Re: No easy way to join discussion in existing thread when not subscribed

On 09/29/2015 04:50 AM, Stephen Frost wrote:

>> Amir Rohan (amir.rohan@mail.com) wrote:
>> The montly mbox only updates once a day, you sometimes need to wait for
>> several hours to send a reply, so a single-message mbox would be
>> helpful. But the "mail me a copy" link solution would be even better,
>> and would works with all mail clients out of the box.
> 
> <...>
> I'd expect it to be generated on-the-fly just like the 'flat' (now
> 'whole thread') view is.
> 

Just pointing out that the monthly one isn't, which makes it even less
useful.

>> If you use mutt, you're good, but I don't. How friendly is the following
>> process is, keeping in mind that this is what a new member of the
>> community, interacting for the first time, goes through:
>> <long venting list>
> 
>
> I'm not convinced that being a new member of the community has much to
> do with any of this.

Improving the mbox feature would help everyone who uses it,
but the original issue was "I'm not subscribed and wish to join
my first thread" and it's the *first time* you use the mbox feature
that is at its worst. Presumably, it would be a good thing if people
have a good experience when they first join in the conversation.

> 
>> <long venting list>
> 
> All of the above does not impress me terribly much.

Sorry to hear that.

It is perhaps precisely the point that you as a veteran aren't impressed
by all that, while as a newcomer I found it exasperating
and off-putting. Ironically, once I started participating on the
lists, I've been consistently surprised by the helpfulness and
patience of the people on it.


> If the individual isn't familiar with mailing lists in general, it's 
> unlikely that we're going to get over that hurdle very easily.

But we can and should address specific pain points.

>> 6. Wait, I need to register to download? this is getting ridiculous.
> 
> You don't have to register to download the mbox, you just have to 'log
> in', where 'logging in' is reading the authorization prompt and putting
> in what it tells you.
> 

I stand corrected, while admitting that I missed that message
accompanying the HTTP Basic Auth dialog, went and registered,
and now it doesn't ask for a password anymore. Perhaps I was
inattentive, but the web has established norms now:
"Enter user/pass" triggers the "go register" behaviour because
that's how it works on every login form everywhere.

>> 12. 1500 messages, what was the thread name again (go to browser, find
>> thread, search, locate thread, located message).
> 
> I have this frustration with mutt. :)  Which is why I'd like an mbox of
> just the thread that I want to reply to.
> 

Me too, I'm just saying that only solves one problem and not another,
while a "mail me the thread/message" feature solves both.
If you implements  "mail copy of message", the cost of implementing
"mail copy of thread message" is probably O(0), amortized.

> <"...making this change or that, or being more web 3.0 like">
> I'm not really sure it's going to make for a markedly different
> experience for the kind of user you're mimicking.
> 

Not going there. I accept that some time and effort is required of
people when they join a new community.

Now, This one thing I mentioned is suboptimal, can we please improve it?

> Here's a fun question- is there some way we could integrate with gmail?

Perhaps, but I don't use gmail.

>> And soon after *that*, you learn there's no bugtracker.
> 
> Yes, well, we're making some progress on that now.  I've got a few other
> things which are higher priority given that we have a drop-dead date for
> beta, but I'm hoping to get to it soon.
> 

I'd be glad to help implement whatever works, if someone points me
at the code for the website.

Amir