Hi Amir,
On 27 July 2014 07:14, Amir Ladsgroup <ladsgroup(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Another thing: pywikipedia-l isn't a hospitable
place?
Today, I discussed this with Frances and Sumana a bit, and these are my
thoughts on it. Basically, I think there are several things we could
improve on. It's not so much that pywikipedia-l is inhospitable, it's
rather that it's not as hospitable we could make it.
There are three points I can think of: 'passive inhospitability', in that
e-mails sometimes do not get answered. Luckily, you are always very quick
in replying to new users, which is great! Still, some mails stay
unanswered, and we (as pywikipedia-l) could improve on that. Maybe we can
also mention on the mailing list page that IRC might be a better choice
than the mailing list for people just getting started to get help.
Secondly, a lot of the discussion on-list is aimed at experienced
developers, and assumes a high level of understanding of pywikibot. This
can scare people away that want to ask a simple question. This is something
we could improve by maybe explicitly mentioning on the mailing list page
that basic questions are very welcome, and by actively promoting
discussions with people who are unsure how to contribute.
Thirdly, there is 'active inhospitability', which can range from 'RTFM'
emails to venting frustration to berating others. Pywikipedia-l (or any
other mailing list, for that matter) is /not/ the place for that. I've
fallen for the 'venting frustration' a myself, but it's important to keep
in mind this shapes the image of the project for people who may not be
actively participating at the moment. They might not participate because of
a negative atmosphere. Please send frustration-venting emails to me ;-),
and send only the constructive mails to the mailing list :-)
Merlijn