Lot's of projects use mailing lists. Lot's of projects use web-based git hosting services. Lot's of projects mix.
Why do people just use GitHub? Because it requires zero configuration and it's convenient when you're developing something yourself.
The Linux Kernel is by far the worlds largest open source project. Consider that it might have different needs.
>> Every machine can do plaintext email.
> Every machine can do web browsing too.
You're missing the point. A web interface is more complex than plaintext emails. To integrate into your shell environment is a lot more complicated.
> More people have used a web browser on their computer than a dedicated email client (as opposed to a web app like gmail).
I don't understand your point.
>> As opposed to login into to a bespoke web interface
> You have to log in to email too.
The emphasis was on bespoke web interface, not logging in.
>>mainly primarily designed to be friendly to novice users.
>What's wrong with that?
Fast and flexible are sacrificed. Ie. it's more convenient for the people who don't use the system all the time (people filing bug-reports) vs. the people who actually use it all the time (maintainers)
> yes I have set up a mailing list for a project I made and no one e ended up using it except for me
a tad different use-case to the development of the linux kernel it seems
> Meanwhile I had much more success with getting people to join and discuss the project via Discord
Whatever works for your project bro.
Tell that to most of my browsers which refuse to display any Gitlab content (they only ever show the side bar).
> What's wrong with that? Having good UX is a win.
What's "good UX for novice users" isn't necessarily good UX for more advanced ones.
If this in true then why do so few projects use a mailing list nowadays instead of something like github.
>Every machine can do plaintext email.
Every machine can do web browsing too. More people have used a web browser on their computer than a dedicated email client (as opposed to a web app like gmail).
>As opposed to login into to a bespoke web interface
You have to log in to email too.
>mainly primarily designed to be friendly to novice users.
What's wrong with that? Having good UX is a win. The UX for creating a new repo on github is a million times better than creating a mailing list (yes I have set up a mailing list for a project I made and no one e ended up using it except for me. Meanwhile I had much more success with getting people to join and discuss the project via Discord)