[TYPES] future of types-list (call for feedback)

[Dimitrios Vytiniotis]

Dear all, (dropping types-announce)

First, many thanks to Derek for moderating the list over the past years. I am excited to take up this role.

Moving forward: 

A. It appears (to me, but shout if you disagree) that the TYPES/announce list is serving its purpose reasonably well, with a constant flow of 
     conference, job-related news, and other announcements in the general area of types, programming languages, semantics, logic, formal 
      methods etc.

B. On the other hand, the TYPES discussion list is quiet. The past few years we've had around 10-12 discussion threads a year. 
     This might mean several things:

        - Relevant discussion is happening, but happening elsewhere. E.g. you see category theory posts in the
          Haskell mailing lists, core type theory posts in the Coq mailing lists, and general questions and discussions in
          lambda-the-ultimate.
        - Mailing lists are too old fashioned and discussions have moved to blogs and wikis.
        - TYPES is potentially a slightly intimidating place for newcomers to post questions or have conversations with
          world-class experts? 
        - Somewhat contradicting the first possibility: TYPES is perceived as a very specialized theoretical list (e.g.
          only about types) so people who don't have a specialized question would not post here.
        - Other? (e.g. fewer people interested in the core TYPES topics?) 

The questions really are: 

     - Is this situation problematic for you or is TYPES serving you ("you" the seasoned researchers, as well as "you" the newcomers or students) 
        just fine and we should not worry?
     - If you think there is a problem, what is your diagnosis?
     - Should we do anything about it? Would you like to see TYPES becoming a more active forum and do you have concrete ideas about how to do it?

Please do email me (dimitris at microsoft.com) with feedback or any thoughts on the future of this list.

I will collect responses and compile answers, conclusions and try to identify action items.

Kind regards, 

Dimitrios Vytiniotis



-----Original Message-----
From: Types-list [mailto:types-list-bounces at lists.seas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Derek Dreyer
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2014 4:13 PM
To: types-announce at lists.seas.upenn.edu; Types list
Subject: [TYPES] New moderator: Dimitrios Vytiniotis

[ The Types Forum, http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list ]

Dear Types and Types/announce members,

It has been my pleasure to serve as moderator of the Types and Types/announce lists for 5 years now, but it's time to hand over the reins to someone else.

Dimitrios Vytiniotis of Microsoft Research Cambridge has kindly agreed to take over as moderator.  I want to thank him for agreeing to moderate the list, and I'm sure he'll do a great job!

In fact, he and I have discussed it, and one of the first things he would like to do as new moderator is to solicit feedback from the community on whether the Types list is serving its members as well as it could, and if not, how best to evolve it going forward.  He will be sending mail about that shortly.

Best regards,
Derek Dreyer