IRC logs and mailing lists [was: Re: Composite and damage status]

[Carl Worth]

On Wed, 12 May 2004 20:30:45 -0700, Keith Packard wrote:
> I log all of my IRC channels, but I don't publish them.  If we do want to 
> start publically archiving them, we'd have to make sure everyone knew.  At 
> this point, it's a lot more like a telephone conference which lets people 
> worry less about precise spelling and grammar.  It would be useful to 
> post technical discussions to appropriate email lists; I think that would 
> be helpful.

I agree with this.

Public postings of IRC logs might help allay fears of "secret
discussions", but I can't imagine that the logs would actually be useful
for anyone. IRC traffic is always ripe with idle chitchat and irrelevant
discussions, (and perhaps this is precisely what draws some users to
it). I suspect that browsing through this after the fact, looking for
signal among the noise, would be tedious and largely fruitless.

However, useful technical discussion does occur at times in IRC for
whatever reasons. I don't think we should exert pressure to eliminate
this. Instead, the participants should always be conscientious enough to
forward questions, discussions, and especially conclusions that may be
of general interest to the relevant mailing lists.

-Carl