Back to Codev

Back on 06 Jan 2006, PeterThoeny wrote in BackToCodev

I noticed that the discussions on new features gradually thinned out over several places: Codev, IRC, Bugs web and twiki-dev. This results in discussions and good ideas getting lost, and it makes it almost impossible to refactor and organize things.

I believe we could be more effective if we concentrate our spec discussions and process changes in one place, the Codev web.

We need to clearly define what media is used for what, for example:

• Codev: Spec discussions & doc, process definitions and changes
• Bugs:WebHome: Bug tracking, track solidified tasks from specs
• TWikiIRC: Casual discussions, meetings
• TWikiDevMailingList: SVN change notifications, feedback on changes

-- Contributors: PeterThoeny

Discussion

Peter has a good point in theory. In practice, I would guess that at least 75% of what he would like to see going on in Codev happens elsewhere. These are some of the reasons:

• twiki.org and therefore Codev is often too slow to use.
• Codev has too many topics, has too many purposes, and is the dumping ground for any topics that doesn't belong in one of the other existing webs.
• Related to that, it is tempting to make "orphan" topics, because it's too damn hard to find RelatedTopics. Of course, because of the form, they're not literally orphans, but it's probably not helpful to draw that distinction herein.
• Also related to that, there is the reality that once a topic is no longer listed via Changes, it's got a good chance of being effectively orphaned.
• There is a perception by many that many or most things discussed in Codev will be discussed ad nauseum, with nothing resolved and no action taken
• There is a perception that certain things are verboten -- in particular, but not limited to, requesting the creation of a new web -- even if a consensus is reached.
• There is a feeling among many that it's better to try something out and see if it has tangible benefits than spend hours and wait days for discussion, speccing, etc, to be played out.

Only the first of these items can be solved through better hosting. The rest reflect a fundamental disconnect and dissatisfaction that needs to be worked out somehow.

-- MeredithLesly - 06 Apr 2006

On TWikiIRC, MS- made this comment:

Just a note on the log to note that http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm might be productive with regard to the comment in the final bullet of ML's comment.

-- RafaelAlvarez - 07 Apr 2006