Getting Help the Free Software (and Open Source) Way - Mailing Lists (
Page 4 of 6 )
What happens when you want to ask a question to a
group, but
you can't find a suitable newsgroup (such as was my case with Apache),
or would
rather deal with more personal or more familiar sources? That's when
you turn
your eyes towards mailing lists.
Unlike newsgroups, mailing lists often have a sense
of
community, greater even than real-time chat channels. Because of this,
response
times tend to be faster, as group members seek to help one another,
seeking to
be a rising tide, lifting all ships. Just keep in mind that many of
these lists
will expect that you've already done some footwork on your own.
Please note that although this story is about Open
Source
software and where to get the help often touted as being so readily
available
amongst Free Software and Open Source advocates, you're probably going
to
notice that I'm pretty Linux-centric when it comes to the mailing lists
I
chose. That's because you'll find that Linux lists are more about Free
Software
and Open Source than they are about Linux, per se. After all, the lists
wouldn't be as popular as they are if all they talked about a single
topic,
such as the kernel. Although many lists do quite well developing a
community of
engineers, as have the Emacs and Fetchmail communities with their lists
(found
at http://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=emacs
and http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/,
respectively), go ahead and compare their numbers to the Groups of Linux Users Everywhere..
See
the size difference? You'll find that these Linux User Group lists are
some of
the best places to start almost any search. A group with a large enough
membership will usually contain its fair share of Zope and Apache
administrators, PHP and Java programmers, and people who simply enjoy
to tinker
around with everything, from XML to multimedia. Just remember that
these lists
do have rules and regulations which must be followed, so make sure you
know
them before you go off and start asking questions about closed source
issues,
like Flash, which might incur some scolding, flaming, and - in some
lists -
tarring, feathering, and maybe even gunzipping. Instead, off topic
questions
like that, if they can't be avoided, can be addressed by simply asking
for
anyone who knows about a certain subject to e-mail you off list, or
asking
where you'd be able to get information on the subject, making sure to
apologize
for the off-topic post. At that point, only the biggest of jerks will
usually
say anything derogative, provided that you haven't been a jerk yourself
and
abused your right to ask those questions.
The following is a list of some of the more helpful
mailing
lists that I have found. Just remember that when it comes to Open
Source and
Free Software, a good Linux Users Group (LUG) is usually a great place
to begin
any search. I've attempted to make sure that the link leads directly to
the
sign up page of the list mentioned, however a large number of these
list
numerous lists within the pages, such as the XML and Perl lists.
Be forewarned: some of these lists are very high
volume, so
before you go off and sign up for all of these, make sure that you can
handle
the load. If you don't find what you need on this list, then go ahead
and run a
search on <your
topic>+mailing+list
in your favorite search engine. Chances are that there's something out
there
devoted to what you're seeking.
/ 8 
