rms@AI.MIT.EDU (01/05/90)
People should not be using this mailing list to discuss which large jobs they think I ought to work on. These are big decisions for me, and as you might guess I have lots of considerations to weigh. Not least among them is whether I have time to do anything at all. Right now I don't even have time to explain these considerations to the people in the discussions, so I don't participate. The discussions would still be harmless if they affected only the people who would like to participate. But if conducted in this list, they impose on a large number of users who don't want to get so much mail. So discuss these things in the bug list instead, please.
montnaro@spyder.crd.ge.com (Skip Montanaro) (01/06/90)
In article <9001042314.AA00264@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu> rms@AI.MIT.EDU writes:
The discussions would still be harmless if they affected only the people
who would like to participate. But if conducted in this list, they
impose on a large number of users who don't want to get so much mail.
I doubt I'll ever participate in the sort of changes/enhancements being
discussed in this group. I still find them interesting reading. If they're
to be moved, please tell me where to look for them in the future.
--
Skip (montanaro@crdgw1.ge.com)desj@idacrd.UUCP (David desJardins) (01/06/90)
From article <9001042314.AA00264@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu>, by rms@AI.MIT.EDU: > People should not be using this mailing list to discuss which large > jobs they think I ought to work on. > These are big decisions for me, and as you might guess I have lots of > considerations to weigh. Not least among them is whether I have time > to do anything at all. Right now I don't even have time to explain > these considerations to the people in the discussions, so I don't > participate. This seems a very narrow view of what is being discussed. My view of what is being discussed is how GNU Emacs works, how it compares to other editors, what things it does well and what things it does poorly. I have learned a lot about how to use Emacs efficiently and avoid the things which are frustratingly slow; also, when it is slow, I much prefer understanding why it is slow to simply sitting and wondering. None of this information is in the documentation, so the only ways that we users can learn these things are by reading this newsgroup or by reading the code. I find the former much easier. > The discussions would still be harmless if they affected only the > people who would like to participate. But if conducted in this list, > they impose on a large number of users who don't want to get so much > mail. First, when they impose on me by posting the nth foobar.el package that I'm not interested in, I don't complain. That takes up a lot more volume than this discussion. Secondly, the majority of people reading this discussion are reading the newsgroup, not the mailing list. If you don't want to gateway the one with the other, fine, but if you do it is not reasonable to then expect discussion in the newsgroup to be curtailed to accede to the limitations of a mailing list. > So discuss these things in the bug list instead, please. The discussion is of great interest to Emacs users like myself. Most of us are not interested in Emacs bugs. Most bugs don't affect me at all--by the time I learn about them, they are already in the process of being fixed. I suppose I could go and recreate them just for amusement value, but frankly that doesn't interest me. But permanent (or at least long-term) features of Emacs like the ones being discussed do affect me as a user, directly. I really am very sorry to inflict this metadiscussion on this newsgroup and mailing list. But it annoys me no end when I wade through lots of stuff of little interest to me, hoping eventually to find something interesting and useful, and just when something interesting does come along you try repeatedly to shut it off. -- David desJardins