852>. Again, testing
just helps understanding the actual impact of this problem (which can be
compared with the problems that users face the first time they learn about
mailing lists, which also brings a learning curve).
Other points are listed in that section but I don’t believe they are
relevant, or actual “losses”.
On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 11:06 PM Risker <risker.wp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Ah, I see. It's a snazzy forum.
Yeah, not appropriate for anything that would be considered private or
sensitive. In fact, most of the private lists wouldn't be able to use it
because they could not comply with the Code of Conduct, since those private
lists are *likely* to include discussions that include private or personal
information.
Nonetheless, I don't have a baseline objection to those who are listadmins
for public lists to consider supplementing (or, depending on their mailing
list community) folding their mailing list into this. Perhaps it would draw
more people away from Facebook and Twitter....although I suspect that
people use those products for very different reasons that have little to do
with Wikimedia work.
Risker/Anne
On Tue, 29 Oct 2019 at 17:34, Todd Allen <toddmallen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Yeah, that sounds like a pretty firm no. I
don't see what the problem
with the current setup is; it seems to do just fine.
Todd
On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 1:26 PM Brad Jorsch (Anomie) <
bjorsch(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 1:02 PM Quim Gil
<qgil(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi, I have just published a proposal to start
testing mailing list
mirroring and emulation at the Discourse instance we have at Wikimedia
Space.
Is this emulation still subject to the disadvantages documented at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Discourse#What_we'd_lose_(user_experien…
?
--
Brad Jorsch (Anomie)
Senior Software Engineer
Wikimedia Foundation
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By sending a message to this list, you email all admins of all lists. To
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Phabricator. See
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Listadmins(a)lists.wikimedia.org
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Phabricator. See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists
_______________________________________________
Listadmins mailing list
Listadmins(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/listadmins
By sending a message to this list, you email all admins of all lists. To
request technical changes for a specific list, instead create a task in
Phabricator. See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists
--
Quim Gil (he/him)
Senior Manager of Community Relations @ Wikimedia Foundation
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Qgil-WMF