Re: [QUESTIONS] This mailing list and others (was re subselects) - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

>
> At 15:15 +0200 on 25/2/98, The Hermit Hacker wrote:
>
>
> >     You don't have to be contributing to the effort to be on the
> > hackers list...it is where implementation details are discussed and
> > suggested, that is all.  It is also where "under development" issues are
> > talked about.  subselects, until the release are "under development"...
>
> What I'm trying to get across is that I am subscribed to three mailing
> lists, and still, I have to wait for over two hundred messages to load
> after weekend. This means that I try to keep the number of lists to which
> I'm subscribed down to the minimum I need for my uses.

The basic problem is that the volume on these lists is huge.  Marc has
properly broken them down as much as humanly possible, but people can
only keep a few lists and their purposes in their heads.  There is just
too much volume and I think that is what you are complaining about.

It used to be quieter, but I don't read for one day, I have 50-100
messages to read.  No way around it.  People have questions/issues, and
we have to address them.

The only solution for people who occasionally want questions answered
but don't want the volume is to ALWAYS reply to the poster and to the
list.  That way, people can ask questions to a list without having to be
on the list.  I always do that.


> If they do, will the person who asked the question know he was answered? Is
> he subscribed to the other list? Should you cross-post to both and raise
> the anger of those subscribed to both?

If we CC them on replies, yes.

> I appreciate Bruce's work, but you have to admit that the TODO list is
> cryptic, at best. Sometimes the actual developers are frustrated by a TODO
> item (Like the famous "Large Objects are broken"), which is not specific
> enough. I wouldn't have known what half the TODO items mean, if they
> weren't previously discussed on the Questions list.

Funny you should mention that item.  I was complaining for quite a while
that we had the item marked as broken, but no one reported any bugs, and
no one could tell us an example of the bug.  I proposed removing the
item, and then Peter Mount reported a reproducable bug, and later fixed
it for the 6.3 release.

If there are any other cryptic bug items, please let me know.  I try to
give an example SQL statement, or explain it in one line as best I can.
A few of them require knowledge of the source code, which can't be
conveyed in one line.

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