Hey,
I've been watching some of the perma-threads on ruby-talk and I really think we need to establish some new mailing lists to handle the various constant subjects that come up. I'm sure this list is nowhere near complete, but here's what I thought up:
* ruby-jobs -- We should make it even harder for people with money to find people with skills. I know my book collection is rivaling the Imelda Marcos shoe collection, so making it easier for me to buy more books is dangerous. Head hunters should be relegated to the ruby-doesnt-need-you mailing list, but don't tell them their e-mail is going there. They like telling their customers, "You should reconsider using Ruby since I can't seem to find anyone to fill your position."
* ruby-whynot -- Every person has an opinion so why not just air it out like a stinking possum carcass? This could cover a lot of ground. Topics like, "Why not Python?", "Why not Ruby::Inline?", "Why not Nitro?", "Why not Rails Engines?" "Why not Macs?" "Why not Intel?" "Why not a virtual machine?" "Why not Java?" "Why not Sailor Moon styled bura-sera?" The potential is endless for this list.
* ruby-sellouts -- I personally got no problem whoring myself out to any company that pays my speaker's fee, but some other folks might need a place to confess their sins. This list would have to be anonymous so that the posters could confess and not have their confessions ruin their thriving Web 2.0 Ajax Tagging Todo List Ferrari Payment Machines. Extra points if you can say one thing in your blog to pimp your goods, and then in private insult your customers.
* ruby-rails-sheep -- No, not a place for former Java sheep to come and turn their brains off again, but rather a place for people to discuss the constant topic of table pluralization. Is it a violation of all laws of nature? Is it overhead for minimal benefit? Is it a great way to show users ER diagrams? This is the place to chat it all up.
* ruby-performance-haters -- Ruby's speed is the white elephant in the room. We all know it's there, sitting in the room knocking the good china on the damn floor, but we just can't talk about it because if we do we'll have to actually clean up the damn thing's giant piles of crap. Let's blow the doors off this myth once and for all by creating a list solely devoted to just complaining about Ruby's speed without doing much. Even better, let's propose every solution *except* writing a new virtual machine.
* ruby-only -- Some people can't stand any deviation from the approved topics. Step outside the incredibly narrow vision their obsessive compulsive brains have for the list and WHAM! No IRC for you! The ruby-only list is for them. It would only allow messages which are valid Ruby source with no deviation. If it isn't able to run in a special protected environment that has only core libraries--or has any comments--then it's immediately removed. Nobody wants to waste their time on fluff crap like making friends, building community, having fun, or discovering new ideas from off topic discussions. Nope, it's Ruby only 24/7.
* ruby-smartass -- This list would basically just be me mouthing off to people who end up doing better than me and make me jealous. I'd write scathing reviews of their projects and insult them all since I don't like people anyway. I mean, I only donate my software to people so that I can spread bugs. Anyway, I'm smarter and sexier than the whole world so I need my own mailing list.
If you haven't figured it out, this is a joke. Laugh, have a great weekend, and don't take things so seriously.
Zed A. Shaw
http://www.zedshaw.com/
