Website "Contact Us" not usable unless part of eclipse-foundation.org or a partner.

[snydergd]

The website now (after a previous issue with the suggestion) has a "Contact Us" section on the "About" page, which I really appreciate!

However, I want to contact you, and would gladly join the Slack Channel, but Slack tells me "The email address must match one of the domains listed below. Please try another email." It then lists them:

You can use any account with the domain:

• eclipse-foundation.org
• huawei.com
• google.com
• st.com
• siemens.com
• posit.co

Don't have an email address from one of those domains? Contact the workspace administrator at Open VSX Working Group for an invitation.

I don't see this as being a very useful link to have under "Contact Us" on the public website, in its current state, since it seems only certain people (potentially already having communication channels) would be able to make use of this.

Could this section be updated with instructions that would allow anyone to contact the group, whether having an email matching the list, or not? If the intent is to limit contact to come from only this smaller group, and there is no preferred way for people such as me to make contact, could the website give an indication of this (ideally with an explanation)?

[tfroment]

Thank you very much @snydergd for your thoughtful and constructive feedback.

You're absolutely right: the current Slack link on the "Contact Us" section does not facilitate open communication with the broader community, as the workspace was originally designed to be restricted to members of the Working Group. This limitation can indeed be frustrating and goes against the openess we want to promote.
I'll be discussing this issue with the other Working Group members tomorrow and will explore a few possible solutions, such as:

• Opening the current Slack workspace to the broader community, while preserving a private channel for Working Group members if needed.
• Creating a separate, fully open communication space (e.g., a Matrix room which is generally used at the EF) where anyone interested can join and engage with the group.

[snydergd]

@tfroment Thanks for taking a look at this. Either of those options would be really nice. Did you have a chance to discuss it with the Working Group members?

[tfroment]

Hi @snydergd, not strong opposition against this, we will need moderation, so I created: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/issues/6372