[vote] Create private mailing list for OpenWrt committers

[Hauke Mehrtens]

Hi all,

I propose creating a new mailing list that only OpenWrt committers can 
read. All OpenWrt committers should be subscribed by default, and it 
should be possible to send messages to the list without requiring a 
subscription. Additionally, this list should replace the current 
abuse at openwrt.org and contact at openwrt.org addresses handling with 
freescout.openwrt.org.

This would be similar to the old openwrt-hackers at lists.openwrt.org

Please vote Yes or +1 if you support the creation of this list.

I will conclude the vote on 26th April 2025.


Rationale:

Currently, some of the project's internal communication happens through 
direct emails, Signal, or small private groups. While some discussions 
should remain private, they shouldn’t be limited to a highly selective 
subset of individuals. A dedicated internal mailing list would provide a 
structured way to handle sensitive topics without resorting to 
fragmented, ad-hoc communication.

Public discussions and voting should still take place on openwrt-adm, 
and key management topics (e.g., release planning) should remain there. 
However, we may also want to consider merging openwrt-adm and 
openwrt-devel to streamline communication, but the merger is out of 
scope of this vote.

 From an operational standpoint, responding to external inquiries is 
often challenging. I hesitate to CC a public mailing list without 
explicit permission, but I’d have no issue including a private list. 
This would improve transparency while maintaining appropriate 
confidentiality.

Additionally, organizing OpenWrt meetings via direct emails to ~40 
committers is inefficient and prone to missing recipients. A dedicated 
mailing list would simplify coordination.

Finally, freescout.openwrt.org was broken for about six months, causing 
all incoming emails from this period to be lost. While it is now 
functional, it appears nobody is reading the mails. A dedicated private 
list would provide a more reliable channel for handling such inquiries.
We are getting more than one spam mail per day on freescout, the spam 
filter on the mailling list is working much better.

Hauke