[vote] Create private mailing list for OpenWrt committers

[Fernando Frediani]

Hello

Can you elaborate more on about what specific subjects and conversations 
have to be done on this new e-mail list that cannot be done on either 
devel or adm lists ? I am on both for over a decade and have almost 
never seen any issues with the subjects that are discussed there either 
been development or adm related. Perhaps a creation of a third list 
should be better considered if really necessary and dig deeper into find 
out what exactly topics really cannot be discussed on both or publicly 
that should be restricted to this new one proposed.

Even though some of the people who are subscribed to both lists don't 
have voting power on decisions - and nothing wrong with that - they 
follow and participate on discussions and may have significant inputs 
that can certainly suit to those who vote to better decide.

Regarding the meetings coordination what would be the difference from 
the current adm list to another one if some may not have the self 
organization to read and filter the emails accordingly ? If the issue is 
people's interest of capacity to better organize I doubt a new list 
would be necessary to resolve that.

I would rather explore better the need to create a new mail email and 
try to use the 2 existing ones for each specific subject.

Best regards
Fernando

On 03/04/2025 17:49, Hauke Mehrtens wrote:
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
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> openwrt-adm at lists.openwrt.org
> https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-adm