[Mailman-Developers] [Mailman-Users] GNU Mailman roadmap

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Brian J Mingus writes:
 > I have only recently subscribed to this list and I can say that you
 > and every other person that read my e-mail saw fit to ignore
 > it.

I don't see anything in my folder or in the archives for this list
(Mailman Developers).  Perhaps you are referring to your post
"E-mail-based moderation" to Mailman Users?  If so, it would seem that
you have "seen fit to ignore" the replies you've already received:

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2009-November/067633.html
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2009-November/067646.html

It's quite reasonable for the developers to see replies from users
known to usually give good advice and assume the matter is settled, at
least until there's a followup.  It's not so reasonable for you to
assume that things regularly get dropped on the floor when you
discover that one similar message to a different list went unanswered
18 months ago, especially when you could just eyeball a few months'
worth of "thread view" in the archives and see it's simply not true.

 > Your null hypothesis, namely that people who send questions and not
 > patches to the list are not worth your time, costs you dearly in
 > the long run.

In fact the developers are quite good about replying on this list, and
some of the developers are usually available on the Mailman Users
list[1], as well as between 5 and 20 experienced users who are able to
answer most questions posed there.  It's true that the OPs don't
always consider the replies to be responsive to their needs, but then
I gather the developers' and FAQ meisters' salaries are several
million dollars in arrears....

While it's the obvious/traditional thing to do, making a request for
enhancement on a mailing list is no longer the most effective way to
get action.  Better would be to submit a "wishlist" bug at

https://bugs.launchpad.net/mailman/

because that won't get lost, or accidentally flushed from an INBOX if
overlooked for 48 hours.[2]  Wishlist bugs probably don't do as well as
average, but the details page (append "+bugs" to the above URL) shows
643 open bugs out of 1820, so about 2/3 of the reported bugs have been
addressed.  Many of the bugs labelled "new" have comments from
developers, and some are waiting on further input (sometimes for years
:-) from the reporter.


Footnotes: 
[1]  I personally wish Mark would cut his FAQ-answering time by about
80%; there are plenty of experienced users who can do the job well enough.

[2]  I think you have to go through a mildly annoying registration
process to submit a bug or feature request, but you only have to do it
once.