[Biopython-dev] Merging Biopython & -dev mailing list; retiring -announce list

[Peter Cock]

Hello all,

This morning we had 723 biopython subscribers, and 335 biopython-dev
subscribers (with considerable overlap).

I have now added all the biopython-dev subscribers to the main
biopython mailing list, which now has 896 subscribers.

Assuming that all went smoothly, we will next stop accepting new mail
to the biopython-dev mailing list.

Regards,

Peter

P.S.

If anyone is interested, to do this I used the mailman-subscribers.py
script to download the mailing list membership (via the
list-administrators web-interface provided by mailman), and then used
the web-interface mass subscription functionality (which automatically
ignored duplicates):

https://wiki.list.org/DOC/How%20do%20I%20extract%20%28export%29%20a%20list%20of%20my%20list%27s%20members%20%28subscribers%29%3F

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 3:59 PM, Peter Cock <p.j.a.cock at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have heard no objections to the plan outlined below to merge
> the biopython-dev and biopython mailing lists, nor comments
> about also retiring the biopython-announce list. If you have
> concerns, please reply to the main biopython list and CC me.
>
> The OBF still intends to migrate to a paid hosted mailman, but
> in the meantime, after further reconfiguration at the start of the
> year, the OBF mailman server seems to be running stably again.
>
> However, to achieve this required making an important change:
> Any emails sent to the list from a non-subscribed address are
> now SILENTLY DISCARDED. Sadly due to spam abuse returning
> an automated bounce message is not longer practical.
>
> If you have multiple email addresses (or email address aliases),
> and only some of them are subscribed, this may regrettably cause
> confusion.
>
> Peter
> (Here writing as both a representative for the Biopython
> developers, and the OBF Board)
>
> On Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 11:47 PM, Peter Cock <p.j.a.cock at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> (For reasons which the following should explain, I have
>> also BCC'd various people active in the Biopython community)
>>
>> This email may never arrive, but in case it does, the OBF is
>> currently having difficulties with its mailman server buckling
>> under the strain of spam filtering:
>>
>> https://news.open-bio.org/2017/11/12/mailing-list-outage-and-public-board-meeting-update/
>>
>> The OBF is considering moving a small number of active
>> mailing lists to paid hosting, and to that end it would be
>> expedient to merge the biopython (users and discussion)
>> and biopython-dev (development) mailing lists, and also
>> to shut down the biopython-announce mailing list.
>>
>> [We would seek to preserve the decade public long mailing
>> list archives during such a migration.]
>>
>> Given most of our development discussion now happens
>> on GitHub, I think we could happily combine the main
>> biopython and biopython-dev lists without objection.
>>
>> I'm curious how many people would miss the annoucement
>> mailing list, mainly used for release notices which also go
>> out via Twitter and the OBF blog, see:
>>
>> https://twitter.com/biopython
>>
>> https://news.open-bio.org/category/obf-projects/biopython/
>>
>> Any objections, please reply to the main Biopython list
>> and/or the biopython-dev list (and CC me in case the
>> mailman server never passes it on).
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Peter
>> (Here writing as both a representative for the Biopython
>> developers, and the OBF Board)