Dear, I would like to ask you about the dynamic into the FSFE mail list.
I’m a new member and I have a lot question but at the same time, I would like to know: “what to ask and when to answer a subject on a mail list”.
I’m grateful for your piece of advice.
Best regards,
-- Juan Pablo González Gutiérrez.
Dear Pablo,
please first accept a warm welcome to the LN also from my side!
I case others haven’t answered you in private yet, regarding “when [and how] to ask” my advice is to take a few weeks to just follow the discussions and see for yourself the dynamics of the list.
In general the members are very friendly, but as is often with communication where not all senses are involved, sometimes the finer details and niceties can be lost. If the discussions get too heated, the LN has both a LN Council and the FSFE Legal Coordinator (together with the rest of the FSFE Legal Team) to moderate the discussion and help turn it back into a constructive debate.
About “what to ask”, I would say that if you struggle with something FOSS- related, and couldn’t find any clear guidance in printed or online literature (or you disagree with it), go ahead and ask.
The list is an interesting mix of FOSS specialists: • many with long experience and huge knowledge, but a growing number of fresher blood • a vast majority are lawyers, but there is a counter-balance of engineers • the backgrounds are a healthy mix of private practice, in-house, academia, NGO, government, …
I hope this helps you at least a tiny bit.
If you are concerned about any specific topic(s) that you wonder if it would make sense to ask on the LN list, feel free to ask here first. In the worst case, there is also the option that one of us asks for you (without disclosing your name, of course) on the LN list instead.
cheers, Matija Šuklje