Re: How often do we have new packages in Whichever ELPA?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
> Cc: philipk@posteo.net, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2022 23:14:25 -0500
> 
>   > > Given that info, I think that posting these on info-gnu-emacs would be
>   > > a bad idea.  That list has a very low volume of mail.  This could make
>   > > it 10 or 20 times as much.  There are probably people on it who don't
>   > > want to get a higher volume from it.
> 
>   > We could use a telltale Subject, or some X-* header that people could
>   > use to filter out those.
> 
> I don't follow.  Could you describe that proposal more concretely?
> What would be in the messages we post, and who would filter?

If the Subject starts with "[ELPA News]", people who aren't interested
can configure their MUA to ignore those messages.

>   > So I'm unsure why this issue needs any action at this time, since we
>   > seem to be doing TRT already.  Or what am I missing?
> 
> Right now, every new version in GNU ELPA or NonGNU ELPA is announced
> on a list, gnu-emacs-sources, that not many people read.
> 
> I think that we should announce NEW packages in GNU ELPA in a bigger
> list where more people will see them.  Maybe also NEW packages in
> NonGNU ELPA.

The only bigger lists are this one and help-gnu-emacs.  Any other list
would be a new list that will suffer from the same problem as
gnu-emacs-sources.  I thought emacs-devel and help-gnu-emacs were
deemed not to be the best candidates, but if I misunderstood, I have
nothing against using them.  However, I think you should keep in mind
that most Emacs users nowadays rarely if ever read mailing lists, let
alone subscribe to them.  So I'm not at all sure the rejection of
gnu-emacs-sources is justified, especially since that is practice we
use for a long time, and people who want to know about ELPA news
learned about that list long ago.

Let's not make the perfect be the enemy of the good!