[Numpy-discussion] Meta: help, devel and stackoverflow

[Matthew Brett]

Hi,

On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 12:29 PM, John Hunter <jdh2358 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 2:20 PM, Jim Vickroy <jim.vickroy at noaa.gov> wrote:
>>
>> As a lurker and user, I too wish for a distinct numpy-users list.  -- jv
>>
>
> This thread is a perfect example of why another list is needed.  It's
> currently 42 semi-philosophical posts about what kind community numpy should
> be and what kinds of lists or stacks should serve it.  There needs to be a
> place where people can ask simple 'how do I do x in numpy" questions without
> having to wade through hundreds of posts about release cycles, community
> input, process, and decisions about ABI and API compatibility in point
> versus major releases.

Oh - dear.   I think the point that most of us agreed on was that
having a different from: address wasn't a perfect solution for giving
people space for asking newbie type questions.  No-one has to read an
email.  If it looks boring or silly or irrelevant to your concerns,
well, then ignore it.

> Most people just don't care -- they just want to be
> reasonably sure that the developers do care and are doing it right.  And if
> they want to participate or observe these discussions, they know where to
> go.  It's like sausage making -- the more people get an inside look at how
> the sausage is made, the more they are afraid to eat it.

Not so in general.  The more I hang out on the cython / sympy /
ipython mailing lists, the more I feel like using and (if I can)
contributing.

> In mpl we have a devel list and a users list.  Preparing for a release, we
> might have a hundred emails about PR status and breakers and release cycles
> and god knows what.  The users list gets "rc1 is ready for testing", "rc2 is
> ready for testing" and "v1.1.1 is released".  That's about all most people
> want to know about our release process.

I can see an argument for numpy-announce.

Best,

Matthew