[vlc-devel] Migration to Merge Requests

[Pierre Ynard]

> I want to say that I'm thrilled with the migration, gitlab is awesome.
> It's way more easy for me to keep track of all the submissions.      

If you want to indulge in expressions of GitLab (un)popularity
or (dis)approval, I want to say that I was brought into this IRC
conversation, where it was argued that GitLab is more accessible than
mailing lists by virtue of being web-based; and I couldn't help but
refute that.

I can certainly appreciate how many people find web-based platforms
comfortable, and I share this feeling to some extent, but personally I
find it sad and a bit reductive to equate web-based with good. However,
one thing that code.videolan.org is not, is more accessible than
vlc-devel at . (For everyone's comfort and convenience, vlc-devel@ even has
web-based public archives written in actually accessible HTML.)

I would really like if the benefits of code.videolan.org's GitLab,
and the rationales for the switch, had been presented to me as a user
when the new platform was introduced to me. I guess it would help me
appreciate it more. You could say that I don't find that the GitLab
switch was sold to me very well.

In fact, the onboarding process I experienced was 1/ getting told to
create an account or else I would lose all my bug tracker tickets, then
2/ getting faced with a two-factor authentication blocker page, that
I didn't know what to do with nor really wanted anything with, that
left me feeling like: "Geez, but the account is created so I'm good now
and don't have to deal with this now, right?" Not exactly a positive
introduction to code.videolan.org. As a follow-up, now that I'm making
the effort of asking questions, I receive dismissive one-liners as
reply. Not great either.

> Frankly, all my goodwill in this switch has been expanded, I'm pissed
> and my efficacy and motivation is rock bottom.

> I get way too *many* notifications on bugs and MRs that I am not
> competent for, not too few.

I can empathize with your pain and frustration, Rémi, and I'm sorry for
it :/ But as this is still a work mailing list, let me ask you: what
would you like to be changed, how would you like things to be instead?

-- 
Pierre Ynard
"Une âme dans un corps, c'est comme un dessin sur une feuille de papier."