Re: [libreoffice-projects] On the communication channels we use

Hello,

ilmari.lauhakangas@libreoffice.org wrote on 2017-07-31 at 14:25:
> I have concerns regarding the communication channels we use for working 
> on LibreOffice. First, it seems we are sliding into a situation where 

thanks for sharing your concerns. I indeed do take these very seriously, 
and that topic was considered quite a lot before going that route.

My personal take on the situation is that the primary and official 
channels are those on TDF premises, i.e. primarily our mailing lists, 
wiki, pad and other resources to create and upload content. We have full 
control over these. My personal order of preference is e-mail (it's an 
asynchronous medium that everyone can use at the time and frequency they 
like), sometimes chat or phone, as the latter ones can help resolving 
topics easier than with lots of mails back and forth.

During the previous LibreOffice Conference, the organizers have setup a 
Telegram group for the attendees. It was considered mostly an experiment 
and planned to be shut down after the conference - the strong 
participation rate and acceptance of it made us rethink and keep it 
running. It was not a decision upfront, but turned out to be a good idea 
(IMHO) over time. So, it was initialized in first place by volunteer 
conference organizers, and has not been pushed by TDF's team, although 
of course they are quite visible.

I agree, though, that we can get better on communication that, indeed. 
There was a blog post at 
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/10/25/presenting-libreoffice-telegram-channel/ 
that also mentions bridging to IRC, but we could have added more details.

The main reason for using all sorts of networks is that we "want to get 
the people where they are". Especially for the younger generations, and 
also for some native language groups, messengers and social networks 
have turned out to be the most effective way. I recall at least one 
community ever since using Google Plus, and another one ever since using 
Facebook, considering mailing lists way too complicated and "old style". 
Being a free software enthusiast, and essentially living in my e-mail 
client, this doesn't make me totally happy; however, IMHO we would be 
wasting lots of opportunities if we expect people to show up on mailing 
lists and IRC, independent what their background is.

This is also the reason why the (few) truly free and open social tools 
do not help in this regard - they are only used by those already 
attracted by our project. If we want to reach out to new possible 
contributors, we need to show up where they are, if we like it or not. 
And looking at my contacts, very few of these use one of the truly free 
tools either; one contact here, another contact there, but nothing 
consistent sadly.

For me, the main rationale is to have as many content creation, 
discussions and votes on official channels as possible. I'd like to 
avoid a situation where decisions take place on some random network only 
a few subscribe to - the primary working place is the mailing list 
still, decision need to be properly communicated and shared and run on 
the official channels.

I'm all open for making access easier, have a better web IRC, and also 
re-investigate video conferencing systems (although I have to admit that 
testing with 10-20 people is quite time-consuming, so I'd prefer a 
real-life experience with such an amount, geographically distributed, on 
various bandwiths). Bridging is another option, and deciding which 
content to post where makes sense as well.

If you have proposals, please share them. We surely can get better, and 
I'm open for any proposals.

Hope that helps!
Florian

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