Mailing Lists
This page describes the RepRap mailing lists
There are three principal RepRap mailing lists:
reprap-dev
The reprap-dev mailing list is an open list with a sole focus on actual development. This is where you send patches and other fixes. This is also where you should send carefully explained and reproducable bug repports. There are at the time of writing no clearly defined hiracical structure in the reprap development process, so there are no sublists as common in other projects - there are no. say, reprap-dev-extruder or reprap-dev-electronics lists available. Users are adviced not to waste the time and energy of the main developers by attempting to use the development list as a source for help - there are much better alternatives.
reprap-users
The reprap-users mailing list is also an open list. Users are wellcomed to participate in helping each other in whatever way they can. This is a great source for pointers and hints. Users are adviced to keep a freindly and good spirited attituede - don't tell people to read the fucking manual, but rather point them politely to the relevant section of the somewhat daunting amount of literature new adopters face. If you think you have found a bug in one of the RepRap components, it is adviced to check with others on the mailing list firts before contacting reprap-dev, as it may be a problem unique to your machine, or it may simply a misunderstood concept (not uncommon). Also, more seasoned users may have great input on how to formally form a bug repport - good bug reports gets handled faster. Last but not least, reprap-users is a great place to exchange design ideas and get feed back on what works and what doesnt. This way you can get some tangible backing should you eventually chose to suggest them for inclution in the official upstream version of RepRap - your design/change is obviously no good in the official version if it only seems to work for you.
reprap-admin
This is the internal mailing list used by the Core Team. It is not open to public participation and it is not open to public viewing. Because of it's closed nature one can only speculate about what exactly is discussed there. As far as the users go, the core team could be using this list to trade Pokemon cards. However, in practice such internal stewardship lists have been used to settle disputes among the core members, rather than doing dirty laundry in public. Obviously this is also where the existing team would discuss potential new members to the family of ranking developers.
