Re: fascinating article on postgresql mailing lists

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 12:35 PM, Andrew Satori <dru@druware.com> wrote:
>
> On Feb 11, 2013, at 2:17 PM, "Daniel Verite" <daniel@manitou-mail.org> wr=
ote:
>
>>       Vincent Veyron wrote:
>>
>>> I find it strange that
>>>
>>> 'Probability that a new thread gets a response'
>>>
>>> sits below 60% for the 'general' list
>>
>> This seems indeed too low.
>>
>> I happen to collect these messages in a database since mid-2005. As a po=
int
>> of comparison, the numbers I get until today for pgsql-general are 3348
>> messages that appear to be outside of any thread (no "In-Reply-To" field=
 or
>> "References" field that points to it, and subject does not start with "R=
e:"),
>> the total number of messages being 110233, in 19855 distinct threads.
>>
>> So at least in this time period, I can't see how it could be said that
>> there's a 40% probability of not getting a reply. If we consider that th=
ere
>> are 3348 failed attempts at spawning a thread vs 19855 successful attemp=
ts,
>> the ratio would be about 6:1, or a 17% probability of getting no public
>> response.
>>
>
>
> Welcome to the perception of the outsider.  I am in infrequent poster her=
e, but in my 6 years of doing PostgreSQL for Mac, I get 3-4 emails a week a=
sking for help on PostgreSQL issues that contain some variation of the phra=
se 'I posted to a PostgreSQL <forum/mailinglist/channel> and got no respons=
e'.  Considering that I monitor many of those same venues, I can honestly s=
ay that I have almost never seen the original posts, even upon further look=
ing.
>
> I suspect there are many reasons.  Anecdotal evidence hints to me that in=
 many cases, that phrase so oft repeated is just a cover.  They didn't post=
, for fear of ridicule, and are going private to avoid public embarrassment=
.  Articles like this do much the same, and serve only to create more fear =
that the mailing lists are useless.
>
> Given that, while it is good to be aware of things like this article, I w=
ould not put too much faith in either the numbers or the conclusions.  In m=
y time around the community, there is no more welcoming community surroundi=
ng an active, healthy Open Source Software project out there.

Agreed. Note that if someone posts asking a question but fails to give
any useful context I can use to help I'll often ignore the post.  OTOH
posts where the user has obvious tried a variety of things and
presents a good explanation of the problem I'll often reply if it's an
area I know about.