Hi Daniel,

Thanks for posting.

On Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 09:16 Daniel Shahaf <[email protected]> wrote:

> Tristan Van Berkom wrote on Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 23:00:36 +0900:
> > On Tue, 2020-07-07 at 21:34 +0200, Sander Striker wrote:
> > > Given the above, I'm inclined to just leave it as-is.  But obviously we
> > > could discuss further if need be.
> >
> > While I certainly don't agree with it, it would appear that the ASF has
> > already taken a project-wide position on this,
>
> The ASF does not have a cross-project position on Reply-To adding.
>

You are correct on that.


> The ASF exists to enable projects to do their thing.


To put this a bit more in perspective I'll quote the ASF mission
statement: The mission of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is to
provide software for the public good. We do this by providing services and
support for many like-minded software project communities consisting of
individuals who choose to participate in ASF activities.


> Among other things, that means the ASF doesn't tell projects how to run
> their
> mailing lists.


We provide infrastructure for projects, and allow for customization within
reason.  This ranges from websites, to email, to version control, etc etc.


>   Project lists are created with Reply-To adding enabled
> by default, but that's just that: a default, not a mandate.  It is
> [email protected]'s decision whether or not [email protected] should
> set Reply-To.
>
> (Personally, I would have expected the Apache lists to be created by
> default with the same Reply-To settings as the respective pre-Apache
> lists.  There used to be a checkbox for this in the mailing list
> creation request form.)
>

I think the previous mailinglist was created with defaults common to Gnome,
and here we simply did the same.  Honestly I for one didn't expect any
controversy over this setting, and didn't give it any thought prior this
thread.


> ---
>
> Another point of view: ASF doesn't choose winners.  That's why ASF is
> happy to host competing projects and is allergic to majority votes.


I'd rather state this as: we prefer to get to decisions by reaching
consensus, relying on votes as a last resort.

  Any
> sort of "Project dev@ lists MUST be configured to do X" policy would be
> a choice of winner, and so would need very good reasons.
>
> ---
>
> Not directly related, but there are at least three options for y'all to
> choose from:
>
> - Add no headers.
> - Add Reply-To.
> - Add Mail-Followup-To.
>
> > > I remember from my early days in the ASF (2004) that we also had a
> short
> > > conversation about Reply-To [4].  The expectation seemed to be that
> replies
> > > went to the list.  And annoyance was voiced more regarding
> inconsistency
> > > than anything else.  The result was the inconsistency being fixed.
> > >
>
> So, let's formalize your argument for a minute, Sander:
>
> Premise: The Apache HTTP Server developers decided in 2004 to configure
> their dev@ list in the same way their spun-off sister project's dev@
> list was configured.
>
> Conclusion: Buildstream should configure its lists the same way today.
>
> I don't see how the conclusion follows from the premise.
>

I am not a fan of removing context and nuance, and restating pieces in a
formalized way.

The problem with the Reply-To preference is that it is an emacs-vs-vi type
discussion.  It's been had for a long time, and there is no true right or
wrong.

What I did was illustrate how we historically arrived on this side of this
argument.  And how we ended up with this as a default and majority
configuration.  I mentioned modern email client behaviour.

As I indicated, we can obviously open up discussion on this topic - given
the above I wasn't sure it to be worth it.  FWIW, if there is a strong
feeling within this community that we really really need to change, I would
have expected that to have surfaced by now.  Clearly the door remains open
to still raise it back up.

Daniel
> (please Cc, as I'm not subscribed)


Cheers,

Sander

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