which list to write to (was Re: x offset in landscape mode)

[Stroller]

On 10 Jul 2008, at 07:17, Michael Kluge wrote:

>> Further to the recent "questions about our mailinglists" thread, ISTM
>> that this is more suitable for device-owners than the wider community
>> list.
>> As I see it you have a device in your hand and you want to hear from
>> other users who have devices in their hands => device-owners, "a list
>> where owners of openmoko devices can share their experiences".
>> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/
>
> Hmm. That would apply to all:
> * no quick fix for my GPS
> * my SIM does not work
> * gta02 won't charge
> threads as well?

Yes.

I think the device-owners list is ideal for these topics, whereas  
community is more appropriate for:
* whose idea was the Glamo, anyway?
* oh, noes! the GTK toolkit bitch thread.
* I have this great idea for an app (which I'm unable to produce any  
code for at the present time).
* Freedom of Openmoko & other Open-Source Software stuff.

I have only just become aware of the two lists myself and to avoid  
antagonising people I'm refraining from posting too frequently "you  
should've posted to the other list".

Unless there are objections I plan to point out the alternative list  
only once per day and only on fairly new threads, before they become  
too long.

> It is probably the best idea to write to both lists (I was not  
> aware of the other list up to now).

Urg, if you must, for the present.

IMO it's better if the "correct" list was simply addressed in the  
first place.

> Or to merge them?

Yikes! Please no!

If you read Sean Moss-Pultz's post "Re: [Fwd: questions about our  
mailinglists]" (9th July, 2008 04:02:36 BST) he has decided not to do  
this for the present. This is pending more discussion, but it also  
gives us users the chance to get our list-usage right.

> As more freerunners
> are beeing shipped the difference in #people subscribed to both  
> lists should
> become rather small.

I would disagree. There will always be people coming in saying:
* can the Freerunner do X?
* I have this great idea!
* should I wait for the GTA12 revision?

The nature of the Openmoko development process is that there will  
always be new models coming up in the future and discussion of them,  
which would clutter a list intended for user-to-user discussion of  
problems and trouble-shooting.

One might imagine that in 6 months time sean at openmoko might ask,  
"what features do you want on GTA06?" - it might be right for  him to  
illicit feedback from device-owners, but I would encourage him to  
request replies to -community. Otherwise the long threads of  
speculation will fill the list and cause discussions of problems  
(starting the X-server, transferring contacts by bluetooth &c) to  
become overlooked.

Stroller.