[Python-Dev] [Fwd: Re: Splitting c.l.py...]

[Neil Hodgson]

   Guido writes,

> I feel much more comfortable
> discussing both operational issues and future features here than I do
> in the general newsgroup, because I approximately know my audience.

> When posting to c.l.py these days I usually feel a lot of pressure
> about how my writings will be perceived by newbies, critics, members
> of other cultures, the press, and so on.

   I'd like to separate out the problem here. Is it that there is a need to
keep politically damaging opinions private so the Python community is not
seen to be disparaging some other project like Tk or Expat? Is it that it is
more acceptable for you to make mistakes in front of a restricted audience?

> Sure, they can read the
> python-dev archives, but few do, and (except for Gerrit Holl) I
> haven't had any feedback from outsiders to posts made here.

   How is the average Python user to learn of python-dev? I did know that
python-dev existed before being invited on but had never been interested
enough to find it. I just tried to find out about python-dev from the top
level of python.org. Searched the Mailing Lists, Community and SIGs pages.
Searched the FAQ. Even ran a search using the search page over the
python.org web site with no relevant result.

   If it is desirable for more people to know about what happens on
python-dev, then access to the archives should be made easier. My
understanding is that currently anyone can write to python-dev but only
invitees can subscribe. The inversion of the normal pattern of restricted
mail list access does make some sense in allowing temporary inclusion of
people involved in a discussion. But it denies outsiders the ability to
sensibly read python-dev. Web archives are a poor imitation of a mail
readers ability to filter threads and topics.

   The problem for me here is that knowledge of what is going to happen to
Python is kept by the Python developers away from the Python users.

   Neil