Using the Project Mailing List
When a project provides a developer mailing list, ask questions of the list rather than an individual member of it, even if you are sure that person can best answer your question. Check the project's documentation and home page to find the project's mailing list and use it. There are several good reasons for this approach:
Why post to the list
- Any question that is good enough to be asked of an individual developer will also be beneficial to the project group as a whole. Conversely, if you think your question is too stupid for the project group as a whole, then that's no reason to harass individual developers.
- Asking questions to the list can spread the load of developers, and individual developers (especially project leaders) may be too busy to answer your questions.
- Most mailing lists are archived and those that are archived are indexed by search engines. If you ask a question to the list and get an answer, others in the future can find your question and answer through a web search and won't have to ask it again.
- If certain questions are frequently asked, developers can use this information to improve the documentation or the software itself to make it clearer. If the questions are only asked privately, no one will be able to see the full scenario of the most frequently asked questions.
Public lists keep questions, answers, corrections, and follow-up summaries in the project knowledge base. Sending it privately to a particular developer usually just increases the burden on the other party and reduces the chance that others will benefit.
Don't mix user and developer lists
If a project has both "user" and "developer" (or "hacker") mailing lists or forums, and you're not going to touch the source code, then ask the Ask questions to the "users" list or forum. Don't assume you'll be welcome on the developer lists, those people will most likely see your questions as noise that interferes with their development.
The developer list is typically used to discuss implementations, patches, designs, regressions, and releases. Common use questions placed there tend to look like you're not respecting list usage.
When to upgrade to developer channel
However, if you are sure that your question is unique and has not been answered on the "Users" list or forum for a few days, try posting it on the "Developers" list or forum. It's advisable to keep an eye out for a few days to get a feel for the way things are done there before posting (in fact, it's a good idea to get involved in any private or semi-private lists).
When escalating a question, state that you've asked in the user channel, how long you've waited, what information you've gotten, and why you think the question may require developer judgment.
Contact the maintainer if you can't find the list
If you can't find a mailing list for a project and can only look up the e-mail address of the project's maintainer, by all means send him a message. Even in this case, don't assume that the (project) mailing list doesn't exist. In your e-mail, state that you've tried and failed to find a suitable mailing list, and also mention that you have no objection to having your e-mail forwarded to others (many people believe that private e-mails shouldn't be made public, even if there's nothing secret about them. By allowing your e-mail to be forwarded to others, you give the appropriate people the option to dispose of your e-mail).
This makes it easier for the maintainer to refer the issue to the right person and prevents them from not being able to publicize your issue due to privacy concerns.