The "rival" discussion mailing list

[Paul Boddie]

Hello,

Subscribers to this mailing list have recently been introduced to the 
existence of a new "rival" mailing list [*] in a way that might well be 
regarded as being both ill-conceived and regrettable. There may be merits in 
conducting discussion on another list, but the apparent attempt to transfer 
subscribers to such a list without their agreement is counterproductive to put 
it mildly.

It would obviously have been far more appropriate for Daniel to merely 
advertise that another discussion venue has been set up and for him to invite 
those who are interested to sign up for themselves. As far as I know, no such 
invitation message has been propagated by this mailing list, but I do wonder 
whether it might have been propagated had it been received.

I sincerely hope that the different parties who are in apparent conflict in 
this and other matters are able to resolve their disagreements to an 
acceptable degree of satisfaction. Clearly, not all parties are under the 
impression that their past disputes have been settled and that all grievances 
have been acknowledged. Further escalation of this conflict is in nobody's 
best interest.

I would also encourage the FSFE leadership to use venues like this list to 
more fully engage with the community, even when this involves encountering 
dissent. Doing so might help to prevent any further degradation in trust and 
confidence between the leadership and the community that has arguably 
precipitated this incident.

Paul

[*] This "rival" list being the fsfellowship.eu list set up by Daniel Pocock, 
of course.