wikitech-l
wikitech-l is a mailing list for the MediaWiki development community. The discussion threads tend to get rather lengthy, as people debate implementation options; often the conversations devolve into bike-shedding over insignificant details. Most of the lengthy discussions concerning the most fundamental aspects of MediaWiki development take place on wikitech-l, rather than places like MediaZilla, although the final debates leading to the ultimate decisions on architecture issues are usually made at synchronous communication venues; such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or in-person meetings. Occasionally, someone breaches etiquette, usually by wording a criticism harshly; and dozens of posts follow, debating how bad the etiquette breach was, and whether people are overreacting.
Occasionally, an off-topic thread is launched by someone attempting to spam the listserv with his own theory of ethics or communication techniques, ostensibly as a proposal for adoption by the development community; these tend to attract dozens of comments by people interested in such meta-issues, without resulting in any new policies or practices being agreed upon.
- External link