I saw Jan’s mention of the wp-forums list in the weekly update, and as I’m on the list I’ve paid attention to how it’s used, both as a call for a gut-check/backup, and as a bit of a place to vent. As one subscriber mentioned recently, the list is not just moderators, and anyone can join, and all of it’s archived. So what feels like it’s more private than this blog maybe isn’t really. Any time I see language there that’s a little more insulting or dismissive (generally about bozos/bad actors in the forums) than is really comfortable/appropriate for something being publicly archived I cringe a little bit.

There are 331 subscribers to the wp-forums list, and there are 259 subscribers to this blog. Given that the mailing list is publicly archived, but in a way that makes it a pain to look things up and has no connection to this site, I wonder if it might be time to transition away from the list to something that actually gives you the privacy-among-moderators you desire when something more sensitive needs to be discussed and keeps the discussion in one main place?

What we do over on the make/systems blog has kind of the same compromise. We post most things publicly, but when there’s something sensitive, we post it as Private so that only people with x role on the blog can see it. Maybe that would be a good alternative? Just wanted to throw it out there as an option.

#mailing-list, #wp-forums