[Koha-devel] A Discussion on A Policy Setting Forth Standards of Code Submission, etc. [WAS: RFCs for 3.4 from BibLibre (serials & acquisitions)]

[MJ Ray]

Chris Nighswonger wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:08 PM, Joe Atzberger <ohiocore at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Right now we can't even
> > get comment on RFCs, let alone dedicated VMs and manpower.
> 
> The scant participation in this thread by others is very much proof of
> the problem pointed out here! I find it hard to believe how few have
> chimed in for as much "noise" as there is about these issues.

!!!

You hide this discussion in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet
stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of
the Leopard' in an unlit cellar with broken stairs (or at least a
subject line which shows only "A Discussion on A Policy Setting..."
in my mailbox overview, which isn't really the sort of fun and
attractive thread I rush to open, especially when others have already
replied) and then grumble about low participation?  Please excuse me
while I pick my jaw off the floor. ;-) As you know, I only saw this
thread now after you asked me to look for it... and even then, only at
the second search attempt!

I think this shares something with the low-comment RFCs.  We authors
should acknowledge how we're contributing to failure too: vague
titles, fragmented discussion and information overload, to name three.

Overload is a hard one to deal with, especially as people love Koha
which maybe makes us too verbose, and summarising discussion is
something probably Nicole can explain far better than me (judging by
the great kohacon10 blog posts), so I'll take the vague titles one.
Here's my tip on subject lines:
http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html#subject

    "Good email has a good subject line. The subject line is your way
    to promote your message as one I should read first.

    Make it a short (max 10 words?) summary of what the email is
    about. Sometimes I look at "(no subject)" but not often if I don't
    know the sender's name. Stuff that looks like spam or viruses also
    gets mostly left unopened. Stuff with words like "URGENT" on the
    subject line often gets left until last, just to spite them [...]

    I know your email is important, but if I can't tell that it's
    important from the subject, I may delete it by mistake. So, if you
    don't hear back after a while, try resending with "RESEND" in the
    subject."

Looking at this subject line with those glasses on: "A Discussion on A
Policy Setting Forth Standards of Code Submission, etc. [WAS: RFCs for
3.4 from BibLibre (serials & acquisitions)]" deters in four ways:
"Discussion" is redundant (this is a mailing list), "Policy" and
"Standards" are unfun words, "etc." suggests a lack of focus, and the
"WAS:..."  suggests there's context that I probably don't remember.

I feel a better title might be "RFC Code Submission Standards" and to
link to the previous thread in the first paragraph, explaining if/how
it's relevant.

Some other advice may be in guides on how to write newspaper headlines
or press release titles.


Other than that, I simply re-emphasise my previous points that
some recommendations seem unrealistic and I feel others are within
the RM's power to decide and should be left there.

Hope that helps,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
Past Koha Release Manager (2.0), LMS programmer, statistician, webmaster.
In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Available for hire for Koha work http://www.software.coop/products/koha