Subject: Re: [PATCH v7] MyFirstContribution: add avenues for getting help

From: SZEDER Gábor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2020 02:07:04 +0100

On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 03:44:40PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> SZEDER Gábor <[email-masked]> writes:
> 
> > On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 01:26:02PM -0800, Emily Shaffer wrote:
> >> With https://lore.kernel.org/git/[email-masked]/ we
> >> now have a mentoring mailing list, to which we should direct new
> >> contributors who have questions.
> >
> > Why should a supposedly "open" open source project direct new
> > contributors to a mailing list that is not openly accessible, and even
> > reading and searching its archives requires registration?
> 
> Haven't we had that discussion when the mentoring list was launched?
> 
> I would not prefer joining a closed list of unknown people over
> coming up with a fake name and asking for help in an open list if I
> had choice when interacting with an established community as a new
> member, but I would understand it if preference of some people are
> opposite from mine.  The more important part, from my point of view,
> is that we offer choices (the proposed doc update illustrates
> three).

I remember a discussion about whether that list and its archive should
be open or closed, and I agree that offering choices is good.
However, since that mentoring list requires registration, we have to
carefully consider how to present it to newcomers.

Openly accessible knowledge is a fundamental value, and it's the
foundation of open source.  Therefore, we definitely should not direct
newcomers to a closed mailing list as the first option, it can only be
a fallback.

The text should list git@vger as the first option, since that's the
only open mailing list we have, it should clearly emphasize that
newcomers are very welcome, and should explicitly encourage them to
post their questions here, no matter how trivial or silly they think
those questions are, we'll be always glad to answer them.

The closed mailing list can be mentioned third as a fallback for those
who would prefer not to end up on public record right away or who have
any technical issues with posting to the main mailing list.