Patterns of Mailing Lists

2012-05-02/Theo:

It seems self-evident to me that the electronic mailing list is currently the fastest and most effective way of advancing human knowledge.

Mailing lists are what is used to build the most complex tools operating in the world today - such as operating systems,

Have a look at: http://www.spinics.net/lists/git/msg161308.html

Click on 'Thread Next' at the top of each message.

It is very much worthwhile reading a good number of the messages in order to git a sense of how it all works.

https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/3/8/495

For this one you click in left column.

I like the way Linus writes, here are more examples:

http://lwn.net/Articles/249460/

http://lwn.net/Articles/105375/

The relevance and importance of mailing lists to our work cannot be understated.

Some observations

The mailing list is the servant to the product being created. We are not philosophizing. We are agreeing on what and how we are building.

The mailing list is the complete record. There is no "we were talking in the hall and we decided…"

The mailing list is replete with patterns/gems/best practices as to to best communicate.

Posts are written in full sentences with paragraphs of just a few sentences long.

Posts are signed by the author using their first name

Text from previous emails is not quoted and attached but is deleted.

Author of email manually selects text to quote from previous emails

Quoted text is at top of email and usually not more than a few lines - and puts it at the top of the message.

Occasionally quoted text may be divided into sections and responded to chunk by chunk.

Very few links.

Each email can stand by itself. You do not need to refer to anything else in order to get the gist.

Anger and emotion are expressed but in a very controlled manner.

Always on-topic.

When you change the topic, use a new and appropriate subject.

Always driving to a conclusion: get the product out the door is the best way possible.

And, perhaps, most important here are the rules for all these discussions - all embedded in a Request For Comments (RFC) written in 1995 under the auspices of the Internet Engineering Task Force. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt