[Dune] Replacement for mailing lists

[Steffen Müthing]

Hi,

sorry to keep nagging, but there wasn’t a whole lot of feedback on this (thanks to everyone who took some time to look
at it, see https://discourse.dune-project.org/t/thoughts-on-the-new-discourse-server/ for some reactions).

If I don’t hear anything, I’ll take the quiet as general consent ;-)

Steffen

> Am 12.10.2016 um 13:17 schrieb Steffen Müthing <steffen.muething at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de>:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> the old infrastructure server here in Heidelberg will be decommissioned very soon. Right now, it
> is still responsible for our mailing lists, so we need to find a replacement for that. After looking
> around quite a bit, we settled on Discourse (https://discourse.org), which is a slightly quirky
> combination of a mailing list and a forum.
> 
> There is now a test server running at https://discourse.dune-project.org. Here are some pointers about
> how it works:
> 
> - Topics (threads) are organized into categories that can be nested two levels deep. I’ve used that to
>  group dune-devel and some other stuff under the "Core Modules" category.
> 
> - You subscribe to a category by opening the category page and clicking on the circle icon on the right
>  side of the page.
> 
> - You can use the server either through your mail program or through the web interface. TBH, the mailing
>  list support isn’t as nice as what you get from a dedicated mailing list server like mailman, but it works.
> 
> - In mailing list mode, it works without having to create an account (just send a mail to e.g.
>  core at dune-project.org, and you get all replies to that thread / topic mailed to you).
> 
> - User accounts are tied to our GitLab, so you need to have a GitLab account to create a Discourse account.
>  We really wanted to cut down on the number of different accounts and passwords required. When you try to
>  log in, Discourse authorizes you with GitLab and you’re done. There is an explanation with screenshots  in
>  the pinned topic (appears on the right) called "How to use the Dune Discourse server".
> 
> - The software does have some nice features like intuitive attachments, MathJax support (just type TeX and
>  have it rendered), simple polls and a solution system (kind of like Stackoverflow light).
> 
> - You can actually search the archive, and there is no arbitrary split on month boundaries (hello mailman ;-) ).
> 
> - Discourse has a weird badge system (like achievements) for stuff like "replied to 10 topics" etc., but that is
>  turned off.
> 
> So, please try it out and let us know what you think (or if you have any super-nice alternative). The plan
> going forward will be to shut down the mailing lists in the near future, dump their archives somewhere where
> they can be easily accessed and switch to Discourse (or another solution if one of you has something on offer).
> 
> And maybe we can carry out that discussion on the new infrastructure to give it a whirl… ;-)
> Here is a topic that I created for the purpose: https://discourse.dune-project.org/t/thoughts-on-the-new-discourse-server/33
> 
> Cheers
> Steffen
> _______________________________________________
> Dune mailing list
> Dune at dune-project.org
> http://lists.dune-project.org/mailman/listinfo/dune

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