[ensembl-dev] Upgrade the mail-list

Javier Herrero jherrero at ebi.ac.uk
Tue May 8 18:45:09 BST 2012


Hi Jay

Note that you can still use perldoc on the command line.

Javier

On 08/05/12 12:08, Jay Humphrey wrote:
> The mailing list works: instant access to the most knowledgeable people.
> I was saddened when the Perldoc was retired.  It functioned perfectly 
> well for me.  Now we have Doxygen: lots of page refreshing, all the 
> important info squeezed into a smaller sliver of the screen.  I really 
> wish we still had Perldoc.
> In conclusion, don't kill Mailman.  And bring back Perldoc.
>
> On 08/05/2012 16:38, Duarte Molha wrote:
>> As just another point regarding email...
>>
>> Andreas, you say you prefer email, however what I am proposing would 
>> not take that tool away! You could still reply and read using email. 
>> That is one of the standard features tools like DISQUS provide as 
>> standard. However this type of discussion list would provide a much 
>> better web experience than what we currently get.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Duarte
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: dev-bounces at ensembl.org [mailto:dev-bounces at ensembl.org] On 
>> Behalf Of Duarte Molha
>> Sent: 08 May 2012 16:09
>> To: Ensembl developers list
>> Subject: Re: [ensembl-dev] Upgrade the mail-list
>>
>> Thanks Dan and Andreas
>>
>> I know all these things you have indicated... Still, the fact that 
>> for searching this mailing list you have to make use of a feature in 
>> google search that many people probably do not even know exists, I 
>> think validates my points regarding the service.
>>
>> Besides ... a integrated search showing the context of the questions 
>> query you search for is much more useful than a bunch of google links.
>>
>> As for the exportability and backup feature ... I wasn't so much 
>> referring to us users but to ENSEMBL itself. The tools would have to 
>> be exportable and able to be backed up in case they were being hosted 
>> in a external server (like what happens when you use services like 
>> DISQUS).
>>
>> Still... as a user, the backup and export options leave a lot of room 
>> for improvement: although you can download the archives as gzipped 
>> text files (1 per month) I am not sure what I am doing wrong but when 
>> I decompress them I just get jumbled text. I would expect at least to 
>> be able to download an valid HTML document with the mail list content 
>> tree.
>>
>> As for the remaining features ... the social aspect of services like 
>> DISQUS are appealing to me. If you think about it we all are working 
>> in the same field and it is a good way of building up your 
>> connections. I know there are other places to this (LinkedIn, google 
>> plus and others) but I do find appealing to learn a bit about the 
>> people I am talking to and an integrated profile is a good way of 
>> accomplishing this.
>>
>> I appreciate your answers and I know that everybody has their own 
>> views on this.
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Duarte
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: dev-bounces at ensembl.org [mailto:dev-bounces at ensembl.org] On 
>> Behalf Of Andreas Kusalananda Kähäri
>> Sent: 08 May 2012 15:52
>> To: Ensembl developers list
>> Subject: Re: [ensembl-dev] Upgrade the mail-list
>>
>> On Tue, May 08, 2012 at 02:17:42PM +0000, Duarte Molha wrote:
>>> Maybe this is not the best place to make this request... but it is now
>>> 2012 and there have been great advances in technologies that have
>>> superseded email mailing lists.
>>> Could we not transfer this wonderful mailing list to a more 21 century
>>> friendly format?
>>>
>>> I am sure you probably get a lot of duplicated questions that take
>>> your time away from development just to answer some simple queries
>>> that have shown up time and time again.
>>>
>>> A new medium (with better search and collaboration features) would be
>>> very welcome by us users and I am sure by you as developers.
>>>
>> Hi Duarte,
>>
>> In my not so humble opinion, email is by far the best way to direct 
>> questions to developers.  From the developer's point of view, email 
>> is better than having to go to a particular site or other web page, 
>> and it's far better than having an instant messaging or #irc window 
>> pop up while you're trying to think.
>>
>> There are sites like biostar (http://www.biostars.org/) that accepts 
>> questions about Ensembl, and some Ensembl people monitor it.  That 
>> might be what you're looking for.
>>
>> No matter how simple the question and how accessable the answer, it 
>> will be asked again and again.  I recently asked a question to our 
>> local helpdesk that is answered in the standard log-in message that I 
>> see every single time I log into our systems.
>>
>>> I think these are the main features we would all welcome:
>>>
>>>
>>> 1)      Search and tag capabilities
>> The mail archive is here:
>>
>>    http://lists.ensembl.org/pipermail/dev/
>>
>> It is searchable by google, just search for e.g.
>>
>>    'VEP predictor' site:http://lists.ensembl.org/pipermail/dev/
>>
>> in the google search interface at google.com
>>
>>> 2)      Realtime Q&A
>> Why?
>>
>>> 3)      Some sort of social integration (not facebook PLEASE)
>> Why?
>>
>>> 4)      Exportable (it need be) and backupable (if that is even a 
>>> word :) )
>> We back up our data, no worries.
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Andreas
>>
>>
>>> I know that probably there are some licensing issues to be overcome 
>>> but the increase in productivity would probably offset most of the 
>>> initial pain.
>>>
>>> I would love to know your opinion on this.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Duarte Molha
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Dev mailing list    Dev at ensembl.org
>>> List admin (including subscribe/unsubscribe):
>>> http://lists.ensembl.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
>>> Ensembl Blog: http://www.ensembl.info/
>>
>> -- 
>> Andreas Kusalananda Kähäri
>> Ensembl Gene Annotation Team
>>
>> :wq
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dev mailing list    Dev at ensembl.org
>> List admin (including subscribe/unsubscribe): 
>> http://lists.ensembl.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
>> Ensembl Blog: http://www.ensembl.info/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dev mailing list    Dev at ensembl.org
>> List admin (including subscribe/unsubscribe): 
>> http://lists.ensembl.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
>> Ensembl Blog: http://www.ensembl.info/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dev mailing list    Dev at ensembl.org
>> List admin (including subscribe/unsubscribe): 
>> http://lists.ensembl.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
>> Ensembl Blog: http://www.ensembl.info/
>

-- 
Javier Herrero, PhD
Ensembl Coordinator and Ensembl Compara Project Leader
European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton
Cambridge - CB10 1SD - UK





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