[READ AND ACT] MDN discussions migrating to Discourse

MDN
#1

=Summary=

We’re moving to Discourse!

Please start using the “MDN” category: https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/c/mdn

You can also start a discussion by sending an email message to: mdn@mozilla-community.org

=Details=

The public discussions related to MDN that currently take place mailing lists/google groups/newsgroups are now migrating to Mozilla’s web-based Discourse instance, in the “MDN” category. You are encouraged to use the web interface for these discussions, though it is possible to interact with Discourse (almost) entirely by email if you prefer.

==How do I use Discourse?==

Refer to the following pages for helpful instructions:

  • Signing up and logging in; if you have a Mozilla LDAP account, you can use that instead of “Login with email”.
  • Subscribing to categories and topics; you should subscribe to the “MDN” category; anything else is your preference.
  • (optional) Set up a mailing list experience for yourself; for filtering purposes, notifications for the MDN category have “[MDN]” in the Subject line, and "discourse@mozilla-community.org" in the From line.
    If you use Discourse via email, you can reply to a message by replying to the notification email that you receive. If you want to intersperse comments inline within a reply, please put two carriage-returns before and after your inline chunks, so that Discourse parses them correctly.

==What’s happening to the mailing lists?==

The current mailing lists will continue to work during the transition period. It’s reasonable to continue existing threads via the mailings lists. However, I encourage you to start new discussions using Discourse instead.

We will evaluate when to permanently shut down the mailing lists based on the issues with Discourse, if any, that arise during the transition.

==What if I have a problem with Discourse?==

If you have questions about using discourse, check the Help category:
https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/c/meta/help

If your question isn’t already answered there, you can post it in that category.

If you have a problem that you’re confident is a bug, or if you’re unable to access the Help category, you can file a Github issue with Mozilla Participation Systems: https://github.com/mozilla/parsys/issues

4 Likes
#2

We’re now two weeks into using Discourse, while still keeping the old mailing lists available.

How’s it going?

If you’re using Discourse, how do you like it?

What bugs, issues, or papercuts have you run into?

If you’re still using the mailing lists, what’s keeping you from using Discourse?

In the migration timeline I initially proposed[1], I suggested we could start the shutdown of the mailing lists this week, or wait until after the All-Hands and various holidays (week of July 10). Since we’re still working on replacing references to the mailing lists in various places, I’m inclined to wait for the later date. Is that overly cautious?

Any other thoughts about this migration?

Thanks,

Janet

[1] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.mdn/-eJLIXQsXt8

#3

Hello Janet,
I finally pinned the Discourse tab across my different profiles and I’m starting to getting used to check it frequently (>daily ).

I would also wait a bit for the shutdown to see if there is a bit more feedback (?) “acknowledging” the migration. In any case this opinion of mine shouldn’t be blocking or whatever.

Thanks for the coordination :slight_smile:

1 Like
#4

Hello,

On my side, the emails are working as expected, I’m quite happy with the new solution. (If we put aside the login process without LDAP Account which is terrible).

1 Like
#5

Love the new forums! :slight_smile:
Just wish replies with quotes were handled better in emails, it’s a bit confusing at the moment, but that’s a minor issues.

#6

Hi Felix,

Thanks for your feedback. I’m disappointed that you didn’t raise these points in the earlier threads about whether and how to consolidate the MDN mailing lists, and about the priority of email-related features in Discourse, when they could have had an impact in the process of the decision to move to Discourse.

It is possible to interact with Discourse primarily through email, after initial setup of your account. As mentioned previously, you can set up a mailing list experience for yourself on Discourse.[1]

I hope these issues won’t discourage you from contributing to MDN.

–Janet

[1] https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/mailman-mode/15279

> Janet Swisher composed on 2017-06-19 17:56 (UTC-0400):

.

> > If you're still using the mailing lists, what's keeping you from using Discourse? .

> The usual reasons for preferring email to the web: [http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/Moz/discourseMozillaOrg201706-1600x144.jpg](http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/Moz/discourseMozillaOrg201706-1600x144.jpg) Among other reasons, email is optimally configured by default, not overridden by
> web site stylists who design for appearance (good in the eagle eyes of the
> stylist) rather than utility (legible, readable, respecting user settings). [https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2017-06/msg00532.html](https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2017-06/msg00532.html)
> [https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2017-06/msg00547.html](https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2017-06/msg00547.html)
> [http://www.w3.org/2003/07/30-font-size](http://www.w3.org/2003/07/30-font-size)
> [http://terrillthompson.com/blog/589](http://terrillthompson.com/blog/589)
> [https://backchannel.com/how-the-web-became-unreadable-a781ddc711b6](https://backchannel.com/how-the-web-became-unreadable-a781ddc711b6)
> [https://jebswebs.net/blog/2013/07/whats-with-all-the-gray/](https://jebswebs.net/blog/2013/07/whats-with-all-the-gray/)
> [http://contrastrebellion.com/](http://contrastrebellion.com/)
> [https://www.sitepoint.com/community/t/why-are-so-many-sites-using-gray-text/4667](https://www.sitepoint.com/community/t/why-are-so-many-sites-using-gray-text/4667)