In lists.projects.perl.modules, you wrote:
>
> You might be able to convince me otherwise, but I don't think
>that `request tracking' is a pressing issue for modules@.
I think it is.
Having just recently come from "out there" I think I have a fairly good
idea on how the rest of the Perl community sees this list. I think they
mostly see it as a mysterious black box, where you throw in requests,
and maybe (if you're lucky) something comes out again, at some
indeterminate time.
Most of the Perl community think of [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a sort of advice
line for module authors, particularly wrt naming conventions. When they
email us, or when they apply for a namespace through PAUSE, they want to
hear back from us. They want words of wisdom. If there isn't any
wisdom to be had, they'd rather hear "sorry, no wisdom today" than just
silence.
There are three sets of stuff that come in to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as far
as I can tell. People out there see each group of stuff in a certain
way:
1. personal email ("Hi, I'm thinking of writing this module...")
- wants thoughtful human response
- wants it to be timely (a few days?)
- if there's no response, wants to know that too
- doesn't want to upload a module until a response is seen
- will upload anyway after a certain period of unresponsiveness
- eventually stops asking if no advice is forthcoming
2. author ID and namespace requests
- realises it's at least semi-automated
- expects just a form-letter response unless there are problems
- if there are issues, expects a real human to reply thoughtfully
3. other stuff (eg Author updates, new module submission notifications)
- doesn't even know it exists
I've noticed, since I've been on [EMAIL PROTECTED], that the modules
cabal (for want of a better word) have a very different idea of what's
important than what the rest of the Perl community do. The cabal see
modules@ as an email interface to PAUSE which sometimes also gets asked
questions about modules, whereas the Perl community sees it as a place
to ask questions but which also does stuff with PAUSE.
So yeah, the PAUSE stuff is what the modules@ cabal are mostly
interested in, and RT probably wouldn't be very useful for that. But RT
*would* be useful for the stuff requiring human response, and I think it
would be seen as a *major* improvement by the Perl community.
I'd like to see a thing where people who contact us get a form message
that says:
Thanks for emailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] We'll try to get back to you
ASAP, but in the meantime:
Have you read this documentation?
- PAUSE documentation
- module naming guidelines
- etc
Have you asked on suitable mailing lists and other forums?
Have you looked for similar modules on CPAN?
Have you searched our online ticket database for similar questions?
Your request has been assigned a ticket number, 12345. You can view
the progress of your ticket at http://blahblah/12345. Any ticket
that hasn't been answered within three days, or hasn't been closed
in a week, will automatically move to a higher priority.
Thanks,
the [EMAIL PROTECTED] team
Then when we respond to them, we Cc the ticketing system, so it can keep
track of our response.
Then, the whole thing could be searchable so if we're thinking "Didn't
we just deal with a bunch of Lingua:: stuff a few weeks ago?" we can
check the database. Or anyone who is interested can do a search on the
website and see what our previous comments on that namespace have been.
And from our point of view, we could check the ticketing system and
think "oh, that guy with the question about the Frobnitz:: namespace
still hasn't had a reply, I guess we'd better get back to him."
I read a thing recently, talking about dealing with customers for
software projects. It said that you could improve customer relations in
two ways:
1. actually serving them better
2. at least letting them know what you're up to
Ideally, of course, you do both :) But the point was that communication
and openness and transparent processes that the customer can feel
involved in, all make them feel like they're getting better service.
Even if that's just an automated thing saying "thanks for your message,
we're really badly backlogged, if we don't reply don't take it
personally."
So that's why I think RT would be an excellent thing. I didn't mean to
go on for so long, but, well, *shrug*.
> What would be /great/ would be a PAUSE Administrators' Manual. I
>would maintain it if people would use it.
Yeah, that would be great :)
K.
--
Kirrily 'Skud' Robert - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://infotrope.net/
"Welcome to the Internet. Here's your handbasket." -- Rev. Peter da Silva
