Re: [Caml-list] how to encourage adoption of OCaml?

[Yotam Barnoy <yotambarnoy@gmail.com>]

1. If we can get google groups to synchronize with the list, we can
essentially get forum functionality out of the same source.

2. Regarding the concern that gitter.im is proprietary, there are
already tools to read the entire history out of it. I still think this
is the best, friendliest way to get everyone involved and
contributing/answering questions. Epecially if we can get the
gitter-irc bridge-bot up and running
(https://github.com/finnp/gitter-irc-bot), it means we'll have the
records in IRC but still get the user-friendliness of gitter.

PS. someone with access, please set up a gitter room -- OASIS has a
room, OPAM has an (unused) room on gitter:ocaml/opam, ocaml-http has
one -- it would be really nice to have a general ocaml/ocaml room.

On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 6:39 PM, Duane Johnson <duane.johnson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 4:18 PM, Fabrice Le Fessant
> <Fabrice.Le_fessant@inria.fr> wrote:
>>
>> Anyway, I am not fond of the multiplication of communication channels,
>> they tend to divide an already small community into smaller groups, and it
>> becomes hard to remain up-to-date with latest information. For example, a
>> lot of discussions are now happening on Github pull-requests, either in
>> ocaml/ocaml or ocaml/opam-repository, and if you don't keep an eye on them,
>> you might soon discover that important decisions have been taken without
>> most of the community knowing it.
>
>
> When Twitter first came out, I wondered how I was supposed to read
> everything in my stream because I couldn't always tell where I'd left off
> last time. Then I learned some people followed *hundreds* of other twitter
> users (at that time I had only started following a handful) and I realized
> something different was going on--this wasn't a medium where I could drink
> in every tweet, it was a firehose and I could come get splashed here and
> there when I wanted to :)
>
> I think there's a place for less consequential announcements and discussions
> in a community--especially a large one. Important information will almost
> always reach critical mass and the network will distribute it to every leaf
> node. A mailing list is a good solid place for discussion, and every
> incoming message can be addressed up to a certain threshold--but when it
> gets too popular, even the long-time participants start to complain that
> there's too much noise.
>
> When the Haskell mailing list experienced this kind of growth, there was
> someone in the community who took it upon themselves to summarize the
> important announcements, events, and projects that had taken place in the
> past week. People could be assured that even if they weren't personally
> reading each of 100 messages per day, there was still a way to be apprised
> of the headline events.
>
> Perhaps someone could do the same, as a bridge between the github and
> caml-list groups.