Why public-html-bugzilla@w3.org? Why bugzilla?

This is another message in regard to the group bugzilla and
public-html-bugzilla mailing list.

  http://www.w3.org/html/wg/bugzilla
  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-bugzilla/

This message is a second installment in a set of messages I plan
to send clarifying the intended purpose of our bugzilla and the
public-html-bugzilla list and the relationship of those to what
remains the group's primary communication channel, this
(public-html) list.

I apologize in advance for sending the messages as a series.
If I were to it all in one message, it would have ended up being a
very one that I suspect many (most) members of the list would not
take time to read.

Anyway, here's the next part of what I want to say about our
bugzilla and stuff associated with it:

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Why a new list?
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I recognize that we already have a number of mailing lists for
this group and that adding yet another list to the set introduces
additional hassles for all of us who make an effort to try keep up
closely with discussions related to the HTML5 draft. But I would
like to ask you all for your support in the general effort to
explore other ways to give members of the group and the wider
public an opportunity to contribute to discussions and refinement
of the HTML5 specification (that is, other than just having all
discussions take place on the public-html mailing list). So
bugzilla is an attempt to meet a need and to address some problems.

**Problem: High volume of traffic on public-html**

  There has been a very significant increase in the volume of
  traffic on the public-html list during the last two months (a list
  that has from its beginning been a relatively high-traffic list).
  Consider the numbers: 802 messages in April and 767 in May,
  compared with 370 messages in March and 441 in February.

  The greater the volume of traffic on the list increases, the
  more difficult it becomes for each of us to find the time to try
  to read it all and keep up with it -- and the more people quit
  bothering to try and just give up, stop reading it, and "check
  out". When people start checking out or leaving because the list
  traffic is to great for them to keep up with, we lose the
  insight and contributions that we could otherwise be gaining
  from their active attention and participation.

  So I see our bugzilla and the public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
  mailing list as in part a means to help get the public-html list
  traffic down.

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Why bugzilla?
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Compared with other issue-tracking mechanisms available to us in
W3C space, bugzilla has some unique features:

 1. Open and accessible to all
    Anyone from the wider public can raise issues in the bugzilla
    -- not just members of the HTML WG nor people who have set up
    W3C accounts, with the guarantee that both I and the HTML5
    editor will see them, and that the editor will add them to his
    queue of issues to respond to.

 2. Opt-in mechanism
    Bugzilla allows people to opt in to only those specific
    discussions that they want to follow (by adding themselves to
    the Cc list for the issue in bugzilla). For people with
    limited time to keep up with the work of the group -- for
    example, developers/implementors working on browser projects,
    and people from other W3C working groups whose work has a
    possible connection to the HTML5 work -- the opt-in mechanism
    is a very important feature. It prevents people from needing
    to try to keep up with everything on public-html, failing,
    giving up, and going away. It helps them participate actively
    in just those specific discussions they want to. So we get the
    value of their insight and contributions to the work instead
    of losing that completely because the public-html list volume
    has scared them away.

That's the bit that I have to say about this for now. I'll be
following up with at least one more message that gives a shot at
outlining some criteria for how I'd suggest we make best use of
bugzilla and how to keep the group as a whole informed about
current discussions that are taking place in bugzilla.

  --Mike

-- 
Michael(tm) Smith
http://people.w3.org/mike/
http://sideshowbarker.net/