#178 Pilot run a CommOps section on discussion.fedoraproject.org
Closed: Complete 5 years ago Opened 5 years ago by jflory7.

Summary

Work with Fedora Discourse (discussion.fedoraproject.org) team to pilot run a sub-project section (to possibly replace our mailing list)

Background

Over the summer, Fedora opened a new Discourse site on discussion.fedoraproject.org. Discourse is a modern, open source forum software used by many online communities. At Flock 2018, there was a session by @mattdm to explore its use further.

A benefit of us trying it out is we can pilot this experience for other sub-projects and possibly encourage them to migrate later based on our results.

Details

First, we should have a team discussion about this and see if others want to give it a go. :grinning:

If we want to pursue this further, we need to find out who to take the request to (@mattdm or @bex may be able to help). We can work with them to set up permissions and configuration as needed.

Once set up, we could commit fully to using Discourse, and then come to a final evaluation if we decide to "drop" the mailing list after.

Outcome

Easier for people to follow the CommOps conversation and boost engagement in some of our discussions with the wider community (i.e. it should help make our team more accessible!)


@sanja Perhaps you have an input here. :smiley:

@jflory7 what do you mean by:

we could give a month of parallel use of mailing list and Discourse

I'm concerned that it will result either in duplication of messages or the bifurcation of communication. I'm fine with the idea of trying it out, but I'd propose we commit to using it exclusively for a month and see how it works for us.

@bcotton said…
I'm concerned that it will result either in duplication of messages or the bifurcation of communication. I'm fine with the idea of trying it out, but I'd propose we commit to using it exclusively for a month and see how it works for us.

Good point. :thumbsup: I edited the original ticket to follow your suggestion.

I'm +1 to this experiment.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue priority set to: next meeting (was: needs review)

5 years ago

I created the category https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/c/commops and you'll need to tell me which user needs moderation rights at some point - but it's ready to use.

I encourage this project to be delayed briefly to allow for more mailing list conversation about it. It is not clear to me that all active commops ML participants read all tickets. I haven't see much traffic, I don't think, describing this and indicating it is moving forward.

This ticket is up for discussion at tomorrow's meeting. We'll report back soon with more info. :smiley:

Discussed in 2018-09-19 meeting.


In our meeting, we agreed to have a two-month trial period of Discourse from 1 Oct. 2018 to 30 Nov. 2018. This gives some leeway before we make the transition. At the end of this period, we'll consider if we make the change permanent and close our mailing list or if we prefer to use the mailing list in our workflow.

Okydoky, it's all ready to go on Discourse - if you need something, ping me. Enjoy!

Discussed in 2018-09-19 meeting.
In our meeting, we agreed to have a two-month trial period of Discourse from 1 Oct. 2018 to 30 Nov. 2018. This gives some leeway before we make the transition. At the end of this period, we'll consider if we make the change permanent and close our mailing list or if we prefer to use the mailing list in our workflow.

I'd love to see a huge ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ANNOUNCEMENT to this effect on the the mailing list ASAP. This is about 10 days away and only close readers of tickets and minutes would know this, afaict.

We should also consider having an auto-responder/rejector for the mail list (maybe go to moderation mode) so people get a redirect when they try to use the list?

What are we doing about ticket announcement, etc., if any that go to the ML now?

Discussed in 2018-09-26 meeting.


This change is scheduled for Monday, October 1st. The work remaining for this ticket before the transition:

  1. Explicitly announce transition on list
  2. Set up an auto-mailer message for the mailing list about Discourse
  3. Set up / configure the CommOps subforum with help from @sanja

I am sending the announcement to the mailing list today. I hope to work with the auto-response mailer and configuring Discourse over this coming weekend.

@sanja Is it possible to give a user moderation privileges inside of a specific category? It would be nice if I could have greater control of pinned topics / ability to edit over longer times / etc. inside of this specific category.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue assigned to jflory7

5 years ago

@jflory7 I made you a moderator in general. Didn't find an option to do it for the category only.

@sanja Cool, good to know! Thanks. I'll look closer over the weekend.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue priority set to: waiting on assignee (was: next meeting)
- Issue set to the milestone: Fedora 29 (to Oct. 2018) (was: Fedora 30 (to May 2019))

5 years ago

Migration steps completed

The game is afoot! The steps to migrate to Discourse from our mailing list are done. Here is a helpful list of notes of what I did, so others can do the same if they consider moving to Discourse from a mailing list:

Screenshot of autoresponse mailer configuration in Mailman 3 / Hyperkitty

Next steps

We'll revisit this ticket at the end of the month to decide if we permanently archive the mailing list.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue priority set to: waiting on external (was: waiting on assignee)

5 years ago

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue assigned to bt0dotninja (was: jflory7)
- Issue priority set to: waiting on assignee (was: waiting on external)
- Issue set to the milestone: Fedora 30 (to May 2019) (was: Fedora 29 (to Oct. 2018))

5 years ago

Discussed in 2018-10-31 meeting. See Discourse thread for more detail.


User feedback after migration

During the meeting, we asked how everyone has found Discourse so far:

  • @x3mboy: "New tab in browser still annoying, but since no email access at work anyways, Discourse is preferred"
  • @jflory7: "Finding it easier to use. Also noticing older conversations getting more traffic (e.g. after a few days, someone might reply). Also feels like more people outside of our team are participating in threads."
  • @bt0dotninja: +1
  • @jonatoni: +1

Overall, core contributors agree that Discourse is more convenient and better to use for our sub-project. We plan to set commops@lists.fp.o to read-only on Wednesday, Nov. 14th.

Archiving mailing list: Wednesday, Nov. 14th

I opened fedora-infrastructure#7340 to work with the Infrastructure Team to help with the technical work.

@bt0dotninja is posting to the mailing list today with a reminder that we have migrated. We plan to do another follow-up reminder after next week's meeting on Nov. 7th.

@x3mboy I would be happy to help you get your email client configured so that you may access your email at work.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue assigned to jflory7 (was: bt0dotninja)
- Issue priority set to: next meeting (was: waiting on assignee)

5 years ago

Discussed in 2018-11-14 meeting.


Today is the final day of the mailing list. There are four tasks remaining to close this ticket:

  • @bt0dotninja Update "Writing for the Community Blog" CommBlog page + Community Blog docs.fp.o page to point to Discourse (instead of mailing list) by Wednesday, Nov. 21st meeting
  • @x3mboy Write short Community Blog post to announce CommOps switching to Discourse and how to keep in touch with us by Wednesday, Nov. 21st
  • @johnmh File new RFE for fedocal by Wednesday, Nov. 21st to support Discourse API for automatic reminder threads
  • @jflory7 Set CommOps mailing list to archive-only, make sure links to Discourse are visible ASAP

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 1:42:33 PM EST Justin W. Flory wrote:

jflory7 added a new comment to an issue you are following:
``
Discussed in 2018-11-14
meeting
.


Today is the final day of the mailing list. There are four tasks remaining
to close this ticket:

  • @bt0dotninja Update "Writing for the Community
    Blog
    " CommBlog page + Community Blog docs.fp.o
    page
    to point to Discourse (instead of mailing list) by
    Wednesday, Nov. 21st meeting
  • @x3mboy Write short Community Blog post to
    announce CommOps switching to Discourse and how to keep in touch with us by
    Wednesday, Nov. 21st * @johnmh File new RFE for
    fedocal by Wednesday, Nov. 21st to support
    Discourse API for automatic reminder threads * @jflory7 Set CommOps mailing
    list to archive-only, make sure links to Discourse are visible ASAP ``

To reply, visit the link below or just reply to this email
https://pagure.io/fedora-commops/issue/178

Perhaps it would be best not to disable the mailing list until links that we
control which point there are changed.

--
John M. Harris, Jr. johnmh@splentity.com
Splentity
https://splentity.com/

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue priority set to: waiting on assignee (was: next meeting)

5 years ago

The CommOps mailing list is now archived, per Kevin's instructions in fedora-infrastructure#7340:

Current landing page of the mailing list on lists.fp.o

I hope this is obvious enough. :grinning:

Closing this ticket as complete. :clapper: Thanks everyone who helped make this transition possible.

Metadata Update from @jflory7:
- Issue close_status updated to: Complete
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

5 years ago

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