[gentoo-dev] Re: Mailing list moderation and community openness

[Martin Vaeth <martin@mvath.de>]

Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 3:34 AM, Martin Vaeth <martin@mvath.de> wrote:
>>
>> It is about openness vs. isolation.
>
> I'm pretty sure most developers, myself included, want to welcome
> contributions.

Closing of the mailing list does not sound like that.

> Much of the concern is that the lists have been turning into endless
> arguing over things like very topic.

Yes. Some people could not be stopped from continuously expressing their
opinion. Some developers do not want to hear them. So the list is being
closed.

> If a newcomer comes along and reads your post, they're going to get
> the impression that the developers live in an ivory tower.

IMHO this impression is completely right.

> Why would somebody want to
> contribute to Gentoo in the first place if that is their first
> impression?

Exactly. This is why closing the list is the absolutely wrong signal.
Sticking at least to a blacklist-only mode might mitigate the IMHO
severe damage which has already happened by the decision to close the
list.

> The problem is when it turns into a personal attack or
> hyperbole, which IMO the part I quoted falls into.

Personal animosities are always a problem. This can and will not
be solved by technical measurements. Taking all non-developers as
hostages - including those which were not involved at all in the
debate and even worse even possible future contributors - is
certainly not a solution for that type of problem.
And anyway, you can be sure that the problem will appear again,
no matter how closed the list will be.

> The intent isn't to stifle debate/discussion.

But this is exactly what is happening by closing the list
to non-developers.

> A lot of this comes down to considering that most people in these
> debates probably are well-intended.

Taking away freedom is never justified by good intention.