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 which functions as the central place for development commuication througout the RepRap project.

The reprap-dev mailing list has a slogan that emphasises its intentions: "reprap-dev is the official friendly but technical mailing list for all you friendly but technical people out there!!!"

This double message is coined to express its intended use: technical discussion under freindly terms. What may not be emidiately clear about this message is that asking for basic help is not considered "technical". Neither is blatant day dreaming about what the future might bring considered "technical". New drawings for a better extruder IS however considered technical ;-)

Another kind of appriciated technical discussion is bug repports - especially good ones, and very very especially the ones which are explained very carefully both in therms of problem description and in method of reprodusability.

There are at the time of writing no clearly defined heiracical 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.

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 heavitly encuraged 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 good idea to check with others on this 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 otherwise just hang out hand have great fun

reprap-admin

This is an internal mailing list which can be used by reprap's administrators. 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 administrators could be using this list to trade Pokemon cards. However, in practice such internal stewardship lists have traditionally been used in other Free Software/Open Source projects to settle minor disagreements among the core members, and to discuss outside forces doing or attempting harm to the project.

To share some insight as to what reprap-admin is used for, core team member Sebastien Bailard spoke up:

"Eh. So far, a bit of chat that belonged in reprap-users, and was moved there, and ... that's about it really.

It's worth keeping around in case some silly bugger starts selling boxes of rocks as repraps in the marketplace.

In which case, inventing a shadowy cabal of people who can back me up when I say "naughty-naughty-naughty" is much better than having an internal debate or self-organizing lynch mob rip apart reprap-users or, providence forbid, reprap-dev. Oh. reprap-admin is handy for "blessing" reprap moderators in the forum and as a mechanism to keep entrepreneurs from twiddling the front page."

--Sebastien Bailard 06:48, 15 January 2011 (UTC)