Re: [Caml-list] Change policy on beginners list?

[Gabriel Scherer <gabriel.scherer@gmail.com>]

As an irregular contributor to the ocaml beginners list, I share the
dislike of yahoo lists. I would be happy to keep contributing with an
email-based workflow, and it seems that Google groups would indeed be
an improvement (I don't know about the chatroom solutions that Hongbo
has in mind).

I have a personal preference for open and open-source-based solutions,
but Google groups is no worse than Yahoo groups in this respect (and
better in most others), and the use of a standard communication
protocol (email) gives freedom in letting other participants choose
their stack.
StackOverflow also plays a useful role for beginners and I'm glad that
the OCaml community usefully engages people there. (We have to answer
beginners where they are.)

On Thu, May 11, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Hongbo Zhang (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX)
<hzhang295@bloomberg.net> wrote:
> Hi Marshall,
> I am currently the admin of ocaml beginners list. I share with your pain
> points. I had to create a new yahoo account to maintain it(Yahoo used to
> accept gmail account, but they changed their policy lately), and I kept
> forgetting the password, since the sole purpose of yahoo account is to
> maintain the mailing list.
> Would anyone be interested in help the migration(or we can create a
> gitter/slack/discord chatroom)? As long as people from INIRIA agree, I would
> be happy to transfer the maintenance to a new leader.
> FYI, currently there is an online chatroom talking about OCaml:
> https://discord.gg/reasonml
> Thanks -- Hongbo
> From: marshall@logical.net At: 05/11/17 12:10:45
> To: caml-list@inria.fr
> Subject: Re:[Caml-list] Change policy on beginners list?
>
> I’m an OCaml beginner, so you would think that I would find the OCaml
> beginners’ list helpful.  However, every interaction I have with Yahoo
> groups just pushes me away.  There are obnoxious ads in the web interface,
> which is not very intuitive anyway.  I could use the beginners list/group
> via email, but that would require using my Yahoo email address, which I
> don’t have set up on any of my mail clients.  When I go into the Yahoo web
> mail interface, I mainly see a list of junk mail that I don’t care about, so
> I don’t want to use the Yahoo address.  More than once, I have thought, “I
> should use the OCaml beginners’ list.”  When I start to go down that path, I
> stop.  Yahoo groups are too distasteful.  I’m not sure how many other people
> feel this way, but surely I’m not alone.  That means that for some new OCaml
> users, the public face of OCaml support pushes us away.  So sending new
> users to the Yahoo group seems unhelpful to the growth of OCaml.
>
> I personally find Google groups easier to use.  They’re not perfect, but the
> web interface doesn’t include ads.  Might it be a good thing to move the
> beginners’ list to Google groups or some other system?  Obviously, this
> change should not be done suddenly.  There would have to be period—possibly
> indefinite—during which both lists were available.
>
> (At present, when I want help on OCaml questions, I go to StackOverflow,
> where people have been very helpful.  This is a good solution for me, and
> it’s easy to browse the latest OCaml questions.  However, the way that the
> ocaml.org community page is set up encourages beginners to use the Yahoo
> group.  There is a StackOverflow icon down at the bottom of the page, but
> you have to investigate that on your own.  In any event, I do like the idea
> of using an online group or mailing list focused on beginners questions, so
> I personally would welcome a beginners Google group.  I don’t expect to use
> the Yahoo group.)
>
>
> Marshall Abrams
>
>